Rizal's Noli (Penguin edition)

During the price-cut sale of the local National Bookstore branch here this September, I chanced upon the new English translation of Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) Penguin Classics Edition. At 20% off, I bought one of two copies on the shelf.

Being the first Filipino novel published in the Penguin Classics edition, it was launched in Australia in 2007 (Don't ask me why there). I was surprised to find my google search for this edition turning up with only a handful of mentions in the national dailies and blogs. Hmmm . . .

The new translation was done by Harold Augenbraum, an American writer, editor, and translator. He is currently Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian American Writers Workshop, and former vice chair of the New York Council for the Humanities.

I've read Noli and Fili in Filipino in high school and college. And now for my third reading of it, I am taking it in slowly, savoring the words and story of our National Hero.