The Big Book Thread

[FireInTheSky]

Ok let's do this! Study books (educative material) will bring you to intermediate level at most and reading is -from my point of view- a very important aspect when learning the Thai language. In this topic I want to build up a a collection of Thai books that are fun to read and useful for learning the Thai language. To make this stuff consistent I will add a format :

==========================FORMAT========================

1) Optional - a picture of the cover of the book -

2) The title of the book

3) What is it about

4) Why is it good for learning thai

5) ISBN number -optional

==========================================================

The books can vary from novels to graphic novels to cartoons or whatever. So lets make a big collection of -BOOKS YOU NEED TO READ BECAUSE THEY ARE FUN AND WILL IMPROVE YOUR THAI LANGUAGE ABILITIES- in this topic shall we?

So without furder ado allow me to write down a collection of books I found useful and very fun to read. I love reading graphic novels so I picked up a lot of these whilst being in Thailand. Let's have a look of what I found:

1) Optional - a picture of the cover of the book -

2) Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1+2) // 2: Rodrick rules - part 3 is released by kaewkarn in the middle of this year

3) It is about a guy who is making a diary of his everyday child situations. Mostly its about school, swimming lessons, rockbands, and playing videogames.

4) This book is AWESOME for learning thai because it is FUN to read. I mean it is FUN!! And you don't need to know a lot of Thai to grasp the story. It is one of the best books basically I have come across for learning Thai. I am sure many people would agree with me. The language is VERY colloquial and useful!

5) Book 1: 978-974-452-885-8 // Book 2: 978-616-524-012-3 : Published by kaewkarn

1) Optional - a picture of the cover of the book -

2) Beansprout and Firehead part 1 + 2 + 3 (1: in the infinite madness 2: in the dark season 3: the winter tales)

3) It is about a beansprout who meets a strange guy called firehead and his dog called bubbib and together they venture to strange locations and meet even stranger people. Lots of fantasy in this book and it kinda reminds me of Tim Burton from time to time. The artwork in this book is awesome.

4) While the language isn't quite as colloquial as Diary of a Wimpy kid is, it is still a graphic novel and it is still very easy to read. There are 3 parts thus far and the story is okay enough to keep you reading. It is easy to read and the pages are filled with cool images and some text to read.

5) Book 1: 978-616-74220-5-3 Book 2: 978-616-74220-6-0 Book 3: 978-616-74220-8-4

1) Optional - a picture of the cover of the book -

2) Captain Underpants (กัปตันกางเกงใน)

3) It is about 2 shabby kids making cartoons and doing naughty stuff. They get in trouble with the rector of the school and they decide to hypnotize him with a ring. Crazy stuff happens from that moment on and shit gets outta control

4) Super easy to read, again this is a graphic novel which is super fun and funny. You will read this one in 30 minutes and read it again the next day. It is basically made for people who don't like reading that much. I advice this one to anyone who is learning the thai language.

5) Don't have the book at my appartment at the moment. Will get back to this later.

1) Optional - a picture of the cover of the book -

2) ทำไงดี (part 1. 2, 3 and 4) Let's discuss part 4: called อยากหุ่นดีกะเขาบ้าง

3) From Japanese origin, this book is about a girl who wants to lose weight and you can read in the book how she does it. It is a mix between a graphic novel and a cartoon.

4) Super easy to read and super laid back and colloquial. There are four parts and they are all equally funny. actually, i took these books from my girlfriend and decided to give it a go. I read all 4 of them within on day because I enjoyed them supermuch!

5) Only have part 4 at the appartment and the ISBN is: 978-616-7014-15-9

Other stuff I find useful:

Cartoons from "the duang"

1) Shockolate

2) I am ISBN: 918-611-01-0196-7

3) เรื่องมีอยู่สว่า (2 parts : ISBN : 918-616-7134-10-9 // 918-616-7134-39-0)

4) Innocent (very nice language use in this book, pretty rude too from time to time ) ISBN: 978-616-90128-0-1

I WILL add pictures later on but I have to be registered for 3 days to add links so I will do this later. Send in your books and convince me to buy them plix

CHeers

[Tod Daniels]

While this is not exactly 'something on-topic' I thought it might 'fit' here as you mentioned you want to learn to improve your Thai.

