JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

David Guerrero is the Chair and Chief Creative Officer of BBDO-Guerrero. Here he is running the stretch of the croisette during the Cannes Ad Festival.

Photo from Adobo Online.

If I were David I would not go anywhere near the beach. Twice, on the beach, he has been attacked by wild animals. In Phuket he was bitten by a snake, in Boracay he was bitten by a dog. What next, a lost shark?

David is the publisher of the annual arts and culture journal Manila Envelope, which I edit. Manila Envelope # 4 features writing by 13 young Filipino novelists, our definition of “young” being “born after The Beatles changed the course of history”.

The Beatles, Manila, July 1966. They were invited to Malacanang Palace by the Marcoses, they didn’t go, they were attacked by goons at the Manila International Airport. Oh and they weren’t paid. I learned about the incident from Eric Gamalinda’s novel, Planet Waves.

Manila Envelope 4: Best of Young Filipino Novelists will be out early next year. Read the sampler. I confess that I snuck in an excerpt from my novel, which will never be published for the simple reason that I don’t like it. Forget about it, I’ll write another one. (The writing is easy, it’s what to write about that kills you.)

David’s 10 + 1 favorite reads from 2010:

1. I enjoyed Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. A satirical novel portraying a future America—completely sold-out to the Chinese.

2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen is a ‘serious’ work that deserves respect. A close-up view of a couple’s marriage over 20 or so years.

3. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is the true story of an immigrant family finding themselves wrongly accused by the law after Hurricane Katrina.

4. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson is a wry exploration of Jewishness in England. A rare ‘comic’ winner of the Booker.

5. Dubliners by James Joyce. I think Dublin in the 1900s bears more than a passing resemblance to Manila in 2010.

6. David Ogilvy’s biography, The King of Madison Avenue by Ken Roman. It’s Mad Men, the reality version.

7. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This was ruined by the film. But powerful beforehand

8. Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus. One of the few non-fiction books I got through. A great story.

9. Then we came to the end by Joshua Ferris. A novel about a bunch of people getting made redundant in an advertising agency. Mad Men 2010 USA.

10. (Most of ) 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. I really couldn’t wade through the descriptions of all the murders in the second section. But rewarding nonetheless.

11. Finally, LMG. Well I would say this one. (David published this book about his father, the writer and diplomat Leon Ma. Guerrero.) So I put it in my top 11.

LMG the book is available at National Bookstore.