Thai Books

[+ Lucky]

We've talked in previous threads about the great Thailand-based novels of John Burdett. His newest comes out in January.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51f2BUP07SL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

 

 

 

[+ Lucky]

Additionally, I have just read a great novel based in Bangkok by Timothy Hallinan called A Nail Through the Heart. Not gay, but it covers all the bases in terms of the depravity of Bangkok. It's very well done.

[+ newatthis]

Additionally, I have just read a great novel based in Bangkok by Timothy Hallinan called A Nail Through the Heart. Not gay, but it covers all the bases in terms of the depravity of Bangkok. It's very well done.

 

We've talked in previous threads about the great Thailand-based novels of John Burdett. His newest comes out in January.

 

Thanks for both pieces of information. I get automatic alerts whenever my local library gets a new Burdett novel in. Now I have something to look forward to.

[+ Lucky]

I just entered my hold for it and am first in line, so whoopee. Hallinan has since written two more in the series above, Breathing Water and The Fourth Watcher, both on my hold list as well. Aren't libraries nice?

[+ newatthis]

I just entered my hold for it and am first in line, so whoopee. Hallinan has since written two more in the series above, Breathing Water and The Fourth Watcher, both on my hold list as well. Aren't libraries nice?

I'm first in line for the Burdett. The Hallinan is on the shelves waiting for me. I love discovering a new author with a substantial backlist to read.

[eeyore]

Thanks for the heads up! On the strength of your original recommendation I read the Burdett novels and enjoyed them thoroughly. I am looking forward to his fourth novel. I am going to read the Hallinan novels now as well. I’ve never been to Thailand but I feel like I’ve been there after reading Burdett.

[+ Lucky]

I suggest you start with Nail Through the Heart as I am now reading the Fourth Watcher and finding it does not measure up. "Nail" puts you right smack in the nitty-gritty of Bangkok, and you definitely feel it.

[eeyore]

I suggest you start with Nail Through the Heart as I am now reading the Fourth Watcher and finding it does not measure up. "Nail" puts you right smack in the nitty-gritty of Bangkok, and you definitely feel it.

 

Thanks. I'll start with that one. I may have to get a Kindle to keep all my Thai books organized and handy...

[+ Lucky]

A gay Thai novel which I am reading now is The 38 Million Dollar Smile, by Richard Stevenson. It's not bad, but won't challenge some of the better known crime writers.

[+ newatthis]

I suggest you start with Nail Through the Heart as I am now reading the Fourth Watcher and finding it does not measure up. "Nail" puts you right smack in the nitty-gritty of Bangkok, and you definitely feel it.

Hey Lucky -- just finished "Nail..." and really enjoyed it. Have you tried any of the others besides "Fourth Watcher" and would you recommend any of them?

[+ Lucky]

Breathing Water

 

The third book in the series (Breathing Water) is almost, I say almost, as good as the first. In the second novel I thought he really got carried away, but he toned it down and regained some of the heart that the first novel has...that very heart with the nail through it.

 

I just finished 38 Dollar Smile and liked it. It's very cute in its way, with a lady boy whose thong defies his status, an astute money boy, a friendly bathhouse, and very interesting characters. Oh, there is a lot of police corruption too!

[+ newatthis]

The third book in the series (Breathing Water) is almost, I say almost, as good as the first. In the second novel I thought he really got carried away, but he toned it down and regained some of the heart that the first novel has...that very heart with the nail through it.

 

I just finished 38 Dollar Smile and liked it. It's very cute in its way, with a lady boy whose thong defies his status, an astute money boy, a friendly bathhouse, and very interesting characters. Oh, there is a lot of police corruption too!

Thanks!

 

Stevenson has a whole series of gay-themed novels: Third Man Out, Ice Blues, Death Trick, and a number of others, centered around gay detective Donald Strachey. A number of them have been made into movies starring Chad Allen (thanks to Mtllover for that tip). I just watched Third Man Out and thoroughly enjoyed it and now have others in my netflix queue. Matthew Rush has a bit part in Third Man Out (the proprietor of a phone sex service), and appears briefly full frontal.

