Opus Dei: An Objective Look Behind the Myths and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church
By John Allen

The first serious journalistic investigation of the highly secretive, controversial organization Opus Dei provides unique insight about the wild rumors surrounding it and discloses its significant influence in the Vatican and on the politics of the Catholic Church.

Opus Dei (literally the work of God) is an international association of Catholics often labeled as conservative who seek personal Christian perfection and strive to implement Christian ideals in their jobs and in society as a whole. Founded in Spain in 1928, it now has 84,000 members (1,600 of whom are priests) in eighty countries. But far from running bingo nights at local parishes, Opus Dei has become a center of controversy and suspicion both within and outside the Church. It has been accused of promoting a right-wing political agenda and of cultlike practices, aggressive recruiting, brainwashing new recruits, and isolating members from their families. Its notoriety escalated with the publication of the runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code (Opus Dei plays an important and sinister role in the novel) and with the previous pope’s much-debated canonization of its founder (often linked with Francisco Franco’s facist regime) and the discovery that convicted FBI spy Robert Hanson was a member of Opus Dei.

With the expert eye of a longtime trusted observer of the Vatican and the skill of an investigative reporter intent on uncovering closely guarded secrets, John Allen finally separates the myths from the facts in Opus Dei, Granted unlimited access to the prelate who heads the organization and to Opus Dei centers throughout the world, Allen draws on a wealth of interviews with current members, as well as withhighly critical ex-members, to create an unprecedented portrait of the activities, practices, and intentions behind its veil of secrecy. Allen reveals the remarkable power that Opus Dei commands in shaping Vatican policy and presents a detailed look at the full extent of its network, which includes people in key positions in politics, banking, academia, and other influential arenas. He even describes the arcane rituals–including self-flagellation–performed to preserve and promote a spiritual tradition strange and unsettling to modern sensibilities.

For years, Opus Dei has been the subject of conspiracy theories and dark, uninformed speculation. Opus Dei sets the record straight.

A hardcover secondhand copy of Opus Dei is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php600.00. Call (7992004) or email us (boundbookshop@gmail.com) now to reserve this book. Other books on religion, as well as hundreds of other titles on different subjects, are also available for sale at bargain prices.

Have you been plagued by hard-to-diagnose health problems? You know your symptoms are real, but even your doctor can’t figure out what’s causing them?

If you:

* Can’t lose weight no matter how hard you try
* Feel depressed for no reason, even though you’re normally a happy person
* Aren’t sleeping as well as you used to
* Feel sluggish all the time
* Suddenly don’t see things in sharp focus
* Have become forgetful and find that your mind tends to wander

It’s not all in your head — it’s in your blood sugar! Scientists now know that blood-sugar imbalances are also the hidden cause of a host of hard-to-diagnose symptoms, even in nondiabetics.

Prevention’s The Sugar Solution provides a proven three-pronged approach to blood-sugar balancing, and it works without drugs and injections. By eating the Glycemic Index way, adding more motion to your daily routine, and reducing stress, you’ll stop hunger pangs and food cravings while jump-starting weight loss (on 6 meals a day!), brighten your mood and conquer depression, increase your energy levels, save your eyesight, improve your memory, and restore mental alertness. And the Sugar Solution Program will give you these dramatic results in less than a month!

Sound good? That’s not all. With the cutting-edge research in Prevention’s The Sugar Solution, you’ll reduce your chances of getting such dreaded major diseases as heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes.

A hardcover secondhand copy of The Sugar Solution is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php200.00. Call (7992004) or email us (boundbookshop@gmail.com) now to reserve this book. Other books on controlling sugar and diabetes, as well as dozens of other titles on health and wellness are also available for sale at bargain prices.

Gary Weiss, one of the business world’s most dogged investigative reporters, has written the definitive book about the dark side of Wall Street—not just a few bad apples, but the whole rotten barrel.

This is the outrageous, riveting, darkly funny story of what really happens in every corner of the financial system: from Internet tip sites and boiler rooms, to fee-happy mutual funds and hedge funds, to the bluest of blue-chip securities firms. With vivid anecdotes and character studies, Wall Street Versus America will show you how investors are consistently victimized—while sleepy regulators, biased arbitrators, and the media all look the other way.

You’ll learn, for instance, how respectable institutions such as Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley push the ethical envelope, and how Washington, under both Democrats and Republicans, simply has not kept up with innovations in Wall Street greed. (Barnes & Noble)

A hardcover secondhand copy of Wall Street Versus America is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php600.00. Call (7992004) or email us (boundbookshop@gmail.com) now to reserve this book. Dozens of other books on business and finance are also available for sale at bargain prices.

Starting this week, Bound Bookshop will be selling the new and latest books published by Anvil, the Philippines’s foremost book publisher. Bound’s prices for Anvil books are the same as those in other bookstores.

