Asian Stories?

[coldcrush]

OK guys an update on this thread, I bought Shogun and a couple of other recommendations, currently away so cant wait to get back and read them. Just wanted to keep this thread alive as it has brought some good knowledge of books to light. Shows that TV people are not to thick after all (maybe just me)!

Any asian stories are welcomed.

Thanks CC

[soundman]

OK guys an update on this thread, I bought Shogun and a couple of other recommendations, currently away so cant wait to get back and read them. Just wanted to keep this thread alive as it has brought some good knowledge of books to light. Shows that TV people are not to thick after all (maybe just me)!

Any asian stories are welcomed.

Thanks CC

You are going to love that book. Happy reading.

[pgs]

If I remember rightly, it took about 9 hours (straight) to read Shogun when I was 15 or 16. James Clavell was a good writer.

Others of his I read around the same time & worthy of a 2nd run:

Noble House (2 parts), Tai Pan & Gai Jin.

If you just want an 'easy read', Mekong by Paul Adirex fit the category.

[soundman]

If I remember rightly, it took about 9 hours (straight) to read Shogun when I was 15 or 16. James Clavell was a good writer.

Others of his I read around the same time & worthy of a 2nd run:

Noble House (2 parts), Tai Pan & Gai Jin.

If you just want an 'easy read', Mekong by Paul Adirex fit the category.

You must be a speedreader pgs. Took me a week!

Highly recommend the rest of the series, but definately read TaiPan before Noble House. Another good one by James Clavell is Whirlwind set in Iran around the time of the fall of the Shah.

Soundman.

[chinthee]

If I remember rightly, it took about 9 hours (straight) to read Shogun when I was 15 or 16. James Clavell was a good writer.

Others of his I read around the same time & worthy of a 2nd run:

Noble House (2 parts), Tai Pan & Gai Jin.

If you just want an 'easy read', Mekong by Paul Adirex fit the category.

You must be a speedreader pgs. Took me a week!

Highly recommend the rest of the series, but definately read TaiPan before Noble House. Another good one by James Clavell is Whirlwind set in Iran around the time of the fall of the Shah.

Soundman.

Clavell's entire "Asian Saga" is a series. If you are intrigued with the Hong Kong/Singapore quasi-histories, Start with King Rat, then Tai-Pan, then Noble House. For Japan buffs, start with Sho-Gun, then Gai-Jin. Fun books.

[pete_r]

Two more on SEA recent history:

Nam, by Mark Baker - Collection of interviews with Vietnam veterans. I read it two months ago, it was an eye opener.

The Gate, by Francois Bizot - An account of the rise of the Kmher rouges in Cambodia.

[nonthaburial]

For Hong Kong experts then John Gordon Davis and his "Typhoon" and "Years of the hungry tiger" are a must read

[Pattayatony]

You can buy my book once I have finished it. I have had to re-write part of it because I forgot to put ,Jai Dee, tuky, George, Dr Pat Pong and maybe Totster in it. It will be called "My 25 years in Asia" but once I have published it I won't be able to return to Thailand.

[Andrew Hicks]

Get a copy of the book Private Dancer its a great read .

JB .

a freind gave me a copy of that yesterday ,said it was very good ,gonna start it tomorrow

If you can get hold of the Esquire article too - its the factual account written before the novel.

The girl on the cover was a show girl at Angel Witch and I beleive it may have been Stickman who took the picture.

It may have been Stickman but it wasn't.

Wasn't me either.

Andrew Hicks

[Andrew Hicks]

Letters from Thailand - Botan

Touch the Dragon - Karen Connelly

Mai Pen Rai Means Never Mind - Carol Hollinger

Bangkok - Alec Waugh

The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp - Khammaan Khonkhai

Reflections on Thai Culture - William J. Klausner

Inside Thai Society - Niels Mulder

That should keep you going for a week or two

I'll second Letters from Thailand. I was with the wife in the salon, (it will not take long) and they had the book in there, so I started reading it after a couple of hours, (as she said not long) I was fully engrosed by it.

Yes, Letters From Thailand is perhaps my favourite serious Thai novel. Highly recommended.

Mai Pen Rai in my view is a bit patronising and is now terribly dated.

Andrew Hicks

[WaiWai]

Mai Pen Rai in my view is a bit patronising and is now terribly dated.

Patronising ? I guess I can see what you might mean, but it really didn't occur to me at the time.

I read it when I'd not been in Thailand long, and it gave many useful insights & was very funny in places; lovely, fluid style. She's a born writer. I also admired the fact, which she does not highlight at all but eventually dawns on the reader, that she is simultaneously holding down a teaching job at the University, running a household, and keeping up with a heavy load of social duties as the wife of a consular official/embassador. Along with all this she makes a serious effort to learn Thai and gain understanding of Thai people. I liked it a lot.

"Terribly dated" ? In what ways do you mean? I thought it was remarkable how little seemed to have changed.

[coldcrush]

Hiya All,

just ordered "Letters From Thailand", thats five four upto now off this list. "The Big Mango" and "Private Dancer" are very hard to get (expensive") in the UK. Anyone have any links? My asia related book section is growing vastly!

