kurtz

I read Stone Quarry years ago and I loved it. Only books I can get here are from used book stores and library, so I cannot find everyhting. I went to many shops yesterday looking for rozan books but could not find any.

Thanks again everyone. It is good to be in friendly forum, as some are not. If anyone in forum visits thailand, just send message and welcome to visit.

This week I read 2 novels by this writer and both were great. Especially Winter and Night. Although I love American football, and this book is not very complimentary about high school football, I still loved the story. The main subjects besides football are high school bullies, school shootings, child abuse and domestic violence. I could not figure out the ending, and was completely surprised.

I just finished another mystery of series I highly recommend. Book is China Trade by S.J.Rozan, which is one of series about P.I. Bill Smith and Chinese partner Lydia Chin. I am currently reading another of this series, Winter and Night. They are not ultra-violent but very good characters and also funny.

The first sci-fi books I read were Tom Swift, Jr. novels, which will give a clue how old I am. First fantasy book was The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling.

I also highly recommend The Stone Monkey, another Lincoln Rhyme novel, but my favorite Deaver book was The Devil's Teardrop.

I also think book was better than the movie.

Yes in fact I am one of the librarians, though I am just a volunteer 1 day a week. Library is called raintree resource center and is run by Chiang Mai Community Church. It is one of only 2 libraries in Chiang mai with English language books. Although it is run by church, they have every kind of book there.

Chiang Mai is a major tea producing region of Thailand and so I drink lots of locally grown tea. Right now I am drinking green tea. The kind which is just loose tea and water. It is much better for you than tea bags. I also make chrysanthemum tea, which is not really tea at all. it is just chrysanthemum flowers in hot water. You buy a big huge wheel of it about 1/3 of ameter in diameter and tear off flowers from the big wheel. It is supposed to be good for high blood pressure and other things. I never put cream and sugar in hot tea, but if you order Thai tea in restaurant, it is iced tea with tons of milk and sugar.

It is not a historical novel but I really liked Cornwell novel Scoundrel, which is in modern times and involves sailing and terrorists and it is very exciting.

It is 6am and reading Downtown by Ed McBain.

My personal favorites are Lawrence Block and Ed McBain. They are not new but they are always suspenseful and realistic.

Ancient Aliens on History Channel.

I saw movie of Painted Veil on airplane and I loved it, but have been unable to find the book.

I usually do not read short stories, but I just finished Far Eastern Tales by Somerset Maugham for second time. I highly recommend this book, as in my opinion they are stories that are just as enjoyable today as in the time they were written.

The only times I recall doing this was with heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Main by Trevanian.

For the most part I do not like fantasy stories, but even so I do love Once and Future King and Mists of Avalon, and also Robert E. Howard's novels about Conan the Barbarian.

This is story of Constantine Phaulkon, also known as The Falcon, who was highest ranking foreingner in history of Thailand. He was a greek seaman who became advisor to King Narai in 1600's. There are numerous historical novels, as well as regular history books, about this guy but the best in my opinion are the series written by Axel Aylwen. I have been to the ruins of his palace in Ayyuthaya, and they were quite impressive.

I found CD at library with various rock bands, some of which I never heard of. I do like the songs from jeff healey on it. Especially nThe Shape of Things to Come.

Willard, the newer version. I thought it would be stupid but it was actually pretty entertaining. I stayed up until past 2am to watch it, so it could not have been bad.

SueK, perhaps you would also enjoy the crime novels of John Burdett. They are also set in Thailand and the main character is a half-Thai, half American Bangkok detective who also owns a bar. The first two books are Bangkok 8 and Bangkok Tattoo. However, my favorite books about SE Asia are written by Colin Cotterill. They are mostly about the national coroner of laos, Dr. Siri Paiboun. They are mysteries but also very very funny. They mostly take place in seventies, after Vietnam War. There is also a supernatural twist as the dead spirits speak to Dr. Siri, and he is inhabited by ghost of 1,000 year old hmong shaman. I have spoken to the author of these books and he is a great guy. He gets nothing from sale of these books. all the money goes to landmine victims and also to promote literacy for children in Laos.

I have read almost all of jack reacher novels, and some of them more than once. I really love jack reacher character. Only complaint I have is the writer is sometimes inaccurate about weaponry, tactics and martial arts and other details. But despite this they are very exciting novels and I will continue to read them.

I think that although it is a drag sometimes to have to look up the words, it is a good way to improve your knowledge and vocabulary. Sometimes there are words in Dean Koontz books that I never heard of, but this way I learn new words. If you keep at it there will be fewer times you have to stop and look up words in dictionary.

I never read The Bomb Maker, but will look for it next time I visit used book shop.

They are thrillers and are mostly all based in UK and Thailand, since he lives in both places. He has series of books about British cop named Spider. Many of his UK stories are about IRA. He also wrote a book called Private Dancer, which is about a farang who falls in love with Thai bargirl, and all the trouble he gets into as a result. I myself never read this book,as I never got involved in this myself, but many people who have say they wished they read this book first. The Chinaman, my favorite Leather novel, is about former Viet Cong soldier living in UK whose wife and daughter are killed by IRA bomb in London. Story is about how he uses experience from Vietnam war to get revenge on people who killed his family.