Hello.

Just wondering what everybody's favourite travel books are for Asia, including India, Pakistan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, basically everywhere.

Cheers.

our favorite thailand book is: THE TREASURERS AND PLEASURERS OF THAILAND by impact books....it's focus is primarily on shopping with great sections on hotels and restaurants and some general tourist info....it is not a fodors or frommers or insight guide so you should have it in addition to regular guide books....i have now bought two editions...it is completely accurate in every instance unless some place has gone out of business....they have a great web site too

Hello.

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually meant story type books.....the fiction/non-fiction/novel type which describes the country and the person's travels. Versus the guide book. But thanks for the tip.

Cheerio.

There was just a recent thread on reading for China and India to which I contributed, but I can't find it. Here are some of my choices:

1. China/Hong Kong:
Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
Life and Death in Shanghai, by Nien Cheng - one woman's true story of life during the Cultural Revolution
The Soong Sisters by Emily Hahn - fascinating story of the Soong family and the three sisters, all educated at Wesleyan College in the US in the early 1900's. One married Sun Yat-Sen, Chiang Kai Shek, one married a Chinese finance minister.
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah - sad and true story of an unwanted daughter in a wealthy Shanghai family in the 1930's.
Dream of the Red Chamber - Chinese classic
Sun Tzu on the Art of War - very timely today
On a Chinese Screen, Somerset Maugham - short stories about China in the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century
There is an author named Sterling Seagrave who has written a number of no-fiction books on China's past and future that you might find interesting. He has a way of making history come alive. My favourites are Dragon Lady, about the Empress Dowager, and Pacific Destiny, which discusses the rise of the Pacific Rim nations generally, especially China.
Hong Kong, Jan Morris. Fascintating history of the city state.
Tai Pan, James Clavell. Almost a classic, thinly fictionalized story of the Jardine Fleming empire started in Hong Kong in the 19th century.
2. Movies on China:
The Last Emperor
The Joy Luck Club
Raise the Red Lantern (Mandarin with English subtitles)
The Oilmaker's Wife (Mandarin, with English subtitles)
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (Mandarin, with English subtitles)
Suggestions on India/Pakistan to follow?

3. India/Pakistan

Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children. A classic, it follows several Indian families starting with the date Indian gained its independence from Britain, at midnight in August 1947. You will learn a lot about Indian history and culture. Kind of like a Michener novel.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust, Out of India, How if Became a Holy Mother (the last is short stories.) Mrs. Jhabvala is a European who married an Indian and lived in India for 40 years. She is a great story teller and again you will gain an insight into Indian life and culture. She has written many other books, the first two novels are my favorite and the latter is a great collection of short stories about life in India.


E.M. Forster, The Razor's Edge. One man's spiritual journey after WWI which lead him to India.

MM Kaye, The Far Pavilions. Great love story between a Hindu princess and a British soldier set in a Rajasthan-like kingdom in the foot-hills of the Himalayas in late 19th century. She has written several other books, this is my favorite about India.

Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills, Kim, Jungle Book; many other novels. Classic novels by the English author. Many are set in what is now Pakistan, but still interesting as the country and people of Rajasthan are similar, expect for their religion.

R.K. Narayan, The English Teacher, or any book, especially the 12 novels based in a town he created called Malgudi. Funny and poignant.

Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance, Tales from Firozha Baag. He is a young Indian writer, I really enjoy him. I believe this was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK

Arundhati Roy , God of Small Things. Great book by a modern woman writer, set in South India so it may give you a little flavour of Sir Lanka. I believe this was on the US bestseller list for a while, definitely was in the UK

Rabindranath Tagore, The Post Office, any collection of his poems. He was primarily a poet, but wrote some novels, the Post Office is his best known and is wonderful. He is very beloved in India, esp in Calcutta/Bengal where he is from. If you can read and quote him, you will impress many Indians?.

Vikrem Seth, A Suitable Boy. This is one of my favorite books, but it is about 1,000 pages, so you have to be dedicated. Funny, sad, touching story about an Indian girl in 1960's India whose mother is determined to find her the right husband. This was on the US bestseller list in 1993.

Paul Scott , The Raj Quartet. Again, one of my favorite books, but it is in 4 volumes so it is not for everyone. The first volume would be good if that is all you want to commit to. It is the story of an English family living in a hill station in north Indian before and during WWII. You will learn a lot about the British rule in India, good and bad.

Non-Fiction

V.S. Naipaul, India A Wounded Civilization, Among the Believers. A brilliant thinker and writer, he poses questions about Indian life and culture as well as the worlds major religions and their role in modern culture.

