tonychang Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 I agree bangkok angel is easily the best read based in Thailand I've read lately,a charming story but by a small music publisher i think? sleepless in bangkok is easily the worst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 Says kamui: </font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr /> As far as I understood, that's the story of her life. Correct me if I'm wrong. Unfortunately this book is not /not yet available in English language in Japan. It is semiautobiographical (what ever that means in this case). I bought the book at Asia Books in BKK. If you do not have time to go there , maybe you will find it at Kinokuniya in Shinjuku/Times Square or other book shops with big foreign books departments in Tokyo. It is listed in Kinokuniyas web shop Kinokuniya Book Web, (shop in Jap. only). Surprisingly it is not listed at Amazon Japan. My wife just finished that book, beleive it or not she got it from the public library here in Anchorage, in Japanese none the less...she says the book is fantastic for any woman who has an "overseas partner"...."so nice book, make me cry maybe" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadStockBroker Posted December 28, 2002 Report Share Posted December 28, 2002 Many authors write about Thailand but I have yet to find one who really cracks this country. Moore makes a decent job of it but his style is not for all and he lacks diversity. Thus his books do become too claustrophobic. Needham's first was a good effort but his second was dull with a totally unbelievable ending. Hope his third does not follow this trend. Leather is head and shoulders a much better author than the rest but not all his books are set here. Personally I think his description of Hong Kong (where he lived) is much better. Bangkok Angel was claimed to be a true story but their is no biographal information about the authors (and why are their two? Is Robin male or female?) and the story is hard to believe. David Young wrote a cracker called "The Scribe" which always makes me think about Stickman (don't ask) but his follow up was crap. Alex Garland is a fine write but doesn't produce no way near enough words. A couple of other books worth a read are "Apshara Jet" (bizare sex scenes with Cambo girls but too technical about flying) and "Everything But Die" which goes at a cracking pace but is totally unbelievable. But both are good reads for long flights. However IMO, the ultimate book set in this country is the hard to find "Patpong - Bangkok's Big Little Street" by Alan Dawson. Although it's dated now (came out in 1988) it is a fascinating read about the development of the gogo secne in the most famous road in this country. Read about guys like Rick Menard (who invented gogo), Superstar Frank. Udom Napoleon and Thai Max because without them their would be no gogo bars, no PP, no Nana, no sex tourists and probably no NanaPlaza.com ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAsiaHand Posted December 29, 2002 Report Share Posted December 29, 2002 I couldn't disagree more. As Stickman and a couple of other people said somewhere above, Needham's take on Thailand (at least the Bangkok and Phuket part of it that he writes about) rings dead on for so many of us who have lived here for a long time. You can hardly read his second book without finding yourself nodding and smiling every now and then, and saying, yeah, been there. Needham writes primarily about the real world in which most of us here live most of the time, and that doesn't have a great deal to do with Potpong and Nana and Cowboy. The only way it seems to mean that you could describe his books as dull is if you're so enamoured by the easy availability of commercial sex in Thailand that everything you read has to take place in the sex scene in order for it to seem real and recognizable. I see that ALL the alternatives you suggest are sex scene books ('The Scribe' ... 'Apshara Jet' ...'Patpong-Bangkok's Little Street'). You ought to broaden your horizons a bit. But each to his own, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 29, 2002 Report Share Posted December 29, 2002 << I used to read Christopher Moore's books because it was fun to read about places like Thermae that I knew so well, but I finally gave up. I just could not take any more of his terrible writing style. >> Moore boasts that he never does a rewrite. He starts writing and just goes from start to finish. Then he sends it in to the publisher. Sometimes that works. Lots of times it doesn't. He's got some good books. Others I simply could not get through. But I suppose you can say that about most writers. He's a