The Woman Who Had Two Navels, and Tales of the Tropical Gothic, Nick Joaquin, 2017
- Philippines, #14
- Paperback, $13.98 from Amazon
- Read January 2018
- Rating: 4.5/5
The Woman Who Had Two Navels: A very inaccurate synopsis
Short Stories
Philippine Short Stories 1925-1940
Philippine Short Stories 1925-1940, Leopoldo Y. Yabes, ed., 1975
- Philippines, #8
- Borrowed from SF public library
- Read December 2017
- Rating: 4/5
- Recommended for: completists
Cuentos Filipinos: Colonialism and condescension
Cuentos Filipinos, Jose Montero y Vidal, 1883, translated by Renan Prado
- Philippines, #5
- Borrowed from SF public library
- Read October 2017
- Rating: 2/5
- Recommended for: Miss Eleanor Lavish
Lali: Looking Back
Lali: A Pacific Anthology, ed. Albert Wendt, 1980
- Cook Islands, #5; Tonga, #2; Samoa, #2; Niue, #1; Fiji, #1; Vanuatu, #1; Solomon Islands, #1; Papua New Guinea, #7; Kiribati, #2
- £13.84 from Amazon.co.uk
- Read: September 2015-December 2016
- Rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: Moana groupies
Raetemaot: not everyone is a writer
Raetemaot: Creative Writing from Solomon Islands, Julian Maka’a, ed.
- Solomon Islands, #6
- Paperback, $20 from Alibris.com (I kind of can’t believe I paid $20 for this)
- Read September 2016
- Rating: 2/5
- Recommended for: trainee editors after a rousing game of spot-the-professional-writer
Suremada: Another bewildering reading experience from the Solomon Islands
Suremada: Faces from a Solomon Island Village, Rexford Orotaloa, 1989
- Solomon Islands, #5
- $20, alibris.com
- Read August 2016
- Rating: 1.5/5
- Opening line: Anaibolafafawa was the village Big Man.
- Recommended for: Rambling internet commenters
Vanuatu: Substance without style
Black Stone, Grace Mera Molisa, 1983
The Story of the Eel, Elder Mark of Emil Potun, 2004
- Vanuatu, #2 & #3
- Black Stone: skimmed on Google Books; Story of the Eel: read online through JSTOR
- Read August, 2016
- Opening line (Black Stone): Ageless Vatu/ primeval source/ of creative forces/ ad infinitum
- Opening line (Story of the Eel): There was once an old man and an old woman.
The Kanak Apple Season
The Kanak Apple Season: Selected Short Fiction of Déwé Gorodé, Déwé Gorodé, translated and edited by Peter Brown, 2004
- New Caledonia, #3
- Borrowed from SF public library
- Read: February 2016
- Rating: 3.5/5
- Recommended for: studious rabble-rousers
The Challenge: Not Accepted
The Challenge, Ruperake Petaia, 2011
- Samoa, #5
- Kindle, (a waste of) $4.99 from amazon.com
- Read January 2016
- Rating: 1/5
- Recommended for: Ruperake Petaia (because I can’t imagine anyone aside from the author enjoying this particular piece of literature)
Well, that’s half an hour of my life I’m never going to get back.
Tales of the Tikongs: What’s the point of all this, anyway?
Tales of the Tikongs, Epeli Hau’ofa, 1988
- Tonga, #4
- Borrowed from SF library
- Read November 2015
- Rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: Mack and the boys
Around the World in 2000 Books 