Laundry Man by Jake Needham

Bento Box says:

Phew, that reads just like a Stickman book review!

S- says:

DAVID, you forget the $id=2328 in the link

David says:

S-

The link to Jake Needham's site seems to work fine. Is that the link you were referring to? Am I missing something?

TaipeiJohn says:

I think he's saying that there should be a referal fee for you when people click on the link to buy the book (you can see evidence of such fees when the link includes an id number for the referrer). Arguably that's why alot of other sites provide book review (as another revenue stream).

Dana says:

Haha! Hilarious!

S- says:

Where is my beer?

gna gna

David says:

Mango Sauce isn't a business - it's a hobby.

The affiliate advertising covers the operating costs. Like most bloggers, I write for fun rather than for profit.

I recommend things because I like them but, where referral fees are offered, I take them.

Publicising this book won't earn me a penny. I merely enjoyed reading it.

nick adams says:

jake needham is a hack. so is that moore guy. to think of the innocent trees needlessly slaughtered.

david, i vote for some reviews of real literature, thai-related. since isaan-related stuff is all the rage around here, how about anything by pira sudham (prolly i messed up the spelling). written originally in english, by the way. you want some real insight into the nature of the bar girl smiling sweetly down at you from your favorite pole, read anything by him. if you're going to get your eyes in motion running from left to right across the printed page, why waste your time reading derivative shite?

S- says:

David...it's all good.

gna gna

nick adams says:

chart korbjitti is another good writer about things thai. he wrote "the judgement", upon which the movie "ai-fak" is based. some other stuff too, can't recall of the top of my head.

http://www.pirasudham.com/
http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?products_id=38

see the above for pira sudham. i'm no freakin crusader, but for fuck's sake, if you're going to spend money on books, you might as well buy something real.

David says:

Thanks for the recommendation, Nick.

mr peter says:

Thanks for those links mr nick I will give this bloke a go. I have not enjoyed anything written by any falang author set in LOS, except parts of hello my big big honey and private dancer. The scribe and most of moores work are trash IMO.-peter

Mike T says:

David,

Did you write all this by yourself?????????

David says:

What do you mean?

Valentino Rossi says:

The Big Mango is one of the very few books that I have ever lent to someone and told them not to bother returning it. I was in Bangkok when I read it, and it didn't manage to make me feel that I was there, even though I was!

I've read a couple of Pira Sudham's books and they were both excellent.

Currently reading "Thaksin - The Business of Politics in Thailand" which is very interesting and well written so far (by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker, published by Silkworm books).

eurobserver says:

funny surname by the way, needham, i don't need ham though, already have one, but i do need hoy;)

Dana says:

Some knucklehead is falsely posting me again. Boring.

toby says:

i agree, moore is a hack too. i picked up his novel, i think it was called a killing smile or something, last year while i was in pattaya and read it on my flight home from japan.
it was garbage. i jumped to the conclusion that all thai expat literature like this was bad writing.

i think i'll stick with the late master Graham Greene.
the book i reccomend is the 'quiet american' especailly for you expats, and i'm reading 'our 'man in havana' right now' also by graham greene.
greene lived a long life travelling the world or something, so all his novels are set in different places like cuba or vietnam.

AFR says:

Its amazing how so many people are so quick to criticise successful people, especially when they are flat out themselves constructing decent postings on this forum, let alone write a novel. I thought it was only Australians who love to "cut down a tall poppy".

Of course guys like Needham, and Moore have no talent. That's why they are two of Thailand's top selling English language authors........

Dick Headley says:

Glad you mentioned literature David. I was over on Oscar's boat again last night. He had a few people for supper, stockbrokers and bankers and their ugly loudmouthed wives for the most part. Boring bastards, don't how Oscar puts up with them, or how they put up with each other come to that. Kind of people who stay at the Oriental in Bangkok because it has so much atmosphere. Anyway they all went off to their bareboat charters leaving me and Oscar to get the Mountgay out. We're on our second bottle, talking about this and that, when I notice a book on the table. Turns out it's a copy of James Joyces's ìUlyssesî. Don't tell me you're reading this shite Oscar, I say. Not really, says he, I only keep it on the table to impress the clients. Why? Hmmm, says I, that's odd. I was just thinking today how my life has been a kind of Odyssey. Oh fuck me, says Oscar, I'll get another bottle.

Well think about it, I say. Ulysses never had a real plan did he? Except to get back home, if you can call that a plan. Just random drifting around on a boat with a bunch of wankers. Is that it? Oh I can sail around the Caribbean forever, no problem there Oscar, but still at the back of my mind I wonder what's the point of it all. I'm not a bloody Thai bargirl you know. I've noticed, says Oscar, what's your point? WellÖI need a bit more than somtam and a game of cards, IÖ

Steady Dick, says Oscar, I'm drunk so please don't start that intellectual crapÖor you'll be talking to yourself. And you're no Ulysses Dick, says Oscar. Those Sirens would have you for breakfast.

