Thai Gay Reading List

[Guest endure]

What books would you recommend me to read about gay Thailand?

The books I'd recommend to you are:

Dear Uncle Go: Male Homosexuality in Thailand

The Intrinsic Quality of Skin

both by Peter Jackson

The Dove Coos

by Eric Alleyn

The Dove Coos II

by Ron Krannich

[Bucknaway]

The only books I have read were "The Men of Thailand" and that was to get an idea of what I would be getting into when I came for holiday and it was very helpful.

[Guest endure]

I'm slightly surprised that this thread hasn't generated much interest. I started it because of the regular posts enquiring about the intricacies of Thai culture, especially gay culture. The books I mentioned go some way towards an explanation. I would have thought that a few hours spent perusing a book are a useful preface to visiting the LoS.

Other books (both straight and gay)worth reading are:

Trees in the same forest - Alleyn

Mai pen rai means never mind - Carol Holinger

Reflections on Thai Culture - Klausner

Thai Fever - ?

Culture Shock Thailand = ?

Anything by Phira Sudham

Letters from Thailand - Bhotan

Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp - KK

Inside Thai Society - Neils Mulder

[PeaceBlondie]

The only book that's been mentioned so far, that I've read, is "The Dove Coos II." It's interesting porn of Thai upon Thai, from different provinces and settings. If "The Dove Coos I" is similar and I could find it, I'd buy it. Volume II was on sale at D.K. Bookstores in Chiang Mai, so it's probably at the Bangkok store, too.

Endure, the other books you're listed in post #3 - are they specifically about gay life in Thailand, or more like books written by long time expatriates to be read by tourists, regarding life in general in Thailand?

[Guest endure]

PB

Apart from 'Trees in the same forest' they're all more general books which help to explain the 'Thai way' - still useful for visitors to Thailand.

[asanee]

those dove coos 1+2 are at least 6-7 years old, and edited mr that same mr Eric Allyn, who wrote MenofThaild (several edtituons, very, very useful in the time before the web took off..), with the help of his (then) Thai friend who edited MIDWAY magazine, i still have a stack of those back home.

Thre are in the GAY sector simply no additions to make! its all there is (in the paasaa Anglit then, there is moe in Dutch and German, though mainly the ladyboy section). plus the od 'scientific'' works on some congress, in the time when that lad with the sen see khao=white stripe did his first works in telling barboys about the AID/HIV coming up and how to avoid.

a MAGAZINE series, i think now also since long discontinued, was from Australia, quite expensive and of couirse imposible to behold of in thaild.

IF youre really interested, that shop of utopia-asia.com, in some subsoi of Sukhumvit 22/24, again If it still exists, should have the best selection in BKK of fiction/books etc. or try BOOKAZINE, branch opposite patPong or in the Erawan shopcentre/ across WTC

[orchis]

That shop in soi 23 is long gone, it is now an online shop (basically a link to amazon.com)

[Ijustwannateach]

It's true that there doesn't seem to be much in the way of professional written English-language scholarship on Thai sexuality/gender on the shelves- most of what there is comes from just one or two sources, and though these are pretty good something is lacking. In terms of real primary-source material (i.e., Thais talking about their own sexuality) I like the "Uncle Go" book best because it has a lot of material translated directly from the Thai. Jackson's work is strong but since he's an academic he has to be very tentative and careful about his statements and conclusions based on the evidence he has collected. Perhaps his novel would be a bit more speculative, haven't read it yet.

"Steven"

[Guest endure]

It's a long time since I read his novel (I must dig it out and read it again) but it seems to me that it's a thinly disguised autobiography of his time in Thailand. From what I remember he/the protagonist in the novel comes to the conclusion that it's impossible to establish a solid relationship in Thailand but his method of meeting Thais is to hang around in cottages (tearooms to our US friends). Hardly the place to look for the love of your life