Author shares his favourite books
By Suwitcha Chaiyong
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb
Did you know
Horrible Histories was made into an animated TV series in 2001.
Local author Pongsorn Bhumiwat (Pup), who recently wrote a book about the history of the Sri Lankan Civil War called Payak Tamin Sin Chat (The Wild Chronicle Series 1), became interested in reading when he was a kid.
In kindergarten and primary school, Pup was always happy to listen to his bookworm mom tell stories as she drove him and his sister home from school. His mom told them stories ranging from Grimms’ Fairy Tales to The Lord of the Rings, Ramakien and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Hearing these intriguing tales sparked Pup’s interest in both reading and history.
Since then, the 31-year-old writer has never lost his belief in the power of reading.
“Books allow readers to use their brain and develop their creativity,” Pup said. “But readers need to be prepared to spend enough time to take in all the details of a book.”
Student Weekly recently asked Pup to tell us about five of his all-time favourite books.
Title: Doraemon
Author and Illustrator: Fujiko Fujio
Publisher: Various
Famous robotic blue cat Doraemon is a beloved manga character for many Thai readers, including Pup. It was Pup’s fascination with Doraemon that encouraged him to read in the first place as a kindergarten student. Now that he’s an adult, Pup still loves the Doraemon series and feels that he can relate to the Nobita character.
“Fujiko Fujio was a nom de plume of two writers and manga artists who grew up during World War II. At that time, Japanese people were under a lot of pressure to work hard and try to be number one in the world. But Fujiko Fujio showed that an ordinary person like Nobita could also be beautiful. Nobita is happy as an ordinary person. Most of kids could relate to him, including me.”
Title: Ramakien
Authors: King Rama I and King Rama II
Compiler: Chancharus Phantharangsee and Saeree Premruethai
Illustrator: Art Oddarm
Publisher: Prachachang
Ramakien is a national epic inspired by the Hindu epic, Ramayana. Pup said that the Ramakien was the first Thai story to feature an adventure with good-looking leading characters. The main female character in the story is abducted by a bad guy, so the main male character undertakes a journey to rescue her.
“This plot of this book has since been used in lots of other stories. Boys always like this kind of story. It features knights with various magical powers that they use when they fight monsters.”
Title: Sam Gok and Tamnan Sam Gok (Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
Author: Luo Guanzhong
Translator: Chao Phraya Phra Klang (Hon)
Editor: Prince Damrong Rajanubhab
Publisher: Bannakan
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a renowned Chinese novel based on the end of the period of history known as the Han dynasty, around two thousand years ago. Pup likes this novel because it was the first one that he read which was based on real-life events. Because of that, there are no perfect leading characters.
“When my mom first told me the story of this novel, I asked her who the nice leading character was. I was surprised when she said that there wasn’t one! This book made me realise that everybody has a good and bad side.”
Title: Kam Hai Gan Chao Groong Gao (Ayutthaya People’s Testimony)
Editor: Anan Amorntai
Publisher: Jod Mai Hed
This book was translated and written from annals that feature testimonies of Thai prisoners of war when the Ayutthaya Kingdom was invaded by the Burmese in 1767. The original book was written in Burmese. It’s a primary source for history textbooks that are still used by school students today.
“Ayutthaya People’s Testimony helps readers to learn about how Thai people lived in the past. Though the book is used as a primary source for history textbooks, the information in the textbooks is often different from what’s in the original.”
Title: Horrible Histories
Authors: Terry Deary and Peter Hepplewhite
Illustrators: Martin Brown, Philip Reeve and Mike Phillips
Publisher: Scholastic Children’s Book
Horrible Histories was a British history book series for children. The authors wrote about unusual historical events in exciting ways. The first Horrible Histories books were published in 1993, and the final ones came out in 2013. The series showed Pup that learning about history doesn’t n need to be boring.
“All the facts and stories in these books are really odd and horrifying. I was impressed by how the authors could make complicated issues easy to understand. This book inspired me to write a history story which was also easy to read.”
Vocabulary
- bookworm (n): a person who likes reading very much
nom de plume (n): a name used by a writer instead of their real name
epic (n): a long film, poem, book, etc. that contains a lot of action and usually deals with an historical subject
abduct (v): to take somebody away illegally, especially using force
plot (n): the series of events which form the story of a novel, film, play etc.
knight (n): in the Middle Ages, a man of high social rank who had a duty to fight for his king
dynasty (n): a series of rulers of a country who all belong to the same family
annals (n): an official record of events or activities year by year; historical records
testimony (n): a formal written or spoken statement saying what you know to be true
horrifying (adj): making you feel shocked, disgusted or frightened
