This is a bargain, since it's a new book and contains the early work of excellent contemporary writers who have one thing in common--all of them took the Creative Writing course in the University of East Anglia in Britain. Among them are Kazuo Ishiguro (1979-80), Ian McEwan (1970-71), Clare Morgan (1990-91), Jacqui Lofhouse (1992-93).

Dazai, Osamu.
The Setting Sun.
(NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1956).
Translated from the Japanese by Donald Keene.
P150.00 paperback

This book follows the angst school of the French modernists, dealing with the "people of the setting sun"--that is, the declining Japanese aristocracy who were impoverished by World War II. It recounts the life of a girl born into a powerful aristocratic family and thrown into the world that is in transition, from feudalism to industrial capitalism, from an old morality to a new morality born out of anomie.
      One exciting fact about the author is that he died in 1948, before his book was ever published, by throwing himself into the murky waters of the Tamagana Reservoir in Tokyo. It was his fifth and last suicide attempt during his lifetime.

Gipson, Fred.
Old Yeller.
(NY: Scholastic Book Services, 1956).
P20.00 paperback

Not in perfect condition, this book is so old that *I think* it was published before Disney made it into a movie which we all saw during our trouble-free childhood. How can a boy kill his own best friend? Grab this book rather than ordering another capuccino, and relive the morality of shooting an rabid dog.

Gresham, Douglas H.
Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidsman and C.S. Lewis.
(NY: HarperCollins, 1988).
P240.00 paperback

This is the book that inspired the lovely movie, Shadowlands. Doug recounts his life from his birth, the divorce of his parents, Joy's life with Jack Lewis, his mother's death, his marriage, and how he dealt with the pain that he accumulated deep inside him. One thing that he learned from his Uncle Jack was how in life we must find a way to go on living.

Harpwood, Diane.
Tea & Tranquilissers.
(London: Virago, 1981).
P160.00 paperback
Harpwood gives a quick and uncomplicated look at the cumbersome and complicated lives of any white middle-class American woman who dreamed of living the stereotypical domestic life of wife and mother. As the blurb goes, this book gives us the "inside story of every girl's dream."

Wright, Stephen.
Going Native.
(NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1994).
P300.00 paperback

I nearly bought this book, except that I didn't have the budget for it. I'm not sure what it is about but it gave me the impression of a description of a postmodern, fringe life of several people who take to the highway, done with a caffeine-overloaded style of writing. Buying this book is an adventure in itself.