I routinely buy the Thai language versions of Maxim and FHM magazines to practice my Thai reading skills.

I know that sounds like I'd say in the US, "I ONLY buy Penthouse for the articles.." lol, but really I do read Maxim and FHM here to practice my Thai reading comprehension.

I especially like the "Jokes of the Month", as some are quite good, and some are just recycled jokes written in Thai. For the most part the interviews with the cover gurls are mindless garbage , but some of the reader submissions aren’t all that bad .

This one I typed out as an example; (NO guarantees about the typing being correct, but it should be close ).

Now the first time I read it I understood it straight away, so it can’t be written in all that difficult of Thai.

Lemme know what you think. Is it written at a basic level, intermediate, or what?

Here's the Joke;

สามีภรรยาคู่หนึ่ง ตกลงกันไว้ว่า หากต้องการมีอะไรกุ๊กกิ๊กกัน ให้ส่งรหัสว่า “พิมพ์ดีด”

วันหนึ่งหลังรับประทานอาหารเย็น สามีก็เกิดความต้องการ จึงให้ลูกไปบอกแม่ที่กำลังล้างจานว่า

“ให้รีบล้างจานเร็วหน่อย พ่อจะให้ช่วยพิมพ์ดีด”

แม่กำลังเหนื่อยกับการล้างจานยังไม่เสร็จ จึงให้ลูกไปบอกพ่อว่า

“เครื่องพิมพ์ดีดเสีย ซ่อมยังไม่เสร็จ”

จนแม่ล้างจานเสร็จแล้ว หายเหนื่อยแล้ว ก็เกิดสงสารพ่อขึ้นมา จึงให้ลูกไปบอกพ่อว่า

“ซ่อมเครื่องพิมพ์ดีดเสร็จแล้ว ให้พ่อเตรียมงานไว้ เดี๋ยวจะไปช่วยพิมพ์ให้”

พ่อกลับตอบมาว่า

“บอกแม่ด้วยนะลูก ไม่ทันแล้วล่ะ พ่อเขียนด้วยมือเสร็จแล้ว”

Note to Modz and the O/P; if you’d rather not have this in the post, or if it is too “racy” please feel free to delete it. ..

I just didn’t want to start a thread called; "Thai Language Jokes", although maybe it's not a bad idea, there's tons of them on the internet, lol..

[FireInTheSky]

No that's okay because I like to read the short stories too in those kind of magazines:) Keep the books coming; fun to read, will improve your thai, worth the investment

About the level: I would say it is very easy to read but I think that's allright cause the more of these stories you will read the better it will stick in your memory since sentence structures keep coming back all the time:)

Edited April 3, 2011 by FireInTheSky

[FireInTheSky]

I would like to add the following, a book I bought yesterday and I am almost over halfway through... I know a lot of people here are reading this one but I will still mention it

1)

2) ฉันคือเอรี่

3) About a girl who grew up in extreme poverty and is forced to sell her body.

4) The story is extremely good and grabs you by the throat from page 1 basically. You will just keep reading and reading until you finish the book and then you might wanna read again. The story is sooooo compelling you cannot really let it go. The book is also fairly easy to read and you will get the gist even without knowing super much thai. I recommend this book to everyone who loves good stories and is learning thai, but no surprises here

5) 978-616-510-136-3

2 things: I would love to add pictures to my original post too but I cannot seem to edit it +

2: I need more books so keep sending in what helped you. We all need books that are fun to read + useful for us learners of the Thai language on our long long way to fluency

Edited April 6, 2011 by FireInTheSky

[Tod Daniels]

Sorry for the long post (and for making the Thai font big enough for me to read it to). ..

I didn't know where to stick this, but as the O/P made this thread about books written in Thai, I thought here was as good a place as any.

Just when I thought my reading/comprehension of Thai wasn't all that bad I got thrown for a loop! I bought two books from B2S Bookstore (they had 30% off if you bought two, lol).

The one I just started is called เรื่องเล่าคุณหนูไฮโซ.

