Gay-friendly Bookstore

[phayao]

The wonderful Konukoniya (Emporium) used to have a small GLBT themed section on the right hand side, but not anymore.

Also a bookshop in the middle of Patpong that I've found closed the last two times I visited that soi.

The only one that has something is Bookazine on Jomtiem beach, but it's too far for me.

Any one in Chiang Mai?

Thanks for your help.

[PeaceBlondie]

The outlet of Gecko Books (around corner from outside corner of Tha Pae Gate, the soi that puts your back to Art cafe as you enter the soi) had a section where I bought one book. You could go to the Gecko ad atop the Chiang Mai forum and ask Gecko.

[phayao]

The outlet of Gecko Books (around corner from outside corner of Tha Pae Gate, the soi that puts your back to Art cafe as you enter the soi) had a section where I bought one book. You could go to the Gecko ad atop the Chiang Mai forum and ask Gecko.

Thank you PB; I hadn't tried that one as I thought it only had books in Thai; I know where it is.

[PeaceBlondie]

The outlet of Gecko Books (around corner from outside corner of Tha Pae Gate, the soi that puts your back to Art cafe as you enter the soi) had a section where I bought one book. You could go to the Gecko ad atop the Chiang Mai forum and ask Gecko.

Thank you PB; I hadn't tried that one as I thought it only had books in Thai; I know where it is.

They have thousands of books in English!

[kek]

These days I buy all my books on line at Amazon.com or EBay. It saves so much time wandering around book shops that don't have what I want, don't know how to catalogue their books and have staff that can't understand why I don't want one of the top ten paperbacks or the one with the pretty cover.

Buying on line is also great for checking books by category or by author and being able to read a review or two before deciding to buy. The books are cheaper but the postage costs can hurt.

Sorry that this may not be the answer you were looking for but .... progress

[popshirt]

Dasa book cafe in Bangkok, near Emporium and Phrom Phong BTS (between Suk soi 26 & 28) sells used books in English. They have a gay and lesbian section upstairs, sometimes with very good titles and low prices. As they both buy and sell, stock changes regularly and I stop by every month or so.

[phayao]

Dasa book cafe in Bangkok, near Emporium and Phrom Phong BTS (between Suk soi 26 & 28) sells used books in English. They have a gay and lesbian section upstairs, sometimes with very good titles and low prices. As they both buy and sell, stock changes regularly and I stop by every month or so.

Thank you ¨"kek" and "popshirt" for your contributions.

I've been this evening to Dasa (upstairs, the small bookcase on the right hand side) and there is not a single GLBT book today; bad luck.

There must be a bookshop in BKK with more than say twenty titles of gay books.

Is Uthopia (off Sukhumvit) still open?

[Guest]

Dasa book cafe in Bangkok, near Emporium and Phrom Phong BTS (between Suk soi 26 & 28) sells used books in English. They have a gay and lesbian section upstairs, sometimes with very good titles and low prices. As they both buy and sell, stock changes regularly and I stop by every month or so.

Thank you ¨"kek" and "popshirt" for your contributions.

I've been this evening to Dasa (upstairs, the small bookcase on the right hand side) and there is not a single GLBT book today; bad luck.

There must be a bookshop in BKK with more than say twenty titles of gay books.

Is Uthopia (off Sukhumvit) still open?

Utopia closed years ago! But I thought most Bookazine branches had a selection ? They have branches in Silom.

[phayao]

Utopia closed years ago! But I thought most Bookazine branches had a selection ? They have branches in Silom.

OK, pauln, I'm going to try those Bookazines in Silom; I'll let you know, thanks for the hint.

[RAMPAGE]

I know we're not supposed to advertise on this forum so won't mention any names but I think the gay community should raise a toast to a newly-opened bookstore on the second floor of Nana Square (BTS Nana). It has to be the most gay-friendly bookstore in Bangkok....first time I've ever seen gay Christmas cards on sale in the Land of Smiles!

[RAMPAGE]

Dasa book cafe in Bangkok, near Emporium and Phrom Phong BTS (between Suk soi 26 & 28) sells used books in English. They have a gay and lesbian section upstairs, sometimes with very good titles and low prices. As they both buy and sell, stock changes regularly and I stop by every month or so.

Thank you ¨"kek" and "popshirt" for your contributions.

I've been this evening to Dasa (upstairs, the small bookcase on the right hand side) and there is not a single GLBT book today; bad luck.

There must be a bookshop in BKK with more than say twenty titles of gay books.

Is Uthopia (off Sukhumvit) still open?

