The Grumpy Expat Forum

I'm reading The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum. I loved the film starring Matt Damon and now I'm on chapter five of the novel. I must say the novel (so far) is as good as the film. Great reading; good pace, plenty of dialogue and interesting characters with just about the right amount of description to give you a feel for the places, but not too much that it becomes a drag.

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home
in North Platte , Nebraska, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the ...

I've been reading this Joshef Heller book again, not read it for a long time and love the WWI Air Force situation about trying to get grounded on the grounds of insanity, great chapter about General Dreedle and all of them turning up to the medal presentation naked in an attempt to get grounded, quality. Must say that, in a way, this book has something in common with living here/relevant perspective/connotational similarity etc. It can ...

Here's a book by a farang resident of Bangkok and Isaan that will make you smile. Jerry Hopkins obviously loves the country and writes about its sometimes odd ways in an affectionate and amusing way.

See more here and buy the book:

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2009/12 ... jerry.html

As Thailand experiences some cool weather, let's spare a thought for the folks back home in the northern hemisphere. What's the weather doing back home? Share some farang winter pictures with us, even old ones.

Here's one I took in Leicestershire a few winters ago when we had a very cold few weeks.

There's no cinema section so Library it is. :)

I've just watched the movie 'Halloween' for the first time.

If you don't know the story, it's about a young guy who kills a woman by stabbing her many times. He seems to have no remorse, regret or fear after the killing. It's clear that he, under arrest and subject to psychiatric reports, could put on an innocent, ...

Here's a book that's a little different from the usual 'I'm a victim, Thai woman's a bitch' theme:

http://www.grumpyexpat.com/blog/2009/10 ... mmann.html

Well worth reading.

I'll review the sequel later - Lady of Pattaya.

Michael, the author, lives locally.

If you haven't read this book by Frank Visakay it's probably too late! Farang already living in Thailand will probably have similar tales to tell but the ruthlessness of some of the girls in Frank's tales is gob smacking. If I were to fault the book, it would be to say that it should point out that not all bad girls are bar girls and not all bar girls are bad girls.

Read more about ...

Last week I spotted an insect building a nest. The insect looks a bit like some kind of wasp and the nest seems to be made of earth. Five days later, the nest was finished. I particularly like the photos where you can see the eggs. Each egg seems to have it's own seperate room or section.

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P2200524 (1200 x 900).jpg

Well it seemed to be written in the tea leaves of the future that I would eventually come across a book written by a foreigner in a thai prison. I chose Welcome to Hell because it was not your typical "gone to goal because of drugs" type story.

It appears that Colin was set up from the day he arrived in Thailand on a business deal, eventually loosing all his money and forced to take ...