I typed this from the front cover (sorry if there're typos) the cover is in that squirrelly "modern" font style that I still struggle with;

เรื่องราวของหญิงสาวไฮโซสุดสวย ที่ชีวิตรักไม่ได้สวยหรูอย่างที่ควรจะเป็น

เธอมีทุกอย่าง เงินทอง ความสวย ชาติตระกูลดี แต่สิ่งที่เธอไม่มีก็คือ

ความจริงใจจากผู้ชายที่เธอรักมากที่สุด เธอจะทำอย่างไรเมื่อจับได้ว่าแฟน

นายแบบชื่อดังของติวเองเป็นแมงดาขายตัวให้กับพวกไฮโซด้วยกัน

The back of the book says this (sadly in the same frickin font style!);

คุณจะทำยังไง ถ้าอยู่ดีๆ ได้รับรู้ว่า แฟนสุดที่รักที่หล่อระดับนายแบบของตัวเอง

มีอาชีพเสรมเป็นแมงดาขายตัว ให้กับสาวแก่มากหน้าหลายตา

ขอเพียงแค่มีเงินยอมง่าย ก็สามารถ นอนกับผู้ชายคนนี้ได้

Then it just repeats the front cover blurb again.

I thought as the previous book I read (ฉันคือเอรี่) was about a woman who due to life circumstances sold her body that reading about a hi-so gurl who loves a guy who turns out to sell his body would be an interesting change of pace . Plus from reading the front and back cover it didnt seem all that hard to read…

Boy, I was caught up short on this!!! Now whether its just the style of writing or my sorely lacking Thai vocab I dunno. There seems to be a plethora of words, idiomatic expressions and phrases used that I had no idea how to translate by reading on the fly. Some I was able to figure out by context, but thats questionable at best. Most I figured out after looking 'em up and trying on possible meanings in the context of the sentence.

Ive made it to chapter 2, but had a LOT of words, mostly expressions or phrases which I had to look up to really understand the subtleties of the story… I know pathetic huh?

Here's a list of some words/phrases Id never seen before (or saw, learned and then promptly forgot as I never used them in conversation);

ชาติตระกลดี - to come from a good family/lineage

เกาะ - I knew this word as an island but not as hold, cling, grasp onto

แค้น - impoverished, poor or hold a grudge, resent

ลากคอไอ้บ้า - drag a crazy person by the throat

ตีโพยตีพาย - make a scene, go into hysterics

กึ่งวิ่งกึ่งเดิน - not really walking, not really running, sort of walk-run by halves

เบรกแทนไม่ทัน - brake without overtaking

วัตถุประสงค์ - objective (knew this but forgot it)

กะจิตกะใจ - to estimate a persons mind and heart (like guess their motives or size them up maybe)?

สังสรรค์ - hobnob or socialize

ประดังประเด - still dunno

คะยั้นคะยอ - swoop down, rush in, dash

และหล่อและล่ำ - just a guess but like super handsome good looking ??

ตี๋ร้ายสไตล์ตี๋อินเตอร์ -dunno but I can read the words 'style' & 'inter'

I guess Im far from as proficient in reading and understanding Thai as I had begun to think I was. Still its good motivation to forge ahead and get better. Ill keep at it definitely, but what a wake up call for me.

The book is an interesting read about the girl whose name is พ๊อยท์ <- is that pronounced like english word point?

Any help is appreciated.

Edited April 13, 2011 by tod-daniels

[FireInTheSky]

ประดังประเด

To be overwhelmed with something I guess? Per example, maybe in stories like this it is about being overwhelmed in problems until the point that you cannot find a way to solve all of them. Not too sure though, hope one of the big guns will see this topic and help you out

Hope this helped you out slightly though

I will keep looking for this one too Thanks for the post and I might take a shot at the books you mentioned as well

ps: And don't feel bad about not being able to read everything, just keep going and read what you like to read The more you read the easier it will become anyway I cannot read everything too but I just keep plugging away reading stuff I really like to read and eventually I will turn out to be awesome yay:)

Edited April 13, 2011 by FireInTheSky

[FireInTheSky]

Oh and everyone has any other book suggestions keep throwing them in this topic so we can gather a nice collection of nice reading material. I have finished ฉันคือเอรี่ like 3 times now

[Tod Daniels]

I think what threw me in the book I'm reading now; เรื่องเล่าคุณหนูไฮโซ (aside from the current slang and idioms I'm struggling with) is the near constant 'real time' conversations between the main character; a hi-so girl named พ๊อยท์, her other girlfriends; แพร & โรส, her fashion model boyfriend; ติว, his fashion model male friends, พี่เคน, เอ็กซ์ เจมส์ & หลุยส์ and incidental people who wander in and out of the story.