Utopia closed years ago! But I thought most Bookazine branches had a selection ? They have branches in Silom.

Bookazine stopped selling gay books over a year ago...but you can check out MEGABOOKS in Nana Square

[RAMPAGE]

These days I buy all my books on line at Amazon.com or EBay. It saves so much time wandering around book shops that don't have what I want, don't know how to catalogue their books and have staff that can't understand why I don't want one of the top ten paperbacks or the one with the pretty cover.

Buying on line is also great for checking books by category or by author and being able to read a review or two before deciding to buy. The books are cheaper but the postage costs can hurt.

Sorry that this may not be the answer you were looking for but .... progress

I understand MEGABOOKS will open Thailand's first online store for magazines and books on January 1. Apparently they will be selling all of the same gay magazines and books that they offer in their Nana Square store.

[Ulysses G.]

The outlet of Gecko Books (around corner from outside corner of Tha Pae Gate, the soi that puts your back to Art cafe as you enter the soi) had a section where I bought one book. You could go to the Gecko ad atop the Chiang Mai forum and ask Gecko.

Thank you PB; I hadn't tried that one as I thought it only had books in Thai; I know where it is.

I own Gecko Books and the main branch probably has something like 70,000 English books in all different categories and NO Thai books. We also have German, French, Dutch and others.

The Gay Section is not big, but it has some good titles and is in the original shop near Thapae Gate.

[PeaceBlondie]

It's all right to name a commercial, legal place if it does not directly complete with an existing ThaiVisa sponsor (in this case, I don't think a new books store in BKK competes with the used book stores in Chiang Mai). We just don't leave commercial links to their website. The way you've identified the store is fine, and you could name it as well. And, you can't in effect give free advertising to your own store. But if anybody wishes to check the rates, contact sales (at) thaivisa.com. Now, this topic is so similar to the existing recent topic that I'm going to try to merge them.

[toptuan]

And, you can't in effect give free advertising to your own store.

What about the farang dude down in Surin who's always plugging his own bar, month-in, month-out? I'm not talking about the ads on TV, but in the actual text of forum threads. Or are the rules different in the Isaan forums?

[PeaceBlondie]

Toptuan, I didn't mean to start a topic on advertising policies. Would you please ask that in the Troubleshooting Forum, or send a PM to an admin, please? Thanks.

[Jingthing]

Alot of the bookshop owners wouldn't know a gay book if it adopted a wide stance at an airport men's room. Quite often I find wonderful gay interest novels just mixed in with everything else. Happy hunting!

Edited December 19, 2007 by Jingthing

[kash]

...and what exactly is a gay book? do you guys have gay supermarkets, gay honda dealers, gay airlines e.g. as well?

[Jingthing]

...and what exactly is a gay book? do you guys have gay supermarkets, gay honda dealers, gay airlines e.g. as well?

A book with content of special interest to gay people, fiction, or non-fiction, did you really have to ask?

Gay book sections and even gay bookstores are found in many places around the world.

Edited December 19, 2007 by Jingthing

[PeaceBlondie]

...and what exactly is a gay book? do you guys have gay supermarkets, gay honda dealers, gay airlines e.g. as well?

Good question, although it sounds a bit silly. There are supermarkets in gay neighborhoods, and my boyfriend's Honda Civic was a gay pink. There are travel agents who specialize in finding gay destinations for their clients. But generally, gays still put on their trousers one leg at a time (unless they're an astronaut in space ), and most of us have standard, non-gay jobs, just as 'breeders' have jobs which don't require any special sexual orientation. When I supervised federal employees, they had job descriptions that said nothing about sex, even though one of my best tax examiners was a bull dyke in a twenty year relationship with a femme.

As for books, most gay men don't get aroused when we read how Reginald overpowers Samantha, followed by a page of hetero-specific terms about his entry into her cavities, etc. We read what straight people read, usually (novels, biography, history, science fiction, etc) and any other subject that interests us, even if it doesn't interest 90% of the other readers.

[Ijustwannateach]

Most Thai "gay" publications are in the genre of "fashion" and "health" magazines these days... there's an unwillingness to use the "g" word so a lot of them pretend to be women's magazines, though I doubt I've ever seen women buying them (they have better gaydar than that).

In Bangkok, Kinokuniya is ok and many of the Bookazines are deeply pink- especially the ones around Sukhumvit.

[Ijustwannateach]

Just wanted to add- the one time I was in Chiang Mai I was very impressed by a branch of Gecko books, though I didn't have time to stop by the main branch and greet the proprietor!

