What Are the Most Interesting Themes in Fictional Writing About Thailand?

[lamyai3]

8 hours ago, RSD1 said:

I don't think I could stand to read another Thai bar girl story. The subject seems so overdone and pedestrian in 2025. But that's just me. Hope you enjoy it. 

 

Generally if I see a book with a title like "Hello big honey, my name Fon" I give it a wide berth. But there's a world of difference when it's a respected and established author like Theroux who writes well and can really evoke a sense of time and place. 

 

The best fiction I've read about the region generally is older stuff like Orwell "Burmese Days" (which also features a local liaison gone wrong), Somerset-Maugham's Far East literature etc. 

[Ben Zioner]

On 3/31/2025 at 5:17 PM, RSD1 said:

It's on the list of 20 already: Sex tourism, nightlife, and go-go bars

What bunch of hypocrites [or seniles] was expecting this topic to get at least 70% of the votes.

[RSD1]

3 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

 

Generally if I see a book with a title like "Hello big honey, my name Fon" I give it a wide berth. But there's a world of difference when it's a respected and established author like Theroux who writes well and can really evoke a sense of time and place. 

 

The best fiction I've read about the region generally is older stuff like Orwell "Burmese Days" (which also features a local liaison gone wrong), Somerset-Maugham's Far East literature etc. 

A couple of the authors I enjoyed when I first discovered Thailand were Collin Piprell, Dean Barrett and Roger Crutchley. They weren't literary geniuses, but their writing was lighthearted and entertaining. I'm trying to remember some of the other early authors that I read back then, but drawing a blank.
 

One of my favorite travel writing authors was Pico Iyer. He wasn't a fictional writer per se, but he wrote non-fiction with a real fiction kind of flare. I would say some of his writing was some of the best back then. 

[lamyai3]

1 hour ago, RSD1 said:

A couple of the authors I enjoyed when I first discovered Thailand were Collin Piprell, Dean Barrett and Roger Crutchley. They weren't literary geniuses, but their writing was lighthearted and entertaining. I'm trying to remember some of the other early authors that I read back then, but drawing a blank.
 

One of my favorite travel writing authors was Pico Iyer. He wasn't a fictional writer per se, but he wrote non-fiction with a real fiction kind of flare. I would say some of his writing was some of the best back then. 

 

I'd forgotten about Collin Piprell. Kicking Dogs was a blast!