Monday, April 19, 2004

What I've been reading.

Amongst other things, that is.

Recently, I have mostly been enjoying few good books. Trust me when I tell you I don't choose these books, they choose me. John Burdett's Bangkok 8 is an entertaining and rather fantastic thriller based in Bangkok, Thailand. It certainly employs some concepts I've not come across in other thrillers and has some wicked twists in it. Just remember it's fiction. One reviewer states, "Thick with the authentic - and hallucinogenic - atmosphere of Bangkok" - a typically "farang" view and one that does great disservice to the real Bangkok. A bit like saying Mars is just so weird!

An outstanding antidote to such Western arrogance on things Eastern is Pira Sudham's Monsoon Country. I defy anyone to read this and fail to be touched in some way. I ended up being unable to put it down, finishing it at 4am and, unable to sleep, learning the ancient Chinese game of Go on my mobil e phone.

I find it maddening that my phone still beats me at a rate of something like 4 to 1.

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