[kash]

...did you really have to ask?

well, as I know absolute nothing about the subject I thought I would ask.

As for books, most gay men don't get aroused when we read how Reginald overpowers Samantha, followed by a page of hetero-specific terms about his entry into her cavities, etc. We read what straight people read, usually (novels, biography, history, science fiction, etc) and any other subject that interests us, even if it doesn't interest 90% of the other readers.

thanks PB, I didn't even think about erotic books, stupid me :-) Edited December 20, 2007 by kash

[Ijustwannateach]

It's not only erotica- there are plenty of other pertinent subjects which need more development for gay men (and lesbians, too, but my knowledge there is more limited):

Sociology: how is our gay identity constructed, and how is it different from society to society and in different time periods?

Culture: How are gay and straight cultural elements linked, overlapped, and separated? What influences do they have on each other?

Politics: This one's pretty obvious in many ways- sexuality is a political battleground in many modern countries.

History: Because of straight bias, most past historical accounts have lacked a gay dimension. As a result, some prominent figures simply have their pasts erased from plain view because of their presumed difference. Sadly, lesbian historical figures are even less well-known.

Literature: Though many authors of the past did not openly present a character as gay, there are some telling hints which require scholarship to investigate...

Economics: Gay people are worried about money, too, and the lack of economic status accorded to straight partnerships in the form of marriage has real financial consequences.

Art: Gay stories and sensibilities are different from straight ones. Gay perons are not straight, and we don't want only to see movies or read stories where we can only identify with straight characters. Straight people may be able to empathise by imagining a world in which 99% of the movies on at the theatres were gay-themed.

And so forth.

"S"

[PeaceBlondie]

That's why my double novel will probably never get published: its main characters are gay. It's about 3 countries, ethnic groups, racial differences, levels of education, putting faith into practice, making peace in conflict areas, income tax (all things that I have done), hetero families (fathers, grandfathers), kings, princes, presidents, many languages, etc. But it would be considered first, last and always as a gay novel, regardless of its other features. Both main characters in ]Brokeback Mountainwere cowboys, husbands, fathers, and businessmen, but their characters were seen even by the gay audience as primarily....gay men.

Name your favorite ten books that were not about gays. Are those books known as straight? Is the novelist evaluated on how he showed the straight scenes?

[Jingthing]

Some gay books are more gay than others, just like the people who read them.

[popshirt]

Dasa book cafe in Bangkok, near Emporium and Phrom Phong BTS (between Suk soi 26 & 28) sells used books in English. They have a gay and lesbian section upstairs, sometimes with very good titles and low prices. As they both buy and sell, stock changes regularly and I stop by every month or so.

Thank you ¨"kek" and "popshirt" for your contributions.

I've been this evening to Dasa (upstairs, the small bookcase on the right hand side) and there is not a single GLBT book today; bad luck.

There must be a bookshop in BKK with more than say twenty titles of gay books.

Is Uthopia (off Sukhumvit) still open?

Phayao, I went to Dasa yesterday and counted almost 80 gay titles in their gay and lesbian section---there are only around 70 left because I bought ten of them! It is upstairs on the LEFT hand wall, lower shelf toward the street. You may have been looking in the sexuality or women's studies section where they used to be housed. Look again. Good luck.

[phayao]

Phayao, I went to Dasa yesterday and counted almost 80 gay titles in their gay and lesbian section---there are only around 70 left because I bought ten of them! It is upstairs on the LEFT hand wall, lower shelf toward the street. You may have been looking in the sexuality or women's studies section where they used to be housed. Look again. Good luck.

Bad luck; I'm no longer in Bangkok; next time, I hope.

As you seem to have a love for books, like me, I'd would appreciate if you could give me some titles of gay books that you have enjoyed.

Let me give you the names of some gay books that I found very interesting in case you wish to read them:

"Reflections of a Rock Lobster", by Aaron Fricke, Alyson Publications, 1981.

"The World. the Flesh and Myself", by Michael Davidson, GMP Publishers, 1985.

"My First Time", by Jack Hart, Alyson P., 1995.

"Sex Lives of Famous Gays", by Nigel Cawthorne, Diana, 2005.

I wish all contributers and readers of this forum a Happy New Year 2008 (or 2551).

[endure]

"Fire from Heaven"

"The Persian Boy" (reading this always makes me cry)

"Funeral Games"

"The Charioteer"

all by Mary Renault.

[endure]

"The Naked Civil Servant" by Quentin Crisp.