By "real time" conversations I mean word for word what a young person would say in modern colloquial Thai with tons of particles. Something along the lines of this type of construct which is a phone conversation between พ๊อยท์ and her boyfriend ติว.

“ฮัลโหล ตัวเอง... ทำไรอยู่ แต่งตัวเสร็จยังคะ” เสียงตามสายของติวสดใสมาแต่ไกล

“ฮัลโหล ๆ ๆ ว่าไงจ้ะทีรัก อ๋อ ยังเลยจ้ะ เนี่ยเค้ายังแต่งหน้าอยู่เลย” ฉันกรอกเสียงไปตามสายด้วยน้ำเสียงสดใสเพราะยังไม่รู้ว่า ตัวเองกำลังจะถูกเบี้ยวนัดซะแล้ว

“อ๋อ เหรอ ๆ ๆ ๆ เออตัวเองเค้าจะบอกว่าเค้าไปไม่ได้แล้วนะคืนนี้ พอดีเค้าต้องไปงานของพี่เคนอ่ะ พี่เคนเค้ามีงานให้อ่ะตัวเอง”

“อ้าววว...” น้ำเสียงของฉันเริมเปลี่ยนไปออกแนวเซ็งเล็กน้อย

“ตัวเองอย่าโกรธเค้านะคะ เค้าต้องไปทำงานนี่นา”

ติวทำเสียงออดอ้อม จะให้ฉันทำไงได้ล่ะในเมื่อเรื่องงานของติวก็ต้องมาก่อน และก็ต้องสำคัญกว่าเรื่องอะไรทั้งหมด บอกแล้วไงว่าฉันอยากทำตัวงี่เง่า

“ก็... โหยยย เค้าคิดว่าจะได้ไปด้วยกันซะอีก เซ็ง ๆ ๆ” ฉันพูดไปตามความรู้สึก แม้จะบอกว่าไม่อยากทำตัวงี่เง่าก็ตามแต่ก็นะ บางทีก็เก็บอารมณ์ไม่อยู่จริงๆ

“นะคะ เดี๋ยวพรุ่งนี้เราค่อยไปเที่ยวกันใหม่ก็ได้นะตัวเอง วันนี้ตัวเองไปกับพวกแพร พวกโรสก่อนนะ โอ๋ ๅ อย่าโกรธนะจะที่รัก จุ๊บ ๆ”

“ฮึ ! ! ไม่โกรธก็ได้ เค้าไม่โกรธตัวเองหรอกน่า อืมแล้วตัวเองไปทำงานที่ไหนล่ะ เลกกี่โมงเหรอ”

ฉันยังคงถามต่อ ก็เผื่อว่าติวจะเลิกเร็ว ก็ยังตามพวกเราไปที่ร้านทัน ก็ยงโอเคนะ

“เลิกกี่โมงเหรอ เออ... เค้ายังไม่รู้เลยอ่ะตัวเอง แต่เอาเป็นว่า ถ้าเกิดว่าเค้าเลิกเร็ว แล้วเค้าจะรีบตามไปนะจ๊ะที่รัก แต่ถ้ามันดึกแล้ว ตัวเองอยากกลับกันก่อนก็ ไม่ต้องรอเค้านะ กลับกันได้เลยนะคะ” ติวบอก

“อ๋อ... เคร ๆ ก็ได้ แล้วตกลงไปทำงานที่ไหนเหรอ” ฉันยังคงถามประโยคเดิมอีกรอบ เพราะอยากรู้จริงๆ

“เค้ายังไม่รู้เลยอ่ะตัวเอง พี่เคนบอกว่าเดี๋ยวจะโทร.มาบอกอ่ะจ้ะ อุ๊ยตัวเอง พี่เคนโทร.มาแล้ว เดี๋ยวเค้าโทร.ไปหาใหม่นะ รับโทรศัพท์พี่เคนก่อน บาย ๆ จ้ะ... ตู๊ด... ตู๊ด... ตู๊ด”

"อ้าว... ตัวเอง..."

