Four generations of NBS family recommend books

MANILA, Philippines - You wonder what books the National Book Store family read? We asked founder Nanay Socorro Ramos, her daughter and NBS VP for purchasing Cecilia Licauco, her granddaughter and NBS Foundation head Trina Alindogan, and her great-grandchildren Maxine and Martin Alindogan to recommend books we can pick up during our shopping for school supplies.

Here, they tell us the books that can help students and professionals get into the habit of reading and encourage their love of books.

First generation: Socorro Ramos

• The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

Pastor of Saddleback Church, a Southern Baptist mega-church in southern California with weekly attendance of more than 15,000, Warren applies his highly successful “purpose-driven” framework, developed in the bestseller The Purpose-Driven Church, to individual experience. The same principles Warren has taught to thousands of pastors to help churches be healthy and effective can also drive lives, he says. The book argues that discerning and living five God-ordained purposes — worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism — is key to effective living.

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to “the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people.” He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated.

Second generation: Cecilia Licauco

• Books by Brad Thor

Brad Thor is a number one New York Times bestselling thriller novelist and author of The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assassin, State of the Union, Blowback, Takedown, The First Commandment, The Last Patriot, The Apostle, Foreign Influence (June 2010), and The Athena Project (December 2010). His novels have been published in 24 countries. He also contributed a short story entitled “The Athens Solution” to the James Patterson-edited anthology, Thriller.

• Books by Stuart Woods

Stuart Woods graduated in 1959 from the University of Georgia, with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. After graduation he enrolled in the Air National Guard, spending two months in basic training before moving to New York, where he began a career in the advertising industry. Woods has published 41 novels in his 28-year career, and has now had 26 consecutive New York Times best sellers. In the past he has written two novels a year and has increased that to three novels a year, at the request of his publishers. He publishes each year in January, April and September.

Third generation: Trina Alindogan

• Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

This is the coming-of-age story of one of the most iconic characters of our generation. Before Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw was a small-town girl who knew she wanted more. The Carrie Diaries is the story of how a regular girl learns to think for herself and evolves into a sharp, insightful writer. Readers will learn about her family background, how she found her writing voice, and the indelible impression her early friendships and relationships left on her.

• Heart of the Matter by Emily Griffin

Nick Russo is a pediatric plastic surgeon; his wife, Tessa, is a professor turned stay-at-home mom living a cushy life in Boston. Nick is called in to care for a six-year-old burn victim, and Nick’s devotion to his work is soon tangled up in his attraction to the boy’s mother, Valerie, a single attorney. The story is narrated in turns by Tessa and Valerie.

Fourth generation: Maxine Alindogan

• Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen angels sure seem poised to become the new vampires, with a similarly ideal blend of brooding mystery and sexy rebellion. After a fiery accident kills a boy she is crushing on, Luce gets sent to a reform school populated, most notably, by two gorgeous fellas, Daniel and Cam. Cam is safe and charming and eager to win Luce’s affections, while Daniel operates somewhere between aloof and downright hostile toward her. Readers will figure out Luce and Daniel’s star-crossed-lovers angle early on, making the hints dropped throughout about past lives and dangerous fates more obvious than compelling.

Fourth generation: Martin Alindogan

• The Magi-cian’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

The book tells the tale of Peter Augustus Duchene, a 10-year-old orphan who receives an unbelievable piece of information from the local fortuneteller. Peter learns that his fate is tied to an elephant that has inexplicably fallen from the sky when a magician’s trick goes terribly wrong. Why did it happen? And, how can an elephant possibly change the course of Peter’s life?