El Mundo leyendo.

Mi amiga Eider sigue recorriendo Asia y sigue colgando sus aventuras en su blog (aunque creo que le queda poco para regresar).
Antes y durante el viaje se ha leído unos cuantos libros interesantes sobre los lugares visitados y ahora ha hecho una lista de "recomendados" para todos los que nos apuntemos a aprender un poco más sobre ese otro mundo.
Yo ya me estoy apuntando un par para dar el coñazo en la FNAC.
Aquí os cuelgo la lista y su link again http://www.eidersuso.com/share/:


Reading from Cambodia to Myanmar
I've been meaning to post this for quite some time now, before I forget everything, so here... since I have just been attacked by a cow in the middle of the street (no blood.. don't worry), I have decided to sit down for a bit.
This first list is of the books I was reading related to each country, before I reached India. These are just the ones I think are worth reading, I skip over the forgetable ones, ok?
If you have any recommends... totally welcomed!
Soon I will post the fiction ones and... the best books I have read in India (the longer list)

CAMBODIA
First they killed my father, Ang Wong Ung. Amazing account of the life in Cambodia during the Pol Pot regime, written by a girl that was 5 when the military coup happened. She went from middle class to being in a refugee camp, and then turning into a child soldier, seeing how her parents and younger sister were killed. The genocide told in first person. Totally goose bumping, necessary read, I think.

Angkor, Dawn Roodney. Great history and art introduction to the wonders of Angkor. Too much to absorb in one sitting but a wonderful partner on your wanderings around the runes. Thanks to this book I ventured to going to Bantreay Ray, a temple far away from the touristic tour and an amazing finding.

VIETNAM
Catfish and Mandala, A.X PHAN. A viet kiev (vietnamese born elsewhere, in this case US) visits Vietnam by bike. Really nice account of the meeting with his family there, the differences between vietnamese and foreigners, the greed of the tourist industry, the wonders of the country and the simple people you meet along the road. I understood a lot of things that were happening to me there. And I found quite interesting his struggle: someone lost between 2 lands looking for his own identity.

The quiet American, Graham Greene. The famous recount of the journalists living the Vietnam war from the terrace of the Continental Hotel and an insight into the different minds of the old and cynical British and the young and naive American.

Being Peace, Thich Nhat Hanh. A monk I met by a lake in Hue gave me the clue. A really nice view on buddhism by a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee.

The girl in the picture, D. Chong. The story of Kim Phuc, the girl running naked, her body aflame with napalm, in the famous picture that went around the world screaming about the brutalities of the Vietnam War. Through her story we learn about the war, the relationship of Vietnam with the other communist countries, and the propagandistic use of the picture and of her... Hard to read but quite interesting.

LAOS
Another quiet American, B. Daikin. Nice collection of short anecdotes of a young Ivy League American sent to Laos to promote its tourism. Honest, down to earth and quite funny.

Viaje al Mekong, J. Nart. Aunque no me gusto especialmente porque no me identificaba nada con el tono del autor, apetece leer en castellano y es una buena introduccion a un viaje muy parecido al mio por la antigua Indochina.

MYANMAR
Burmese Days G. Orwell. Western impressions on the country, the relationships of westerns and natives, and on the life of British expats in Myanmar. I really enjoyed it.

Burmese Folk Tales, Maung Htin Aung. A nice collection of short folk stories of this special country. An attempt to preserve the memory of the otherwise word of mouth transmitted tales.