Good books based in Thailand
 

Hello, I am looking for your favorite books that took place in Thailand... (but not tour guide books), fiction or non fiction. thank you

The recommendation I got from this board (it is currently sitting waiting to go into my luggage in a week) is Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. Another one is The Beach (can't recall the author). That's on order from Amazon :-)! I don't sleep on planes so I need lots to occupy my time :-P.

And there are 2 more by John Burdett worth looking for.

I second The Beach. It is a pageturner and much better than the movie.

Another book I'd recommend is Patpong Sisters by Cleo Odzer. It's by an American woman trying to understand the world of Bangkok bar girls.

Some from my library

By Axel Aylwen “The Falcon of Siam” and “The Falcon Takes Wings”. Historical novels and a good read.

By Anthony Grey “The Bangkok Secret”, not as good as his “Saigon” or some of his other books.

By Ian Morson “The Connection Phuket Penang” a bit hard to get hold of, published by the Siam Society.

By Jake Needham “Tea Money” not a serious book rather in the Rambo tradition

By Luca Invernizzi Tettoni and William Waren, “Thai Style” dealing mainly with Thai architecture and interior design.

By Steve Van Beek and Luca Invernizzi Tettoni “The Arts of Thailand”

By Smittha Siribhadra, Elizabeth Moore and Michael Freeman “Palaces of the Gods” Kymer art and architecture in Thailand

By David K Wyatt “Thailand a Short History” very readable

By W.A.R Wood “Consul in Paradise” a great book but rather difficult to get hold of these days

I tried and tried to get through Bangkok 8, but eventually gave up.

Bangkok 8 and the other two John Burdett books are available on Amazon. I just checked.

Oops - I misread your post - I though you tried to get it, not get through it! LOL

Ditto on that, Liz.

I desperately wanted to be able to get into the Burdett books (due to all the raves here) but no matter how hard I tried, I just didn't jive with the 'language' of the book.

It became more of a chore getting through it, so I gave up.

BTW--I'm a big fan of Jerry Hopkins' books on Thailand. He's an American expat living in Thailand and writes short stories about his rather colorful life there (and focuses a lot on the eccentricities of Thai culture and how he got used to them.) It's like reading an entire book of some of the best trip reports on here.

I will check that out, Bill. Thanks!

I enjoyed "A Chant To Soothe Wild Elephants" by Jaed Coffin, a Thai-American who decides at the age of 21 to leave Middlebury College to be ordained as a Buddhist monk to fulfill a familial obligation.

A work of fiction I found engaging is "Fieldwork" by Mischa Berlinksi, which addresses murder, missionaries and life among the Thai hilltribes.

I guess "Bangkok 8" is a love-it-or-hate-it book. I read while in Bangkok and loved it.

If you get any of the John Burdett books, make sure you get Bangkok 8 first. I was so anxious to read one that I started with Bangkok Tatoo, the second one in the series, and it was a mistake. It's much easier to follow if you read them in the appropriate order. But BTW, I didn't like the 3rd one much - -Bangkok Haunts.