I'll admit to loving Harry Potter (the books - I find the films best left to their intended audience). I've read all 6 and will read the 7th when I have the spare cash to buy it (1,150bt? )
I loved the Narnia books, Roald Dahl's children's books, Alice (Wonderland & looking glass) as well, so I guess I like the magical genre.
"The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?" - Jeremy Bentham, philosopher, 1748-1832
i find the bookstore above the mcdonalds in downtown hua hin to be significantly better than the one opposite the sofitel but that is just one functional illiterate's opinion.
books have never been cheap and they aren't at the above either but the 300-400 baht i spend on the new book is probably better spent than on the mediocre bottle of merlot which i like to swill.
my latest recommendations, all purchased locally:
the kite runner by khaled hosseni......an emmigrants story and not a happy one
the march by e. l. doctrow......not a good time to be a southern belle as sherman marches thru georgia and the carolinas, forty acres and a mule(yeah, sure)
never let me go by kazuo ishiguro.......a very scary world in jolly old uk
i'm fairly certain if you don't like the above titles there is something wrong with u!
I've read all of the Harry Potter books including the last one, which I had on order and picked up yesterday. Saw the movie in Bangkok at the weekend. Not seen Imax before. Wow! Blogged about it.
Enjoyed the book, all of the books. They're fun, they're dark and yes, they're for kids. But give me Rowling over the graphic, misogynistic, male dominated Stephen Leather stories.
Never Let Me Go was superb (Kuzuo Ishiguro never disappoints) - gave me slight nightmares, but a fascinating read.
Got 'The Kite Runner' in my case at the moment, was hoping to start it while invigilating hugely boring exams, but haven't quite managed yet. Will have to wait until the end of the term I guess...
VS
"Properly trained, man can be a dog's best friend"
Bangkok Tattoo - John Burdett.
If it hasn't been mentioned before, try it.
Sure, a book about bars, drugs, corruption etc etc but written in the first person by a "fairly deeply" Buddhist policeman in Bangkok.
I enjoyed it anyway.
The English author also wrote a prequel - Bangkok 8. That's the police district in the capital that covers Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy.
Again, he's a Thai policeman/detective who is extremely religious and tries to explain to us "non-believers" the correct path - with some Thai reality.