Thai Reading Material

[luckyfarang]

Can anyone here please recommend some favorite reading material written originally in Thai, or a Thai translation of something highly readable? Anything at all, fiction or non-fiction that can be purchased readily in Thailand that is not the usual crappy romance novel, cartoon, boring stuff so easy to find.

[Rikker]

I faced this same issue starting out--I asked a lot of Thais for recommendations, but quickly lost confidence in that technique, because it seems that few Thais read book books (as opposed to comics or magazines). I haven't read as broadly as I should yet, but I have a large stack of Thai books on my reading list.

One good place to look is at SEAWrite Award winners. Most bookstores have a section for award-wining books. The SEAWrite award has been given out since 1979, I think, choosing awardees in several categories, from each ASEAN country (although you'll generally only find the Thai ones in Thailand). Here are a few ideas:

วินทร์ เลียววาริณ -- Has around 20 books in print, including a number of books of short stories, which are easily digestible and quite interesting. Has won two SEAWrite Awards, one for his political novel ประชาทิปไตยบนเส้นขนาน, and another for his short story collection สิ่งมีชีวิตที่เรียกว่าคน. I particularly like the three-volume (to date) set of เรื่องสั้นแนวทดลอง (experimental short stories), which are as much visual as they are verbal: หนึ่งวันเดียวกัน, วันแรกของวันที่เหลือ, and โลกด้านที่หันหลังให้ดวงอาทิตย์. Another fun one is สมุดปกดำกับปากกาสีแดง, which are เรื่องสั้นแนวหักมุม (twist-ending short stories).

ปราบดา หยุ่น -- A prolific younger writer (and son of famed Thai co-founder of The Nation newspaper and ITV station สุทธิชัย หยุ่น), he has a style which caused some older folks to protest his receipt of the SEAWrite Award in 2004 for his short story collection ความน่าจะเป็น. I recommend that one, but it's the only one I've read, though I have several more on my reading list. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie เรื่องรักน้อยนิดมหาศาล (English title "Last Life in the Universe"), which I liked a lot.

ชาติ กอบจิตติ -- Has written a number of modern classics, including the short novels คำพิพากษา and เวลา (which one the 1982 and 1993 SEAWrite Awards, respectively). The former was made into the movie ไอ้ฟัก a couple years back. Sadly, these are still on my reading list, though I've read a number of his short stories. There's also his largest work, พันธุ์หมาบ้า, which comes highly recommended.

Other books on my reading list include several fiction books by คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช, who was Prime Minister, and has written broadly on a variety of topics. Specifically, สี่แผ่นดิน, ไผ่แดง and หลายชีวิต are ones to look into.

จดหมายจากเมืองไทย by โบตั่น is written from the point of view of a Chinese immigrant to Thailand, a technique used by the author to criticize the faults Thai society.

Most of the books I've mentioned are available in English, too, for anyone interested who might not be able to handle the original Thai. I can give ISBN info or more details to anyone interested in tracking them down.

Last, there are also Thai translations of tons of English-language works. I've read the first Harry Potter book in Thai, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Hobbit (not finished yet), etc. Reading a Thai translation of a work you're familiar with in English is excellent practice, and you'll be able to grasp meaning from the context that much easier.

Edited April 17, 2007 by Rikker

[Gerontion]

I’ve just started reading Bridget Jones’s Diary in translation. I’m no fan of chick lit but it was in my local Oxfam and it was cheap. It suits my language level (fairly basic) and has the advantage of being very episodic so it’s easy to bite off self-contained two or three page sections. As the previous poster said, knowing the plot and understanding the background culture is a huge help in contextualising the story and allows you to guess a lot of vocabulary. Probably the hardest thing is reading the English words which are transliterated into Thai.

[Tarragona]

There's a list of "100 good books that every Thai should read". I have it as a pdf download which I thought came from the Sarakadee website but I can't find it on there now.

It's a good mix of material and oddly enough includes books that every Thai would have found hard to read at times because they were on the banned list.

Here's a different link to the list:

หนังสือดี 100 เล่ม ที่คนไทยควรอ่าน

[Rikker]

There's a similar list for kids/young adults called หนังสือดี 100 เล่มที่เด็กและเยาวชนไทยควรอ่าน. It has a nice gradation of difficulty, by age group.

Here is a response to that list, and there are also several PDFs on that page of books in Thai. Have a look.

[katana]

There's a similar list for kids/young adults called หนังสือดี 100 เล่มที่เด็กและเยาวชนไทยควรอ่าน. It has a nice gradation of difficulty, by age group.

Here is a response to that list, and there are also several PDFs on that page of books in Thai. Have a look.

Thanks Rikker. Nice link.

[aanon]

ปราบดา หยุ่น -- A prolific younger writer (and son of famed Thai co-founder of The Nation newspaper and ITV station สุทธิชัย หยุ่น), he has a style which caused some older folks to protest his receipt of the SEAWrite Award in 2004 for his short story collection ความน่าจะเป็น. I recommend that one, but it's the only one I've read, though I have several more on my reading list. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie เรื่องรักน้อยนิดมหาศาล (English title "Last Life in the Universe"), which I liked a lot.

seconding the recommendation for work by ปราบดา หยุ่น. one of the most enjoyable things i've read recently was his translation of a collection of short stories called Dogwalker by Arthur Bradford. the translation is titled คนหัวหมา. it was enjoyable because the stories were somewhat grotesque and moved at a hundred miles an hour. nary a flowery description to be seen. i just started reading one of หยุ่น's own books, นอนใต้ละอองหนาว and, although i'm only 3 chapters in, it seems just as entertaining and engrossing.

also, i've mentioned it before but i also think ฅ.คน magazine is a good read. some of the contributors get a bit wordy but it's well written and the subjects covered are interesting. plus you get pictures to go with the stories.

as for ชาติ กอบจิตติ, i started reading เวลา but put it down after a few chapters. seemed a bit like 'waiting for Godot' to me. that said, maybe it picks up in later chapters.

all the best.

[meadish_sweetball]

ชาติ กอบจิตติ: Try 'phan maa baa' unless you haven't already - it is his best by far IMO. 'kham phiphaaksaa' is also ok but more depressing, a bit like reading about the trials of Job.

[rak sa_ngop]

I have just come across "Robinson Crusoe" in the B2S bookshop, price 250 baht, in the English Language section.

This book is both in Thai and English, (translated phrase by phrase) so very useful for both Intermediate learners of Thai and English.

I find it rather perplexing why there are so few bi-lingual books available in Thai- English (as for example compared to Vietnamese- English books available in Vietnam.) Probably explains why Thai reading skills of English are so poor.

These bi-lingual books are so useful for understanding sentence structure and I am always amazed /dismayed how often I misunderstand the meaning of a sentence even when I know every word in that sentence.

Maybe this would be a good business opportunity for somebody because all these Thai publishers printing English stories translated into Thai seem to be missing something.

[cm-happy]

Can anyone here please recommend some favorite reading material written originally in Thai, or a Thai translation of something highly readable? Anything at all, fiction or non-fiction that can be purchased readily in Thailand that is not the usual crappy romance novel, cartoon, boring stuff so easy to find.

Try going to the local university book store. Many carry books originally written in Thai and translated into English. I've found them to be a good source, and have enjoyed reading many of the titles.