if i didn't know better.

Billie Holiday, ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’

Richard Siken, ‘Anyway’

10/03/19

1. America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo

A reference to Carlos Bulosan’s classic America Is in the Heart, Castillo’s debut novel chronicles a queer woman’s immigrant experience in the United States.

2. In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar

The nine stories in this debut collection feature Filipinos who left their homeland to seek better opportunities abroad. There’s a housemaid, a teacher, a nurse, and a pharmacist living in different parts of the world such as North America, Asia, and the Middle East.

3. Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz

Jasmine de los Santos, a 17-year-old Filipino immigrant, bags a scholarship that will fund her college studies. But her dream shatters when she finds out that her parents keep a secret—they are “TNTs” (tago nang tago or undocumented immigrants).

4. Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

There’s Virgil Salinas, a taciturn Filipino American boy; Virginia Somerset, a deaf and sad girl; Kaori Tanaka, a Japanese American psychic; and Chet Bullens, the bully and story’s villain. Their worlds entwine on one fateful day—a friendship is born and justice is served as well.

5. The First Impulse: Notes on Love, Film and Death in the Philippines by Laurel Fantauzzo

Fantauzzo, a Filipino American, also weaves her own narrative into this creative nonfiction. A genre-bending work, it offers a social commentary to the state of Duterte’s Philippines.