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Books Set in Southeast Asia
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February 2004
Compiled by Jenne Bergstrom,
of San Diego County Library, El Cajon Branch, from contributions by the members of Fiction_L.
(To use this list in your library, book club, etc., please include the following credit line: "Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list." This list may not be used for commercial purposes.)
- Beld, Gordon A Gentle Breeze from Gossamer Wings
- Bourdain, Anthony A Cook's Tour
- I know that you requested "novels", but I have to recommend Anthony Bourdain's second nonfiction title, A Cook's Tour_. He is the author of Kitchen Confidential. For Tour he traveled around the world in search of "The Perfect Meal" and found some of the best food of his life in Vietnam. He also takes a strange, scary trip into Cambodia. Be aware that his language is a little rough and he's pretty earthy, but I can't tell you how much I want to try a bowl of pho in Ho Chi Minh City after reading the book.
- Burdertt, John Bangkok 8
- It falls in that thriller, sex/drug trade genre
- Butler, Robert Olen A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
- It doesn't fit your criteria perfectly, but it's within striking distance of it and it's a good book. Your patron might like it. It won the Pulitzer the year it came out.
- Chua, Lawrence Gold by the Inch
- Cumming, Joe World Food of Thailand a Lonely Planet Guide
- Drabble, Margaret The Gates of Ivory
- Duong, Thu Huong Memories of a Pure Spring
- Durand, Loup The Angkor Massacre
- Garland, Alex The Beach
- Gilman, Dorothy Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle
- Han, Suyin The Enchantress
- Hillerman, TonyFinding Moon
- Is set in 1975, at the end of the Vietnam War, in L.A., Manila, Cambodia, and I think Vietnam. Moon is looking for his niece, and finds himself.
- Ho, Anh Thai The Women on the Island
- Ho, Minfong Rice without Rain
- Joyce, Graham Smoking Poppy
- Keeley, Edmund A Wilderness Called Peace
- Nagata, Linda Limit of Vision
- Manicka, Rani The Rice Mother
- Has Asian elements with a small portion of fantasy as well.
- Mathews, Francine The Secret Agent
- Meeker, Clare Hodgson Tale of Two Rice Birds
- Children's Story -- it is a story that all children in Thailand know and is beautifully illustrated.
- Morris, Bill All Souls' Day
- The Quiet American
- The new film (out last year) starring Brendan Fraser and Michael Caine is set in Vietnam during the 1950s and revolves around the dying of the French hold in Indochina. It is a beautiful and atmospheric movie. You can smell the flowers and feel the sweat.
- Rohan, Michael Scott The Gates of Noon
- Ryman, Geoff The Unconquered Country
- Novella/short novel is a fantasy (or "magical realism" story for those that consider that a separate categoy) set in what is clearly Cambodia during the Khmer Rogue era, though I don't recall that Cambodia is ever expressly named. http://www.unr.edu/chgps/ryman.html
- Somtow, S.P. Jasmine Nights
- Somtow S.P. is himself Thai and uses his background in some of his stories, which are mostly sf/f; however the one you probably want for these purposes is his autobiographical non-sf novel, Jasmine Nights. http://www.dcothai.com/books/jasminenights.htm
- Traveller's Tales Thailand
- Has many good stories
- Tuck, Lily Siam, or the Woman Who Shot a Man
- Very atmospheric, set in Bangkok in the Vietnam era.
- Vollmann, William T. Butterfly Stories
- Wilson, Robert Charles Chronoliths
- Is set in a near future Thailand, sort of an eco/science fiction story
- Wright, Wilbur Carter's Castle
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