Not bloody likely. I'd fight ëem off with the old pork swordÖand you may be a one-eyed git but you're no bloody Cyclops either, says I. Did I mention Oscar wears an eye-patch? (Thai girl hit him with a go-go boot). Old berk looks like a pirate.

Did I ever tell you you'd look good with a cutlass between your teeth Dick, says Oscar? Did I ever tell you you'd look good with one up your arse says I? And so we passed another tropical night exchanging insults with each other and listening to the sound of reggae music drift across the moonlit bay.

Greg says:

"Just random drifting around on a boat with a bunch of wankers. Is that it? "

That's the stuff.

Just that alone makes me feel better. A fellow, interested in the simple questions.

Tracey Emmin says:

*unimpressed*

Greg says:

I've been drifting around ports, drifting in eddies, sinking to depths, rising to heights. Time as monk, time as yogi, time as family man, time as hippy, time as travelling salesman, time as entrepreneur, time as wealthy playboy, time as fiance, time as small business employer with 12 employees, time as worldly ting tong Dad with 2 or 3 or 4 close lovers, time as alcoholic, time as teetololer, time as chi-gong healer, time as etc etc.

The simple questions are the best.

So many avenues to explore meaning from.

Linguistics
Poetics
Philosophy
Meditation
Hermeneutics (sp?) or interpersonal communications
Sex
Chi Kung
Devotion
Art
Kundalini (already mentioned as sex and chi-kung)
Anthropology
History
Psychology
Science

Yes, the universe is infinite and life is finite. But the infinite is expressed and born through our knowledge. It is not exactly pre-given - so we fullfill it's destiny with trivial pursuits.

Greg says:

I'm remembering this incorectly.

Wilber mentioned that one level of seeking permanence involved showing up others. If you can kill someone, you have proven that you are more imortal than he is. You steal his manna, in a way. If you kill a bear, wouldn't it be cool to wear it's claws?

Cutting down someone gains you some sort of permanence. Warriors are often exorted to die by the call to the permanence they will achieve in glory. Remembered forever in glory.

Kill and be victorious, and you shall live forever.

Sacrifice your life and you shall blah blah forever.

The idea isn't just a meme. It is purportedly a stage of the longing for meaning. One way to cognize meaning. One way to seek Spirit, or permanence, or the good the true and the beautiful.

Kill someone today.

Ragtopmuse says:

I prefer Needam over Moore for literary talent. I have read Big Mango and the earlier version of Laundry Man, then known as Tea Money. I liked them both. There is something very relaxing whiling away the afternoon by the pool at JW's Marriot on Suk Soi Song, with a "junk novel" in hand. The fact that Bangkok is the backdrop makes it all the more entertaining.

Upon completing this trivial pursuit I head straight to night school where I take the following classes:

Linguistics
Poetics
Philosophy
Meditation
Hermeneutics
Sex
Chi Kung
Devotion
Art
Kundalini
Anthropology
History
Psychology
Science

It's a brutal schedule but I am a very motivated man.

Boney says:

If Jack Shepherd is "pared" up with a farang girl, does one get pared down by a Thai girl?

BTW Greg, the linguistics courses apparently didn't do much for your spelling. Can you say "pretentious pseudo-intellectual"?

GEORGE S says:

Not one of Headley's better posts.

I wonder if that Chopper Harris lad is around to come forth and salvage these sad postings.

george

Greg says:

What is it about "pretentious pseudo-intellectuals" that you don't like, boney?

Pretentious means I pretend to have ideas that I don't understand?

Pseudo-intellectual meaning not really intellectual. Somehow failing to rise to the task of understanding the concepts one is pretending to put forth.

Is that what pretentious pseudo-intellectual means?

Or does it mean someone who tries his best to understand and communicate about the world using concepts?

Whenever I hear the term pretentious or pseudo along with intellectual it always seems to come from an anti-intellectual.

puzzled says:

..... still can't make up my mind what is more amusing: David's original blogs or the following comments.

wondering

bobo says:

Sometimes i like to read big books.Sometimes i like to read small books. I want to be smart.I want to know a lot of stuff.Who knows the most stuff? You? The other guy? Sometimes i throw the book away.It is too hard for me.Easy books are better.Do you know any good easy books? Tell me about them so i dont have to read them. Once i read a really long book and my foot fell asleep and i had to run around the room.That was the best book ever.I forget the name of that book.If i remember i will tell everyone and you can read it too.

willy says:

Greg - how about shut up Twat!

Dick Headley says:

George! How nice of you to comment on my literary efforts. Chopper's upset see. He's a sensitive soul at heart and somebody was rude to him. I don't blame him. Doesn't matter what you write on this board some cunt always comes along and complains about it or calls you a cunt for posting it in the first place. Usually the cunts that do the complaining don't have much to say for themselves so it's easy for everybody else to see who the real cunts are. Now where was I? Want more philosophy do you George? You're going the right way to get a bloody earful. Load of cobblers is it? Makes no difference to me George. I'll post what I fucking want. You're lucky I don't post Descartes at you. Or Heiddeger. Or passages of Proust.

