A Brief Book Review -- "farang" By Dr. Iain Corness

[zzdocxx]

I just finished reading "Farang", a 330 page book written by Dr. Iain Corness. Dr. Corness emigrated to Pattaya from Australian a over decade ago and never looked back, after a twenty year love affair with Thailand. He currently works as a non-practicing consulting physician for Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, and is a columnist for the Pattaya Mail. His interests also include auto racing and photography.

The book is a collection of stories chronicling the good doctor's experience as an expat in Thailand. He keeps an amused perspective at the differences in Western and Thai cultures, through the difficulties he encounters.

In fact, many of the stories start out with some unexpected "challenge" of everyday life in Thailand, involving things that would be taken for granted in his home country. These range all the way from keeping the household water running, to buying/building a house,to getting married to a Thai woman and having children. Other of the stories are reflections on the Thai thinking and way of doing things.

Dr. Corness is a first-class raconteur, with a humorous take on his experience here. I have the impression that this easy-going approach has helped him to build a successful and happy life in Thailand.

This book was an enjoyable read, so much so that I didn't want to finish it too quickly. So I read just two or three stories at each sitting, over the course of a couple of weeks.

I recommend it for those who are interested. I ordered it online -- it is published by Maverick House. (Maybe it is in bookstores in Thailand.)

Edited September 4, 2009 by zzdocxx

[aussiechick]

Available at Bookazine here in Pattaya. He was at the the Jesters Childrens Fair and was selling his book and happily signing copies for those that wanted it.

[Travel2003]

I just finished reading "Farang", a 330 page book written by Dr. Iain Corness. Dr. Corness emigrated to Pattaya from Australian a over decade ago and never looked back, after a twenty year love affair with Thailand. He currently works as a non-practicing consulting physician for Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, and is a columnist for the Pattaya Mail. His interests also include auto racing and photography.

The book is a collection of stories chronicling the good doctor's experience as an expat in Thailand. He keeps an amused perspective at the differences in Western and Thai cultures, through the difficulties he encounters.

In fact, many of the stories start out with some unexpected "challenge" of everyday life in Thailand, involving things that would be taken for granted in his home country. These range all the way from keeping the household water running, to buying/building a house,to getting married to a Thai woman and having children. Other of the stories are reflections on the Thai thinking and way of doing things.

Dr. Corness is a first-class raconteur, with a humorous take on his experience here. I have the impression that this easy-going approach has helped him to build a successful and happy life in Thailand.

This book was an enjoyable read, so much so that I didn't want to finish it too quickly. So I read just two or three stories at each sitting, over the course of a couple of weeks.

I recommend it for those who are interested. I ordered it online -- it is published by Maverick House. (Maybe it is in bookstores in Thailand.)

I guess most of his material is taken from posts here on TV.

Just kidding.

Im traveling again within the next 2 weeks, and like to read on the air plane.

Hopefully the book is available at the air port by then.

Anyone seen it in the shelves yet?

[doggie888888]

Read the first one...to be honest I won't be rushing out to get the next one. It's a pretty average holiday read and there are better books on life in Thailand out there, whether humorous or serious, fiction or non-fiction. That they even bothered with a sequel...ah well, you can fool some people some of the time but as for me, prefer to spend my bahts on something else.

In the new book, is there a chapter on that awful hospital he works for or that pretend newspaper he writes in? Both that hospital and the newspaper are jokes unto themselves and I am sure can provide some light weight amusement should the good doctor see fit to write about them.