MooNoi Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 What's your favourite book of all time?? I'm a big reader and today I just finished "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by a Japanese author by the name of Haruki Murakami. I can honestly say I've never read a book quite like it. I really enjoyed his other novels, but this is in a different league. I can't even begin to describe it - weird, surreal, odd, poignant, thought-provoking, funny, sad.... almost every emotion I can think of. It was really hard-going, but I'm glad I got through it. I think I can honestly say it is the best book I've ever read. (And as I said, I'm usually a 2 book-per-week guy). I would understand if this guy's writing isn't for everyone - it IS unusual... but this is one of those books I think I will remember for a long time. Critique Of Wind-Up Bird Chronicle What book has had a profound impact on your life?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 I'll have to check that out...i used to be an avid reader, 1-5 books a week..i've slacked off considerably since being in Thailand...lack of good book stores being a problem... Favourite authors..Iain (M) Banks for sci-fi, Steven Erikson for fantasy...for contemporary fiction, nothing really floats my boat...i find most of it pretentious drivel. I will however check out your recommendation...thanks. As yet i'm still waiting for a book to change my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 James and the Giant Peach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidel Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 I'm not sure if I could say that it has had a profound impat on my life, but I realy enjoyed reading 'A Fortune Teller Told Me' by Tiziano Terzani. Terzani, who passed away a couple of years ago, was a Far East correspondant for Der Speigel. An Italian by birth, he spent most of his adult life in Asia. In the '70s a friend took him to see a fortune teller in Hong Kong. The fortune teller told him that 1993 would be a very bad year for him to fly and that he should avoid air travel during that year at all costs. Fast forward to New Year's Eve, 1992, he's in Laos and it's decision time. He decides not to travel by air for the whole year; travelling instead by road, train, boat, on-foot etc... and he decides to visit the local fortune teller/ soothsayer/ shaman everywhere he goes. He travels from Bangkok to Penang to Singapore, Indonesia.... and on and on. To Italy to visit his mother and back again by boat. It's a wonderful book. I've read it over and over again and it has passed through the hands of many friends, all of whom loved it. It's a book I'll certainly read again. Highly recommended. Amazon.com Review: It was 1976 when Tiziano Terzani was warned by the fortuneteller in Hong Kong: "Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. You mustn't fly that year. Don't fly, not even once." Sixteen years later, Terzani had not forgotten. Despite living the life of a jet-hopping journalist, he decided that, after a lifetime of sensible decisions, he would confront the prophecy the Asian way, not by fighting it, but by submitting. He also resolved that on the way he would seek out the most eminent local oracle, fortuneteller, or sorcerer and look again into his future. So after a feast of red-ant egg omelet and a glass of fresh water, he brought the new year in on the back of an elephant. He even made it to his appointments: Cambodia, to cover the first democratic elections; Burma, for the opening of the first road to connect Thailand and China; and even Florence, to visit his mother, a trip that would take him 13,000 miles across Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, and Siberia. In this way, that jet-hopping journalist rediscovered the art of travel, the intricate chains of chance which lead to discovery, and the mass of humanity he'd overlooked in his rush for newsworthy quotes. And he also saved his life. Terzani's odyssey across Asia is full of revelations and reflections on the dramatic changes underway in Asia. Having spent two decades on the continent, he brings a deep love for the place to his journeys, but also the eyes of someone troubled by the changes he sees. Burma and Laos, finally open to outside contact, are now funnels for AIDS and drugs; Thailand has been traumatized by its rapid development; China is an anarchy fueled by money rather than ideology, where Mao has been transformed into the god of traffic. Surrounded by the loss of diversity wrought by modernism, Terzani asks if the "missionaries of materialism and economic progress" aren't destroying the continent in order to save it. Fortunately, there is a flip side to his occasionally dispiriting commentary, one that Terzani discovers in his hunt for fortunetellers. Through his side trips to seers who read the soles of his feet, the ashes of incense, and even the burned scapula of sheep, it becomes clear that the Orient of legends, myths, and magic still determines people's lives as much as the quest for money. By staying earthbound, Terzani lived to tell of an extraordinary journey through the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of Asia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous_Dog Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 nevil shute "Round the bend" Robert Nye "Merlin" Larry Nivin "This perfect day" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooNoi Posted January 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 Hi Zom. I'll have to check that out...i used to be an avid reader, 1-5 books a week..i've slacked off considerably since being in Thailand...lack of good book stores being a problem... Kinokuniya in Emporium Shopping Centre is the best in Bangkok IMO. Kinokuniya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy, in my younger days Tales of the South Pacific by Michener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JannikOJ Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 "Murder at the Horny Toad Bar" by Dean Barrett. Classic stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 The Egyptian by Mika Waltari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ckrisg Posted January 26, 2007 Report Share Posted January 26, 2007 'Last Seen in Bangkok' by Dominic Lavin, I never knew things like that happened in my favourite holiday spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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