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Expat Writers And The Book You've Read


elef

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So you were shot dead in 1996 by a Thai hitman hired by the vengeful sister of a bargirl you'd been screwing for 2 years ? Interesting.

yep, i was once nearly shot dead in Bangkok, but it was 1998. that can happen in Thailand if you have to do business where some chao phor is involved. and yes indeed, i screwed the chao phor

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Read Stephen Leather's Private Dancer and 2 (?) books from Christopher Moore, forgot which, they were not memorable.

 

Looking at the shelf above my PC I can see Christopher Moore - The Big Weird and A Killing Smile; Warren Fellows - 4000 Days; Hello My Big Big Honey; Stuart Lloyd - Hardship Posting and Roger Crutchley - PostScript. Those are the ones I've got but I've no idea whether I've read them or not? :dunno:

 

However I have read a pdf version of Stephen Leather's Private Dancer. :up:

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I haven't looked at it lately, but I think it pretty much was.

 

Oh, my ... I just looked and it is blocked! It wasn't before. :hmmm:

 

One of the first things the Wikipedia entry says is that any reference to the book is blocked in Thailand. For obvious reasons, I wont quote any part of said entry. They do make a point of listing some of the author's critics/criticisms and you make an excellent point about the fact that he (and many of the Western press who praised the book) weren't in Thailand to get first-hand accounts of everything discussed in the book. I doubt that many in NYC or London are aware of just how different things are on the ground in Thailand. Salman Rushdie might have been 'braver' (?), but the author would appear to have burnt his bridges for eternity.

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First, I think the book is ignorant and idiotic in many ways. IMO a cheap and unknown journalist trying to make money and get a reputation. But you don't do that by insulting a big majority of the thai people.

 

"The book was banned in Thailand before publication, and the Thai authorities have blocked local access to websites advertising the book." <note - before publication and advertising>

 

"In February 2007, the Chula Book Centre, the main bookstore of state-run Chulalongkorn University, removed Chulalongkorn University professor Giles Ungphakorn's 2007 book A Coup for the Rich from its shelves after a manager of the book store found that it listed" X "as a reference. State-run Thammasat University Bookstore quickly followed suit, refusing to sell the book on March 6. However, Thammasat University's rector later reversed this decision and ordered the university bookstore to sell the book."

 

From wikipedia

 

Thai authorities are overreacting but at least the uni rector had the courage to be realistic.

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