Gayatri Devi, A Princess Remembers. This is the autobiography of the third and favorite wife of the late Maharajah of Jaipur. She was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. When Jackie Kennedy went to India in 1961 or so, she stayed with the Princess and in the pictures, Jackie looks dowdy compared to her. She was from a royal family in east India. She led a very interesting life, met all kinds of leaders. It is really fun to read her book while in Jaipur, esp if you stay at the Rambagh Palace, which was her home. It is kind of startling to look up for your reading and imagine what the palace look like, where the women's quarter was, etc This book may not be available outside of India, but you can definitely but it in India, esp in Jaipur.
Mark Tully, No Full Stops in India, Heart of India. He was the BBC correspondent in India for about 20 years. Very interesting insight into Indian life and culture.

Anne Morrow, Maharajahs of India. This is from 1986 and may be out of print, again you may find it in Indian book shops. It gives fascinating details about the lives of the fabulously wealthy maharajas of India, who lost their power in and most of their wealth in 1974.

Elisabeth Bumiller, May you Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons. She is a former journalist with the Washington Post who lived in India for a few years. The book is a description of women's lives in India.

Victoria Schofield , Every Rock, Every Hill: The Plain Tale of the North- West Frontier and Afghanistan. History of British attempts to conquer Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Suggestions for SE Asia to follow.

4. Singapore/Burma/Borneo/Indochina

George Orwell, Burmese Days. BEofre he wrote Animal Farm, George Orwell lived and travelled in SE Asia.

James Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim. Both classis

Somerset Maugham. Short stories Volumes 1=IV. He travelled extensively in SE Asia and lived at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore for several years.

James Clavell, King Rat. Excellent story of British POWs held captive at Chiangi prison during WWII.

Noel Barber, Tanamara. Fictionalized account of life in Singapore in the years leading up to WWII. Kind of like a Michener but not quite as much history; a bit of a trashy novel. He has written several other novels set in and around the region.

5. Indonesia

It is hard to find good fiction and even non-fiction in English about Indonesia. If anyone has suggestions, I would welcome them also
Charles Corn, Distant Islands. Indonesia generally.
Miguel Covarrubias, Island of Bali. An old book but an easy-to-read description of people and history of the island.
6. Thailand
It is also hard to find fiction or non-fiction on Thailand. I only have one so far:
Ho Minfong, Rice Without Rain. A fictional account of Thailand in the 1950's, gives good insight into how the country evolved peacefully (for the most part) into a democracy. Ms. Minfong has also written a book called Sing to the Dawn, which I have not read.
You can also usually find the diary of Anna Lowens, the original "Anna and the King of Siam" in bookstores in Thailand, and maybe in the US. It is interesting reading and very different from the musiical and Jodie Foster versions.
Finally, there is a series of books called "Culture Shock" on virtually every nation you mention printed by Passport Books. While not a guidebook, they are a very helpful description of culture and customs in each country. I lived in SE Asia for 10 years and found them helpful in understanding the culture and accurate in terms of my real life experience in the culture

WOW!

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. Just the kind of thing I was looking for. By any chance, you have any suggestions for Africa and Morrocco/Turkey??

Cheers!

I was not allowed to watch TV after dinner when I was growing up. . .so the result is that I am a voracious reader!

I would suggest you post this question on the Africa board as well.

I have not travelled much in Africa, and have only been to Turkey once so far, but have some suggestions for reading, esp for Africa:

Ernest Hemingway. Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories. Green Hills of Africa. What can I say, the classic writer about Africa.

Martha Gellhorn. The Novellas of Martha Gelhorn/The Weather in Africa (may be found under these titles). She was Hemingway's second or third wife, and I think in many ways a better writer. She also wrote about the Civil War in Spain in a book called The Face of War. Her book Travels with Myself and Another, is one of my favourites as well.

Isak Dinesen (also known as Karen Blixen). Out of Africa. Her life was portrayed by Meryl Streep in the movie of the same name. She wrote some beautiful lyrical stories about Africa.

Graeme Greene. The Heart of the Matter. Journey Without Maps. He lived in West Africa for several years before WWII and wrote a fictional story based on his experiences. The second novel is about a trip across Liberia which he took in the 1930s. (For SE Asia reading, you might also read The Quiet American, which takes place in Vietnam.)

Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart. Probably the best known modern African writer.

Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible. One of my favourite books of all time. About life in the Congo in the early 1960's as seen through the eyes of an American girl living there with her missionary parents. Moving and wonderful.

Alan Paton. Cry the Beloved Country. The classic book about life under apartheid in South Africa. You may have read it in high school.

James Michener. The Covenant. Another classic story about apartheid.

Colours of a New Day. (Short stories by African writers.)

Paul Bowles. The Sheltering Sky. Takes places in Morocco. I found it disturbing but compelling. Have not seen the movie of it which was made by Bertolucci.

Travellers' Tales, edited by Eric Newby (Viking Press). This is a collection of travel stories in various parts of the world, look for an edition that contains stories about Africa.

I don't have any suggestions for Turkey, but will start looking as you have picqued my interest!