Thanks

[Austhaied]

Mekong by Thai author Paul Adirex. Great read. http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?cP...;products_id=77

[lannarebirth]

Here's one you can scratch off your list:

Private_Dancer.pdf

[coldcrush]

Here's one you can scratch off your list:

Private_Dancer.pdf

Thanks Lanna great!

Austhaid that link brings up nothing "Product not found"...typical!

[Austhaied]

Here's one you can scratch off your list:

Private_Dancer.pdf

Thanks Lanna great!

Austhaid that link brings up nothing "Product not found"...typical!

Sorry mate. Try this.. http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?products_id=77

[coldcrush]

Thanks Mate.

[JRinger]

"Dog Shit in Paradise" by Tom Turner

True life short-stories of an American living all around the Kingdom for 20 years.

Sad, funny, almost unbelievable unless you've lived in Thailand for any length of time; tragic, eye-opening, educational, etc., a very interesting and satisfying read, Will make you laugh and cry.

Edited August 7, 2007 by JRinger

[soundman]

Sorry mate. Try this.. http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?products_id=77

Thanx for that link mate.

CD available on that web-site I have been trying to track down in various shops for six months.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[Austhaied]

Sorry mate. Try this.. http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?products_id=77

Thanx for that link mate.

CD available on that web-site I have been trying to track down in various shops for six months.

Cheers,

Soundman.

You're welcome. Payment in beer acceptable..

[coldcrush]

"Dog Shit in Paradise" by Tom Turner

True life short-stories of an American living all around the Kingdom for 20 years.

Sad, funny, almost unbelievable unless you've lived in Thailand for any length of time; tragic, eye-opening, educational, etc., a very interesting and satisfying read, Will make you laugh and cry.

Cannot find that one mate? Any ideas?

[rychrde]

Burmese Days by George Orwell

a link if you want to read it online

http://www.george-orwell.org/Burmese_Days/0.html

Monsoon country by Pira Sudham, also People of Esarn and other books by same author. Strange guy, Thai but only writes in English, even seems to have refused to be translated into Thai.

rych

[crewcut]

"The Big Mango" and "Private Dancer" are very hard to get (expensive") in the UK.

Try this link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/9...3075&sr=1-1

Jake Needham, The Big Mango

under a tenner, U Cheap skate me tink!

Romper!

[seonai]

Just read The Lizard Cage and can't remember the author. It's about a guy in solitary in a Burmese jail. It's very well written and an insight into Burma and the regime there.

[coldcrush]

Just read The Lizard Cage and can't remember the author. It's about a guy in solitary in a Burmese jail. It's very well written and an insight into Burma and the regime there.

Thanks Seonai, just got back and the book has arrived. Lizard Cage - Karen Connelly.

I now have 9 books in total gained from all your comments, this has been my favourite and best thread! Thanks again people.

[zzdocxx]

That is alot of books!

OK FWIW I thought you might find this recent review from the New Yorker Magazine (July 23, 2007) interesting:

"Bangkok Haunts, by John Burdett (Knopf; $24.95). Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the hero of Burdett's Bangkok-based thrillers, is a unique police detective. A Buddhist as closely attuned to karma as to crime, Sonchai is profoundly aware that the latter is only an expression of the former, and, accordingly, he finds answers in places that logic-hampered Westerners would never know to look. In his third adventure to date, a murdered prostitute proves to be--even more in death than she was in life--a femme fatale of special magnitude. As in previous episodes, the pleasures derive less from Burdett's baroque plotting (in this case including former Khmer Rouge hired killers, a pornography ring debased even by Bangkok standards, and a death by torture involving elephants) than from the vivid portrait he paints of contemporary Thai life and mores."

[coldcrush]

That is alot of books!

OK FWIW I thought you might find this recent review from the New Yorker Magazine (July 23, 2007) interesting:

"Bangkok Haunts, by John Burdett (Knopf; $24.95). Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the hero of Burdett's Bangkok-based thrillers, is a unique police detective. A Buddhist as closely attuned to karma as to crime, Sonchai is profoundly aware that the latter is only an expression of the former, and, accordingly, he finds answers in places that logic-hampered Westerners would never know to look. In his third adventure to date, a murdered prostitute proves to be--even more in death than she was in life--a femme fatale of special magnitude. As in previous episodes, the pleasures derive less from Burdett's baroque plotting (in this case including former Khmer Rouge hired killers, a pornography ring debased even by Bangkok standards, and a death by torture involving elephants) than from the vivid portrait he paints of contemporary Thai life and mores."

Thanks for your reply zzdoc,

I think that was the author who did The Last Six Million Seconds. This book after a little research is the follow on from Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo, so guess what? I have just ordered all the Three! Well I do read alot at work so it all helps! Funny how you can put a post up then at the end of the line a guy spends a few quid, good stuff.

Thanks

Edited August 29, 2007 by coldcrush

[tracer5050]

"Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye

[Payboy]

imo, the best book on thailand to date is ........

[coldcrush]

Pushed on again by a topic from Mossy in the cellar, does anyone have any good asian related books to recommend? Also travel books fictional and non fictional are welcomed?

Thanks All