"What does a house speak? It speaks many things: of certain distance, enduring affections, of absence, neglect, infidelities of distraction, forgetting."

In this collection of essays, National Artist for Literature Resil Mojares makes his way into the past by framing his memories and musings as parts of a house. Each essay elicits that familiar nostalgia one gets while visiting an old home and wistfully rummaging through long-forgotten objects that bring back the fond memories of childhood. Mojares's writings create a sense of wonder about the most ordinary objects and occurrences, demonstrating a richness of emotion and a deep mindfulness many only hope to achieve. 

Few Filipino writers and critics have argued as eloquently as Resil Mojares has for "building the national," and bringing the regions into the mainstream of our literary consciousness. He does this by gentle and effective persuasion, without the screechiness and the opacity that characterize too much of academic writing today. Mojares is truly a scholar of the people, both in his broad interests and concerns and in his caring to be understood. -Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. PhD, award-winning writer and professor