nice friendly fellow though. Not bigheaded or anything. You may see him in the Thermae on occasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 29, 2002 Report Share Posted December 29, 2002 Botan is the pen name of a Chinese-Thai woman. Her "Letters from Thailand" is a modern classic. It's written from the viewpoint of a Chinese immigrant to Thailand in the early 1900s, writing to his mother about Thai culture etc and explaining it to her. Another Thai writer worth reading in translation is the late M. R. Kukrit Pramot, a former Prime Minister and a star (with Marlon Brando) in "The Ugly American". Several of his books are out in English. For books by expat authors, two good ones are the late Carol Hollinger's "Mai Pen Rai" -- written in the 60s, but still topical. (She describes an expat's life in Bangkok) -- and Collin Pipprell's "Kicking Dogs". "Kicking Dogs" is a comedy about an expat living with his Isaan girlfriend, who gets mixed up with some Thai gangsters. Don't know why Hollywood doesn't make a film out of it. It's Collin's best book. Hollinger died fairly young of cancer, just about the time her book came out. She describes a pleasanter Bangkok, before the traffic jams and pollution came. If you are lucky, you may be able to find a copy of the late Jack Reynolds' "Woman of Bangkok". It's set in the late 1950s and tells of a Farang who falls for a BG in those days and gets raked over the coals. Tells you some things never change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 29, 2002 Report Share Posted December 29, 2002 Rick Menard invented go-go? Well, he liked to claim he did. That's the story he told Dawson, and Dawson printed it. The first go-go shown in Bangkok was at the Sani Chateau nightclub around 1967. It was just a short lived thing, a few weeks maybe to try it out. Then Nick Jero of Nick's #1 restaurant opened a bar near Lumpini Park with some go-go dancers. But the bar didn't catch on. What Rick Menard DID do was open the first successful go-go bar in Bangkok, the Grand Prix on Patpong. It was a fairly small bar, long and narrow with maybe 4 or 5 girls dancing at one time. The Grand Prix's success inspired others to copy it. Around 1974, Menard bought out the Horny Toad next door and ripped the wall out, making a much bigger Grand Prix. He ran the bar for over 20 years before retiring and moving back to the States. The Superstar's Frank (a Burmese) opened another bar recently. Never been to it though. Sometimes I wander through Patpong and try to remember the way it used to look. Bars have turned into restaurants and restaurants into bars. It's a totally different scene now. Soi Cowboy has a little of the old Patpong feel to it. The new Patpong is just a tourist trap, with a few good bars scattered through it. p.s. I agree about Dawson's book though. It's a nice easy read. Dawson also got old Tiger Rydberg of Lucy's Tiger Den to rattle off his memories and taped them. Forgotten the name of it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCK Posted December 29, 2002 Report Share Posted December 29, 2002 Bangkok Angel was claimed to be a true story but there is no biographal information about the authors (and why are there two? Is Robin male or female?) and the story is hard to believe. Ha ha! Mike Smith is the author. I assume Robin, who is not a part of the story, is Mike's mate who helped him write it. It is based on a true story. I have no doubt that it is embellished in places but it makes for a very well written story. If you check it out on the internet, Mike Smith is pictured with his Thai wife, which gives away the final outcome a bit. Why is it hard to believe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2002 Report Share Posted December 30, 2002 the 2 I have just finished is : The Big Mango - J. Needham Damage Done - Warren Fellows Both were good books to read... SB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 30, 2002 Report Share Posted December 30, 2002 Also check out Dean Barrett, although his Bangkok books date back a way. >>> That's because I date back a way. ;-) Actually Jake's Big Mango came out the same year Kingdom of Make-Believe did - 1999; you're probably thinking of Memoirs of a Bangkok Warrior. Just had lunch with Jake (He paid) and it IS a pity he can't get his third Thailand novel distributed here in LOS. It would sell well. And don't forget Jason Schoonover's Thai Gold. I believe there is film interest in that one which, if true, should help all novels set in Thailand. For anyone interested my website is: http://www.deanbarrettmystery.com Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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