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Suggest Vintage Exotic Novels or Travelogues


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  • 9 months later...

2) A Woman of Bangkok -Jack Reynolds (1950's Thailand). Obscure and hard to find but to this day the definitive novel about a young westerner discovering the temptations of the East, and paying the price.

I have been seeking a reasonably priced copy of this since you suggested it. It has been reissued:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Woman-Bangkok-Jack-Reynolds/dp/9810854307/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334951136&sr=8-1

I just ordered a copy and cannot wait to read it. I've read online comments from westerners who have spent time in Bangkok, and many seem to think that this book captures the time and place perfectly.

Thanks for the recommendation!

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First installment:

Mark Twain, Following the Equator

http://www.amazon.com/Following-Equator-Journey-Around-World/dp/0486261131

Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sheltering-P-S-Paul-Bowles/dp/006083482X

Henri Michaux, A Barbarian in Asia

http://www.amazon.com/A-Barbarian-Asia-Henri-Michaux/dp/0811209911/

Barry Unsworth, Pascali's Island (avoid the awful Merchant-Ivory film. Ben Kinglsey is horribly miscast)

http://www.amazon.com/Pascalis-Island-Barry-Unsworth/dp/0393317218/

V.S. Naipaul, The Mystic Masseur (long before he became totally full of himself) (also a Merchant-Ivory film, but I haven't seen it)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mystic-Masseur-V-S-Naipaul/dp/037570714X/

R.K. Narayan, The Man-Eater of Malgudi

http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-eater-Malgudi-R-Narayan/dp/8122204937/

Amos Tutuola, The Palm Wine Drinkard

http://www.amazon.com/Palm-Wine-Drinkard-Life-Bush-Ghosts/dp/0802133630/

Auden & Isherwood, Journey to a War (China, 1938)

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-War-Armchair-Traveller-Series/dp/1557783284/

And I humbly submit, for your perusal, my own India travelogue, in 2 parts:

http://petercherches.blogspot.com/2007/08/mr-cherches-goes-to-india-part-i.html

http://petercherches.blogspot.com/2007/08/mr-cherches-goes-to-india-part-ii.html

I'll also second The Quiet American, but my 2 favorite Greenes are the African novels A Burnt Out Case and The Heart of The Matter.

Edited by Pete C
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2) A Woman of Bangkok -Jack Reynolds (1950's Thailand). Obscure and hard to find but to this day the definitive novel about a young westerner discovering the temptations of the East, and paying the price.

I have been seeking a reasonably priced copy of this since you suggested it. It has been reissued:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Woman-Bangkok-Jack-Reynolds/dp/9810854307/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334951136&sr=8-1

I just ordered a copy and cannot wait to read it. I've read online comments from westerners who have spent time in Bangkok, and many seem to think that this book captures the time and place perfectly.

Thanks for the recommendation!

You are welcome, I am happy to see it has been reissued. Hope you enjoy it, I should reread before my trip to Bangkok this weekend!

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You are welcome, I am happy to see it has been reissued. Hope you enjoy it, I should reread before my trip to Bangkok this weekend!

You should look at the Thailand sections of these too:

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Dust-Ian-Buruma/dp/0753810891/

http://www.amazon.com/Video-Night-Kathmandu-Reports-Not-So-Far/dp/0679722165/

Thanks Pete, I am quite familiar with both of those authors and 'Video Night in Kathmandu' is one of my favourite travel books. I know Thailand pretty well, some of my closest friends live there and I have visited numerous times.

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  • 7 years later...

Bumping my old thread, which has been very helpful!

At this juncture, I would like to offer two pieces of poetry and music from the obscure Buddy Collette album Polynesia.  I am not sure who the poet/narrator is, or even if the poet and narrator are the same person.  Either way, the words sound like the fevered ramblings of a shipwrecked sailor who has contracted a rare tropical disease.  

 

 

Edited by Teasing the Korean
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1 hour ago, Brad said:

I have never read Patrick Leigh Fermor's books but am thinking of doing so. They're supposed to be very good. See https://www.nyrb.com/collections/patrick-leigh-fermor

Only one I've read was A Time To Keep Silence, and unfortunately, I was not impressed. There's just something about the outlook, the feel of how he looks at things that stuck me a bit off. It's just me, but I've never been a fan of "The Englishman On The Road" style books,  Waugh's travel books leave me cold, and Hilaire Belloc's Journey to Rome was a no go for me.

Edited by Matthew
clean up grammar! and syntax!! and spelling!!!
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1 hour ago, Matthew said:

Only one I've read was A Time To Keep Silence, and unfortunately, I was not impressed. There's just something about the outlook, the feel of how he looks at things that stuck me a bit off. It's just me, but I've never been a fan of "The Englishman On The Road" style books,  Waugh's travel books leave me cold, and Hilaire Belloc's Journey to Rome was a no go for me.

From what I gathered, his Time of GiftsBetween the Woods and the Water, and The Broken Road -which detail his travels across Europe - are quite different than the one you read and are considered the ones to read. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a very cool thread! I'm making notes too. I don't know if mysteries are a genre in which anyone might be interested, but I particularly liked the Colin Coterill novels set in Laos and some lovely ones by Kwei Quartey set in Ghana.

 

 

gregmo

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