ติววางสายไปทันทีที่จบประโยค ฉันวางสายด้วยความเซ็งสุดๆ แต่ก็พยายามจะเข้าใจว่ามีแฟนที่ขยันทำงานมันก็ดีแล้วไง ก็แค้แอบเซ็งเล็กน้อยก็เท่านั้น

This wasn't even one of the worst examples I’ve come across; it just happened to be where I was in the book. It’s way worse when the girls talk amongst themselves.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there. .. FWIW: other than the particle strewn sentence constructs, the book IS turning out to be an interesting read.

(Sory in advance if there are mis-spellings even using spell check, none of the particles came up as 'real words', so I finally gave up, lol...

[FireInTheSky]

Ok this thread isn't turning out into the big succes that I was hoping it would be so I am gonna ask help from the mods here;

I fpossible I would love to request the following:

Change the title into:

- "What books are you currently reading (Thai language)"

- I wanna change the original post to reflect this title but I cannot seem to do that

The Q+A list can remain the same but this way anyone can share books they are reading and it would be nice to actually see what people here are reading etc.

If the topic runs a whole lot better after that I might wanna apply for a sticky :)

For me:

Last books I have read:

1)

2) Ty Lander and the energy of Eternity - ไท แลนเดอร์ กับ พลังงานนิรันดร์

3) It is about a boy called Ty Lander (yeah serious) who has plans to be the president but lots of stuff is coming in his way and he will go on many adventures

with his friends And there are some mysteries going on as well and further on there are dark scientists. Really cool yeah.

4) It isn't partically good for learning thai but as always there are some keystructures and some nice vocabulary (per example; I didn't know before this book that วัด means "to measure, to gauge" and it is used in this book just like that. เครื่องวัดอายุ -so there you go. The book is fun to read and the writer seems to be a big harry potter fan so it is written in that kind of style. Further on it is really easy to read and you basically just plow through it. Fun and easy, good combination

5) 978-616-04-0492-6

Books I am reading now:

1)

2) The Sisters Grimm - The fairytale detectives

3) It is about two sisters who have to live with their grandmother who carries the awkward name: Relda (???:S) Grimm. They unravel some sort of a family mystery

That's what I know thus far.. I am still into this book reading so I will edit this later on

4) The first couple of chapters seem pretty easy and it is just repetition and time spent with the thai language. Well if you look at it this way every thai book is useful for

learning thai but this one is not super hard to read as far as I know There are more parts so you can keep reading away. That's a +

5) 978-616-04-0501-5

Now more input; I cannot believe nobody is reading books Any book goes. What are you reading now atm or what did you just finish? Let the community know !

Edited May 6, 2011 by FireInTheSky

[Tod Daniels]

I finished reading the book เรื่องเล่าคุณหนูไฮโซ.

It was an interesting if difficult read. It wasn't that the vocab used in the book was all too tough, except for the idiomatic stuff. Like I mentioned in a previous post, it was the almost ALL real-time spoken conversations that got to me. Still once I wrapped my head around that part of it, it did turn out to have quite a good (if somewhat shallow) story line with an interesting "twist" at the end.

The one I've just started is เรื่องเล่าสาวข้างบ้าน.

This one is about a guy married for a long time who runs 'amuck' with a young(er) girl who lives next door. So far it has all the components to make it a good story; an all too friendly young Thai girl, a lonely middle aged thai man (married to a nagging wife) coupled with the angst, heart ache, and longing situations like this can bring out. I think it's gonna be a good read too.

As always I'm going slow, writing down vocab (which I usually guess in context) but haven't really been exposed to, so I can look it up later and confirm the meaning(s).

What I like now about both these books (which I didn't like earlier) is that they're written so "contemporarily colloquial" in "today's speak" versus some Thai books I've tried to wade thru written with antiquated vernacular. I'd put these books firmly under the "young adult fiction" category and/or light reading.

