Reading List: 6 Months in SE Asia

Reading at Graph Cafe in Chiang Mai, Thailand

When I look at this list, I feel disappointed. 11 books in 6 months? I used to read 3 books a month when I lived in Portland. But then again, I rode public transportation to work and spent many long rainy afternoons at home reading.

Travel is a time for exploring, not spending all day with a book. But sometimes the best kind of exploration is internal. Sometimes I don’t want to be caught up in my own adventure, and I want to indulge in someone else’s. 

Reading on the beach in Nha Trang, Vietnam

Half of these books are on gender and sexuality, which is part of the homework I'm doing for a website I created on queer literature. The other half are fiction of interest, from some of my favorite writers like Toni Morrison and Jeanette Winterson. 

Reading on the slow boat to Luang Prabang, Laos

In chronological order:

1. How Poetry Saved My Life, by Amber Dawn – on a dark, rainy plane from San Francisco to Hong Kong
2. Trans/Love, edited by Morty Diamond – on the bed of my guest house in Bali
3. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison – on the Mekong in Laos
4. Written on the Body, by Jeantte Winterson – from a hammock at Mike’s house in Vientiane
5. Home, by Toni Morrison – on the beach in Nha Trang
6. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac – on the train from Hanoi to Hue, and Hue to Da Nang
7. Gender Outlaws: The next Generation, by Kate Bornstein – from the bed of my loft in Phnom Penh
8. Redefining Realness, by Janet Mock – from my living room in Chiang Mai
9. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison – from my apartment rooftop in Chiang Mai
10. Gender Failure, by Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon- from my apartment balcony in Chiang Mai
11. The Chronology of Water, by Lidia Yuknavitch - from my apartment balcony in Chiang Mai

Reading in the hammock at Mike's place in Vientiane, Laos