Word: self
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...openly alcoholic Kingsley Amis published the book On Drink, which included several self-researched hangover cures such as beef paste and vodka, baking soda and vodka and several other mixtures involving vodka. Amis also mused on what he called the "metaphysical hangover," in which physical ailments are replaced with nagging feelings of regret and self-loathing. Unfortunately the only cure for the metaphysical hangover is a lot of self-pity and maybe an album by the Cure...
...possible for a foreign male to visit Thailand without getting a) waylaid in a girlie bar, or b) arrested? This question struck me recently in Phuket, where the best-selling titles at the airport bookshop included a self-published novel about a murdered Thai prostitute, an exposé of the country's sex industry and two memoirs by foreigners who had served time in Thai jails - a genre already as overcrowded as the prisons themselves. That Singapore publisher Monsoon Books feels there is room for one more - Nightmare in Bangkok by Andy Botts - begs two more questions...
...that it is hard to sympathize with the narrator. Botts, who is eventually transferred to a U.S. prison and granted parole after spending less than five years at Klong Prem, is not a lovable rogue but a thief and heroin trafficker, and his time behind bars prompts little self-reflection. Seeming to sense this, he closes the book with a lame attempt to recast his dismal life as a parable about overcoming addiction, with the suggestion that he should never have been jailed. I agree with him that criminalizing drug addiction is wrong. But jailing drug traffickers like Botts...
...most productive writer-in-residence programs looks set to flourish. One current inmate said to be writing his story is suspected arms dealer Viktor Bout. One that I hope will do the same is Harry Nicolaides, an Australian arrested for supposedly insulting Thailand's crown prince in a self-published novel called Verisimilitude that sold only seven copies. Already famous for turning criminals into writers, is Thailand now turning writers into criminals? Now that's worth writing a book about...
...This comes at a time of increased ferment, with Malaysia's ethnic-based power-sharing in flux and Indian lawyers having braved water cannons to protest discrimination. While hardly political, the Temple has tackled gangs, drug use and crime born of low self-esteem, one young person - and one tabla beat - at a time. Hundreds crowd the classes, which are still held in the old building day and night. The new space will be welcome...