Four Reigns – Kukrit Pramoj. Published 1953, English version 1981. The dense epic story of Phloi and her family across the reigns of four kings starting in the 1800s and ending in the mid 1940s during the reign of Rama VIII.
Haiku Volumes I-IV – R H Blyth. Published 1959. The definitive set of classic haikus covering the four seasons, the history of haikus and a few haikus about cormorants.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Horihiko Araki. First Published 1987. The manga series started with Phantom Blood staring Jonathan Joestar. Originally serialised in the manga magazine Shōnen.
The Kingdom of Women – Choo WaiHong. Published 2017. About the Mosou women and men.
The Lonely Planet Series – Tony Wheeler et al. What can I say? Compared to now, my 1985 edition of South-East Asia on a Shoestring was somewhat smaller but all the same it was indispensable.
The Mosquito Coast – Paul Theroux. Published 1981. Not the best pick to understand the Honduran mentality (or the Mayan for that matter) but it made for great adventure reading.
The Naked Lunch – William S Burroughs. Published 1959. I never had a problem with the cut-up approach to storytelling!
Out on a Limb – Shirley MacLaine. Published 1986. Yes, this was probably my first introduction to ‘New Age’.
The Plumed Serpent – D H Lawrence. Published 1926. Set in Mexico. Not the most famous story of his. It got mixed reviews, but if it was good enough for Octavio Paz then it was good enough for me.
The Quiet American – Graham Greene. Published 1955. A great introduction to English writers who up until this book I had been mistakenly steering clear of!
The Ramakien: The Stone Rubbings of the Thai Epic – J M Cadet. Published 1971. A beautiful edition illustrated with amazing bas-reliefs from Wat Po in Bangkok.
The Soong Dynasty – Sterling Seagrave. Published 1985. A must read about the turbulent history of the twentieth century China and the hugely influential Soong sisters. About the sisters: one loved money, one loved power, and one loved her country.
Summer on the B-side (B面の夏) – Madoka Mayuzumi. Published 1994. Mayuzumi remains one of my favourite Haiku poets. Unfortunately, this collection is only available in Japanese. It does however contain the haikus that inspired some rewrites of One Night in Shibuya. Also check out her book Gashu Poemu with lithographs by Yoshitaka Amano.
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion – Yukio Mishima. Published 1956. Hugely influential to me and a great recounting of the burning of the Golden Temple in Kyoto.
Thailand Confidential – Jerry Hopkins. Published 2005. Hopkins, one of the original Rolling Stone magazine journalists, moved to Thailand in 1993 and wrote this book of fun facts about Thailand. Also wrote (along with Danny Sugerman) a great biography of Jim Morrison called No One Gets Out Of Here Alive.
Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller. Published 1934. Also hugely influential to me, along with the other writers from Paris in the 1930s. In addition to Paris, his writings about Brooklyn provided me an early impression of the USA—for better or worse. No, not all his writing was about sex!
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China – Jung Chang. Published 1991. This fascinating book covers much of the Chinese communist revolution and, as of the time of this writing, is banned in Mainland China.
Winnie-The-Pooh – A. A. Milne with fabulous illustrations by E. H. Shepard. Published 1926. Prai Dao’s (and my) favourite children’s book. Unfortunately, I traded my original copy of it with something from my sister, and I can’t even remember what that was. I must ask her if I can have the book back!