[+ newatthis]

The third book in the series (Breathing Water) is almost, I say almost, as good as the first. In the second novel I thought he really got carried away...

I just finished Fourth Watcher and liked it a lot -- not as much as the first book, but still very good. I've got Breathing Water sitting next to my bed ready to go (yes, libraries are great!), but first I have to finish Sorkin's "Too Big to Fail."

[+ Lucky]

I hope you like Breathing Water more than I did. There are also Thai novels about detective Vinnie Calvino, by Christopher Moore. I just read the first in the series, Spirit House, but it was such a dark picture of Bangkok that I really didn't like it. Bad as it may be there, I doubt that it is as dark as Moore paints it. I remember reading another in the series and not having that reaction, so maybe he lightened up after his first novel.

[+ g56whiz]

We've talked in previous threads about the great Thailand-based novels of John Burdett. His newest comes out in January.[/url]

 

Thanks for the head-up Lucky. I ended up being "next of kin" for a Thai friend of mine who became a quadriplegic with Guillain-Barre. He had a unique perspective on his plight which I only began to understand once I had absorbed Burdett's first three novels. Interestingly, I shared these book with his brother in Atlanta and he commented that they were, for the most part, spot on w/r/t to Thai culture and attitudes.

 

I noticed that Grandfather of Kathmandu is already available for download from Barnes & Noble for reading via its e-reader application (that's what I have on my iPhone) for only $9.99.

 

b/t/w Wikipedia has a movie from his Bangkok 8 coming out in 2008. I wish they'd hurry up with it.

[+ Lucky]

I guess an e-book needn't go through that bothersome thing called the printing press. I don't see myself ever becoming a kindle fan.

 

As for the Bangkok 8 movie, thanks for the information. I am not sure I want to see these characters portrayed by actors- I have my own opinion on what they look like!

[+ Lucky]

The Godfather of Kathmandu did not interest me much for the first 70 pages or so when Sonchai Jitpleecheep was in Nepal meeting a Tibetan mystic, but once it returned to Bangkok I got back on track. John Burdett has created a complex world where nothing is as it seems, and I loved it. Be sure to read the whole thing. He must have spent a great deal of time on this book. Some critics think it was too meandering, but for me, it was all part of a wondrous ride.

But, after reading Timothy Hallinan, Christopher Moore, and Burdett, one does wonder if Thailand is as corrupt as Mexico. But then, Burdett will have you re-evaluating your view of what corruption is by the time you finish his latest.

[kjun]

Thailand and Mexico are both corrupt but in different ways. I don't resent the poilice corruption as much in Thailand as I do in Mexico. Thailand has many cultural differences from the US and I have to stop myself from resenting them. Living here, it is hard to ignore but in order to keep enjoying myself I must overlook these differences. C'est la vie!

[eeyore]

Thanks to all who have posted in this thread. I recently finished Nail Through the Heart and thoroughly enjoyed it. I will move on to The Fourth Watcher soon. Does it pick up where Nail left off? Hallinan left plenty of unresolved issues with respect to the young boy, ‘Superman,’ in the ending to Nail. I was hoping for some closure in the next novel. I just started 38 Million Dollar Smile, but I’m not far enough into it yet to comment. I will start Burdett after I finish Smile. I’m savoring the anticipation. I love his writing style. He definitely seems to set the gold standard.

[+ newatthis]

I was already a Burdett fan, and unlike Lucky, I enjoyed Godfather -- all of it -- very much. I especially admire the look inside Buddhist culture and thought that Burdett gives us -- in Godfather, we get both Thai and Tibetan versions, as well as some hints at the interconnectedness of Hinduism and Buddhism in Tibet and Nepal.

 

I have Lucky to thank for introducing me to Hallinan and Moore. All 3 authors give me the feeling of being inside Thai culture, but in different ways. Moore's writing most resembles the conventional crime thriller. Hallinan seemed strongest to me on the political slant. But I highly recommend all of them. Moore's Thai novels have only just begun to be published here, so we have a backlist to look forward to.