Among the titles available:

* Inside The Mass Movement: A Political Memoir (by Raul Segovia)
* Her Story: Women’s Narratives in MOdern Southeast Asian Writing (by Thelma Kintanar)
* Rizal Without The Overcoat (By Ambeth Ocampo)
* Storytelling on Film and Video The Writer and the Craft (by Isabel Enriquez Kenny)
* Power Without Virtue: A Critical Perspective on Philippine Governance (by Rene Azurin)
* A Political Journey (by Eva Estrada Kalaw)
* Before Gringo: History of the Philippine Miltary (By Donald Berlin)
* Cafe by the Ruins: Memories and Recipes (by Lia Llamado)
* The Many Ways of Being Muslim: Fiction by Muslim Filipinos (by Coeli Barry)
* Becoming A Guru (By Ramon Katigbak)
* Understanding the Psychic Power of Man (by Jaime Licauco)
* A Taste of Home Pinoy Expats and Food Memories (by Edgar Maranan)
* A Country Not Even His Own (by Steve Psinakis)
* The Shared Voice Chanted and Spoken Narratives from the Philippines (by Grace Nono)

If you’re like most people in their twenties and thirties, you don’t feel like you’re in control of your financial life. But if you want to take full advantage of the best financial opportunities, it’s important that you get started right away. Get a Financial Life shows you how to manage your money and make it grow. In it you will learn how to:
* Refinance your high-rate credit cards and student loans
* Start investing in the right mutual funds
* Find low-cost auto loans and mortgages
* Make the most of tax deductions you never knew existed
* Use tax-advantaged savings plans to build a serious nest egg

From 401(k)s to health insurance to stocks and bonds, this book focuses exclusively on what you really need to know at this stage in your financial life. Whether you earn $15,000 or $150,000, whether you’re single or married, whether you’re financially inclined or financially challenged, this book will let you manage your money with the smallest possible investment of time and effort.

A softcover secondhand copy of Get a Financial Life is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php250.00. Call (7992004) or email us (boundbookshop@gmail.com) now to reserve this book. Dozens of other books on business and personal finance are also available for sale at bargain prices.

The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham 2: The World Over contains all the stories that the legendary author had written that were not included in his earlier collection East and West. It contains 61 short stories and was first published by Doubleday in 1923. Bound Bookshop’s only copy of Complete was published in 1952.

“It was on account of the scar that I first noticed him, for it ran, broad and red, in a great crescent from his temple to his chin. It must have been due to a formidable wound and I wondered whether this had been caused by a sabre or by a fragment of shell. It was unexpected on that round, fat and good-humoured face.” (The Man With the Scar)

The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham 2: The World Over is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php600.00. Call Bound Bookshop at 7992004 or email us at boundbookshop@gmail.com to reserve this book now.

Bound Bookshop has been spruced up, the better to serve you. The store’s new layout is more cozy and comfortable, with adequate space for tables and chairs so customers can enjoy our brewed coffee (and, pretty soon, other refreshments) as well as free, unlimited wifi connection.

Bound Bookshop now offers FREE AND UNLIMITED wifi connection to its patrons. Yes, you heard it right: free and unlimited.

Unlike major coffee shops, we don’t limit your wifi connection to one or two hours. We also don’t require any minimum purchase in exchange for this service. You can buy a 10-peso book and still enjoy unlimited wifi connection for as long as we are open.

We are also serving coffee (barako and kalinga coffee for now) and tea. Other refreshments and snacks will be offered soon.

The dead and pieces of the dead turn up in El Salvador everywhere, every day, as taken for granted as in a nightmare, or a horror movie. Vultures of course suggests the presence of body. A knot of children on the streets suggests the presence of a body. Bodies turn up in the brush of vacant lots, in the garbage thrown down ravines in the richest districts, in public rest rooms, in bus stations.

Published in 1983, Salvador is Joan Didion’s powerful indictment of a country run wild by its military rulers and by its vigilantes.

“Although she is not an experienced newspaper reporter, it is difficult to deny that everything she writes grows out of close observation of the social and political landscape of El Salvador,” writes Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in his review of the book in The New York Times. “And it is quite impossible to deny the artistic brilliance of her reportage. She brings the country to life so that it ends up invading our flesh. To get rid of it then is as simple as shaking off leeches.”

A softcover (good as new) copy of Salvador published in 1994 by Vintage International is available for sale at Bound Bookshop for only Php490.00. Call Bound Bookshop at 7992004 or email us at boundbookshop@gmail.com to reserve this book now.

Fans of Gary Granada, the Philippines’s foremost folk musician, now have a reason to rejoice: his CDs are being sold “buy one take one” at Bound Bookshop. Among the CDs on sale are:
Gary Granada Live
Barangay Ginebra and Other Themes and Jingles
Saranggola sa Ulan
Chapel Songs
Pagsamba at Pakikibaka
Invitation to a Chapel Wedding
Sino Ka Ba: Jose Rizal
Gary Granada Sampler Vol. 1
Gary Granada Sampler Vol. 2
Lean: A Filipino Musical

A two-CD set (with 1 free CD) costs Php250.00. A three-CD set (with 1 free CD) costs Php375.00. Call Bound Bookshop at 7992004 for details and reservation, or email boundbookshop@gmail.com. More information at www.boundbookshop.com