Still they're good for increasing your reading comprehension speed in Thai. I think anyone who can even read basic Thai could get thru em both quite easily. Especially if you had a Thai-English dictionary or a spare "english speaking Thai national" handy .

Actually because of these books, I bought the Thai-English dictionary put out by Domnern Sathiengpong. I have a Se-Ed Modern English-Thai and Thai-English dictionary, but I so rarely look up English words meanings in Thai now I just leave it at home.

The books I mentioned are published by a company called ANIT Publishing and Ive seen them available most places. I think they've got quite a few in the เรื่องเล่า category.

Anyway, that's what I'm readin' now.

Edited May 8, 2011 by tod-daniels

[FireInTheSky]

Thanks for the add Todd I will definitely take a peak at the books you mentioned

[FireInTheSky]

I guess besides me and tod nobody actually reads Thai books (or just doesn't feel like sharing their reads) but it doesn't matter because I will throw the new book I am reading right now right here in an attempt to get many people posting their stuff:

1)

2) ผู้หญิงร้าย ผู้ชายรัก // Why men love bitches

3) The ultimate guide why a woman with a strong personality is better than the woman who is like yes-woman or something similar. Gosh why am I even reading this 555

4) It actually is pretty fun to read and it is just extra to be honest. I didn't know what to read and I found this one in the se-ed store and the title sounded kinda cool. Little did I know what I got myself into...

5) 9786117164002

[klons]

Optional - a picture of the cover of the book - (also sample page)

The title of the book

โชคลาง ความเชื่อ ของคนโบราณ

Prophetic Signs and Omens of One’s Fortune and Fate

The Beliefs of Folks From Days of Yore

What is it about

It’s about omens and signs people may encounter in their everyday life. What they mean and what

can be done to deal with them. For instance; you’re strolling down the boulevard when out of the

blue, a bird craps on your head. What does it mean? What should be done about it ?

Or maybe a ตุ๊กแก (lizard) jumps up or drops down on you and is stuck on your arm and you

can’t shake it off (they have sticky feet).They will tell you what you need to do to get it to slide off.

Frankly, I’d rather walk around with a lizard stuck on my face than do what they say. No way man.

Why is it good for learning thai

It’s good for learning Thai because it’s easy reading, each page has an illustration with a new Omen

to talk about and only a couple paragraphs about each omen. Great book to read when your sitting on

the pot.

If you’re going to live in Thailand and be a survivor it’s a must read. Did you know you shouldn’t

sweep up inside your house after dark? But if you have to they tell you how to do it. Don’t want to

make any ghosts angry, do you?

After reading this book, you will also to be able to sit at a sidewalk cafe and point out physical

abnormalities of people as they walk by. You’ll know how to say stuff like bulbous nose, eyebrows that

grow together, lazy eye, kinky curly hair etc. Oh, and a big mole on the face. I’m not sure if they cover

the mole with the single long hair growing out of it, as I haven’t finished reading it yet.

ISBN number -optional

974-428-461-7 ( I didn’t buy it in a bookstore, it was laying around the house.)

[StChris]

For someone who has just begun to read after learning the alphabet, Aesop's Fables are a good choice. They are short, use pretty simple language and normally have both Thai and English.

There's also a series of books at SE-ED bookshops called Nanmeebooks (I think). They are tiny, easily fit into any pocket so you can always take one with you and get in a little reading practice while waiting for the train etc. There's a few hundred of these, each on a different subject: maths, history geography etc. One of my favorites was one with a series of crime/murder mysteries that you had to solve. The language is pretty simple, but you still should pick up lots of new vocab, which comes up with high frequency in each book, making it easier to really lodge them in your memory. For example, the crime mysteries one had the Thai words for "crime", "suspect", "evidence", "motive" etc coming up on almost every page. They are normally in their own little section of the shop (usually a cardboard-type bookshelf), so should be easy to find, plus there cheap at 9 baht each.

I found the Thai version of "Le Petite Prince" to be a good read. If you're looking for a fairly easy Thai childrens book then ความสุขของกะทิ is a good choice. The original won the SEA Write Award, so the Thai literati obviously think the writing is of a pretty high standard, plus there's an English translation and film as well. The chapters are all short (only 2 to 5 pages long), and there are two sequels if you liked the first one.