See what happened here George? David writes something about a book. He throws it out there to see what happens. Like shark bait. All the Mangosauce regulars circle round and have a little sniff. Will they bite? Yes Dana the Great White has a little nibble. Nick Adams swims up from the depths and has a bite. Me, I take a bigger chunk than I can comfortably digest but I always was a greedy sod. And here comes Greg tearing off a couple of slices. Bobo the Barracuda dashes quickly in and out.

Anyone can have a go. The subject is basically books but you can talk about anything really. Open your mind. Get it off your chest. Let the ideas flow or come stumbling and tripping over each other. Or, in your case George, perhaps they just poke their little heads out and run back in again. Don't worry about it. We're all anonymous here. Nobody gives a toss. When you have a thought write it down. Then another one. See? But be quick. Those thoughts come and go like lightning sometimes. Try to catch them before they get slip back into the shoal. When you have a few strung together you can post them on a blog. Send them out into the world. Some cunt will tell you to shut up but don't get discouraged. The same cunt will keep logging on to see if you responded. That's the way it is with cunts. They have nothing to contribute but they keep hanging around. Don't you cunts?

tf says:

bobo funny , rest of you not.

bobo says:

Once i read a book about cunts,it had a lot of pictures.I showed it to my mom and she hit me in the crotch with a broomstick so i dont read cunt books anymore.

bobo says:

I am going to Thailand soon are there any cunts or cuntbooks there.? My mom is not coming with me.

Dana says:

Am the only guy who thinks this knucklehead sounds like Dean on another wierd mushroom?

main cunningham says:

Hey Dick Headly,

How's sailing going?

We were out fleet racing yesterday in our one design class fiberglass sloop(w/ two cuties on board - we call em "snack"-ticians) competing against eleven other boats. Got to the pin end of the line first, at the gun, beat for about four minutes on starboard tack, which was headed, until we were short of the port layline, flipped over to port tack, got lifted to the windward mark by a persistent oscilating southerly. With help from an ebb tide, and some foolish inside overlap calls short of the weather mark by our competitors, we rounded first, did a bear away spinnaker set on the run, jibed halfway down the course and crossed first at the commitee boat, we never looked back! Got two bullets and a third in similar fashion, four and a half points total for the day, good enough for first. Love sailing!

BTW: what happened to those foxy asian girls getting the slam dunkin' member from one of your hired hands? Whoops...that's history!

main cunningham

Boney says:

Hey, did I say I don't like pseudo-intellectuals? Some of my best friends are pseudo-intellectuals. They're certainly more amusing and interesting than your average yob.

Who could fail to be amused by someone who presents such an impressive list of disciplines and goes on to make a comparative of an absolute (...more imortal [sic] than...)?

Cut me down and kill me. I'll be deader than you, and there will be one less anti-intellectual to disdain. Then you can get on with your momentous exploration of meaning, and decide whether you're a monk or a drunk, a yogi or a yo-yo.

Dick Headley says:

Funny you should ask about the crew Main Cunningham. We're in the process of a big re-shuffle. Still got one Thai girl and Nyum from Saigon plus Cindy from Antigua. Couple of new ones coming aboard soon which means somebody has to go. Probably Cindy. Pity in a way because she's the only one who can set a spinnaker without strangling herself. Nyum can navigate but the others can't tell a sheet from a halyard (or a shroud from a warp). It's all a laugh...

Mike T says:

David,

The first six paragraphs read like a book jacket.

The paragraphs which follow suddenly change style and for instance "most blokes come to thailand for the shagging" appears out of context.

Did you grow bored with one style and change or have you a ghost writer for book reviews who is a bit of a wet blanket?

Whatever, the revew was very uncritical of the book. If I buy it will I have to kep it next to the Bible as an essential book to own?

David says:

Mike T

Laundry Man got a mainstream review because it's a mainstream book.

Just because it's a best-seller, why should I slag it off?

If you enjoy John Grisham-style thrillers, then you'll probably enjoy Laundry Man. If you're part of Virginia Woolf's literary inner-circle, then possibly you won't.

You might not like the book, Mike, but other people will. It's all a question of taste.

My review told readers exactly what to expect and I make no apologies for it.

Greg says:

"Am the only guy who thinks this knucklehead sounds like Dean on another wierd mushroom?"

Yes, I thought so to, but didn't mention anything as I've been told I was so off the mark in attributing the awesome website to him.

Greg says:

Boney - I'm sure you understood exactly what was conveyed by my misspelled words, just as you understood "more immortal" to mean more permanent. In this context there is no flaw in saying "more immortal", as I'm evoking an irrational viewpoint, not laying out a logical argument.

It seems that you interpret a wide list of interests and an empathy for fellows who choose to look for meaning as negative.

That's just sad, Boney - truly. I'm not trying to insult you, but that is just sad.

Boney says:

Hey, don't be sad, my man. I'm happy you find meaning in demeaning those who would poke fun at you.

"It seems that you interpret a wide list of interests and an empathy for fellows who choose to look for meaning as negative."

It seems you're doing some interpreting here yourself, my good fellow.