On our way back from Bangkok. I picked up a random book from the airport bookstore. This thriller detective book called Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett. I spent the next 10 hours on the plane engrossed in reading it. The storyline was intriguing but what kept me reading most was the references to places I’d just visited.

That junction at Asok and Sukhumvit near our hotel. The bars around Nana. The night life of Soi Cowboy. And the little references and explanation to things we’d noticed throughout the holidays. Sometimes you read books on places but the names are just cool foreign names that pass you until you’ve actually been there and be able to associate with it. And I loved it all.

Ever since then I have been borrowing and buying travel novels. Not tourist guide books, but books with a setting somewhere else. Currently listening to ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ audio book (more on this another day) and reading an author’s memoir of Istanbul. The book is a nice introduction to the city, but is the kinda book I’d want to re-read AFTER I have been there. (Guess where I’m planning to go in 2009? ;))

Books read so far:
Bangkok Tattoo - John Burdett
Bangkok Haunts - John Burdett
Long Way Down - Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Left Bank - Kate Muir
Istanbul, Memories of a city - Orhan Pamuk
Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell

Any other recommendations?