What are you reading the week of May 14, 2016?

Colin Cotterill (born 2 October 1952) is a London-born teacher, crime writer and cartoonist. Cotterill has dual English and Australian citizenship; however, he currently lives in Southeast Asia, where he writes the award-winning Dr. Siri mystery series set in the People's Democratic Republic of Laos, and the Jimm Juree crime novels set in southern Thailand.

Colin Cotterill was born in London and trained as a teacher and set off on a world tour that didn't ever come to an end. He worked as a Physical Education instructor in Israel, a primary school teacher in Australia, a counselor for educationally handicapped adults in the US, and a university lecturer in Japan. But the greater part of his latter years has been spent in Southeast Asia. Colin has taught and trained teachers in Thailand and on the Burmese border. He spent several years in Laos, initially with UNESCO and wrote and produced a forty-programme language teaching series; English By Accident, for Thai national television.

Fifteen years ago, Cotterill became involved in child protection in the region and set up an NGO in Phuket which he ran for the first two years. After two more years of study in child abuse issues, and one more stint in Phuket, he moved on to ECPAT, an international organisation combating child prostitution and pornography. He established their training program for caregivers.

All the while, Cotterill continued with his two other passions; cartooning and writing. He contributed regular columns for the Bangkok Post but had little time to write. It wasn't until his work with trafficked children that he found himself sufficiently stimulated to put together his first novel, The Night Bastard (Suk's Editions. 2000). Cotterill's website implies that he was never paid by the publisher for this book, listing Evil in the Land Without as "...the first novel I got paid for..."

The reaction to that first attempt was so positive that Cotterill decided to take time off and write full-time. Since October 2001 he has written twelve more novels. Two of these are child-protection based: Evil in the Land Without (Asia Books December 2003), and Pool and Its Role in Asian Communism (Asia Books, Dec 2005). These were followed by The Coroner's Lunch (Soho Press. Dec 2004), Thirty Three Teeth (Aug 2005), Disco for the Departed (Aug 2006), Anarchy and Old Dogs (Aug 2007), and Curse of the Pogo Stick (Aug 2008), The Merry Misogynist (Aug 2009), Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Aug 2010), Slash and Burn (2011) these last eight are set in Laos in the 1970s.

On 15 June 2009 Colin Cotterill received the Crime Writers' Association "Dagger in the Library" award for being "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users".

When the Lao books gained in popularity, Cotterill set up a project to send books to Lao children and sponsor trainee teachers. The "Books for Laos" programme elicits support from fans of the books and is administered purely on a voluntary basis.

Since 1990, Cotterill has been a regular cartoonist for national publications. A Thai language translation of his cartoon scrapbook, Ethel and Joan Go to Phuket (Matichon May 2004) and weekly social cartoons in the Nation newspaper, set him back onto the cartoon trail in 2004. On 4 April 2004, an illustrated bilingual column cycle logical was launched in Matichon's popular weekly news magazine. These have been published in book form.

Colin Cotterill lives in a fishing community on the Gulf of Siam with an ever-expanding pack of dogs who do not like to go walking; he has also recently offered to provide one month's shelter to any would-be crime/thriller author who intends to produce a first draft of a first novel.

I had a busy and aggravating week, so I had little time for anything but technical reading. (I seemed to get into disagreements with everyone this week. At some point you have to stop and realize that it's not them, it's you. I think I'll change my name to Grumpy McGrumpface.)

Intrigued by a number of reviews that I've read, I bought Ada Palmer's Too Like the Lightning which is at the head of my agenda for today. Palmer is a really fascinating person in her own right. A professor of Renaissance and intellectual history at the University of Chicago, she is also the composer of an intriguing song cycle based on Norse mythology performed by an a capella group. I knew a woman like her thirty years ago. She always seemed to be doing two or three things at once, and she did them better and faster than everyone else. The intensity in her eyes made you realize just exactly how ordinary you were. Yet she was one of the most pleasant, generous and friendly people you could meet.

Just finished Grief is a Thing with Feathers. Unlike anything I have read before. Don't know how to describe it, but I recommend this little gem.

But you can get an idea of the book from this great, short video of the author reading from the book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShRQdyLVmHc&app=desktop

Thanks, Fred. I love Cotterill's Dr. Siri series.

I'm still reading Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and I'll be starting A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler.

Finished Helliconia Spring by Brian W. Aldiss. Not my cup of tea.

Started Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay.

I'm reading Bridget Jones's Diary. Everyone else on the planet seems to have read it, so I thought "why not"? I am enjoying it, and I can see why it's so popular, as every dozen or so pages I see myself in the main character's writing.

Was at Book Expo America this week and lucky enough to snag an ARC for Maria Semple's forthcoming novel, Today Will Be Different. A perfect weekend read.

Just finished When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. A beautiful, sad story.

I started Britt-Marie was Here and am thoroughly enjoying it. But then, I liked the author's A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, too.

I'm reading English Creek (and loving it) and Eleanor and Park (finding it hard to put down). And I picked up the latest Elly Griffiths, The Woman in Blue, from the library last week. Lots of great reading ahead!

I just finished With by Donald Harrington - one of the weirdest books I've ever read.

Finished up my selected 12 original poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, continuing the e-serial Julian Fellowes's Belgravia and someway into my reread of a childhood favourite Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein which incubated my love of sci-fi.

I'm reading Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett. Really enjoying it, Granny Weatherwax is my favourite Discworld character.

I'm in the middle of Zero K, the newest by Don DeLillo.

I finished The Last Great Dance on Earth which was the very engaging third part of the trilogy of historical fiction about Josephine Bonaparte. The story of love and political intrigue is very well presented.

Braving It - ER win from LT. I am loving this book!! Should finish and review tonight or tomorrow. As of right now I give it 4.5 stars. :)

The new thread is up over here.