Cheap by Ellen Ruppel Shell

January 29, 2019 by Christina

Nonfiction – print. Penguin Press, 2009. 320 pgs. Library copy. Since reading The Millionaire Next Door earlier this month, consumerism has been dominating my thoughts. I’ve been particularly contemplative of how people have rejected of material goods, attracted to articles like one in The Guardian by a man who lives “houseless” in Alaska and contemplating rereading Not Buying It.  In my search for more books on the topic, I was reminded of Shell’s book on consumerism. I borrowed her book from the library in […]

Categories: 2019 Reads, Asia, Economics, Europe, Food, Nonfiction, North America, Scandinavia, Thailand, United States • Tags: Ellen Ruppel Shell

The Newcomers by Helen Thorpe

December 31, 2018 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Scribner, 2017. 416 pgs. Purchased. Subtitled “Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom”, Thorpe spent a year and a half in an English Language Acquisition (ELA) class at Denver’s South High School. The twenty-two students she shadowed arrived in America as refugees with little English comprehension from around the world, including Iraq via Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, and El Salvador. Over this period of time, these students struggled to adjust to […]

Categories: 2018 Reads, Africa, Asia, Book Club, Education, Middle East, Mountain West, Nonfiction, North America, South America, Thailand, United States • Tags: Helen Thorpe

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

March 7, 2018 by Christina

Fiction — audiobook. Read by Georgia Maguire. Macmillian Audio, 2016. 8 hours, 23 minutes. Library copy. To outsiders, Grace Angel has the perfect marriage. Her husband, Jack, is a lawyer representing victims of domestic violence, and he absolutely dotes on his wife. He takes her on spur of the moment holidays to Thailand, provides a comfortable home so that Grace does not have to work, and is committed to Grace’s promise to bring her sister Millie, who has Downs Syndrome, […]

Categories: 2018 Reads, Asia, Audiobook, Book Club, Crime, Europe, Fiction, Thailand, United Kingdom • Tags: B.A. Paris, Georgia Maguire

The Voice of Asia by James A. Michener

February 28, 2018 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Random House, 1951. 338 pgs. Purchased.  Before embarking on any trip — around the world or within the United States — I always look to see if James A. Michener wrote about the particular place I’m set to visit. I find his multi-generational, fictional stories make the nonfictional history of a particular geography accessible and intriguing in a way that guidebooks cannot. As I will be traveling throughout southeast Asia in April, I looked into Michener’s back […]

Categories: 2018 Reads, Asia, India, Japan, Nonfiction, Thailand, Travel, Vietnam • Tags: James A. Michener

Merchants of Madness by Bertil Lintner and Michael Black

April 7, 2012 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Silkworm Books, 2009. 180 pgs. Purchased. Subtitled “The Methamphetamine Explosion in the Golden Triangle”. Merchants of Madness provides a convoluted examination of the methamphetamine trade in the “Golden Triangle”, the intersection of the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma (also known as Myanmar). The authors argue the root causes of the drug trade are ethnic conflict and prolonged, stifling military rule in Burma mean drugs will continue to circulate throughout the Golden Triangle and the rest of […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Asia, China, Nonfiction, Textbook, Thailand • Tags: Bertil Lintner, Michael Black

Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon

March 26, 2012 by Christina

Fiction – print. Harper Perennial, 1999. Originally published 1944. 416 pgs. Purchased. Published in 1944, Landon’s novel is actually derived from her main character’s two memoirs, The English Governess at the Siamese Court (published in 1870) and Romance of the Harem (published in 1872). Landon states in the preface that she enhanced Anna Leonownes’ first-person narratives with details about the Siamese people and their culture culled from other sources and her own time living in the country. Fans of “The […]

Categories: 2012 Reads, Asia, Fiction, Thailand • Tags: Margaret Landon

A Short History of South-East Asia by Peter Church

July 14, 2010 by Christina

Nonfiction — print. Wiley, John & Sons, 2009. 5th edition. 210 pgs. Library copy. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, South-East Asia was skipped in my geography class, and I never felt like the textbook for that class did a good enough job explaining the culture and history of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, and Myanmar (Burma). Although I knew I wanted to learn more about this region, I wasn’t actively searching for a introductory book, […]

Categories: 2010 Reads, Asia, Nonfiction, Thailand, Vietnam • Tags: Peter Church