Creature comforts

Vichai reveals riveting reads

By Husnee Ngasakul
Photos by Varuth Hirunyatheb

Before becoming one of Thailand’s best-selling non-fiction authors, Vichai Matakul worked at the front desk of a hotel in Phuket, where he passed the time by reading.

One of the books he read during that time, Sing Mee Chee Wit Thi Riak Wa Khon (A Living Creature Called Human Being) by S.E.A. Write Award winner Win Lyovarin, had an experimental writing style that mesmerised Vichai.

Vichai was further inspired to try his hand at writing when he read Yellow Cabby: Taxi New York by Smartupid. Reading that book encouraged Vichai to write his best-selling debut, Sing Mee Chee Wit Nai Rong Ram (Living Creatures in a Hotel).

“Smartupid wrote in a casual way with no fancy words,” Vichai said. “When I later re-read my first book, I could see that my writing style was similar to Smartupid’s writing in Yellow Cabby.”

Apart from inspiring his own writing, Vichai likes to read to learn about other people’s perspectives.

“Authors sometimes have ideas that are completely different to the way most people think,” Vichai said.

Student Weekly recently asked Vichai to tell us about five of his favourite books.

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Title: Phan Ma Ba (Mad Dogs and Co)

Author: Chart Korbjitti

Publisher: Fah Diew Kan Publishing

S.E.A. Write Award winner Chart is one of Vichai’s favourite writers. Based on a true story, Mad Dogs and Co is about a group of youngsters living in Pattaya who become involved with drugs and drinking.

“This is a realistic coming of age novel. It’s fun to read because it’s like having somebody tell you a story. I enjoyed learning the weird slang words used in the book. Knowing that the writer is one of the characters in the book makes it even more fun.”

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Title: Sing Mee Chee Wit Thi Riak Wa Khon (A Living Creature Called Human Being)

Author: Win Lyovarin

Publisher: 113 Publishing

This book is a compilation of short stories that explore human behaviour.

“Win’s experimental literature totally changed my perspective on writing techniques. In this book, he created stories by using questions, which was an awesome idea.”

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Title: Yellow Cabby: Taxi New York

Author: Smartupid

Publisher: a book Publishing

This story was originally posted on the popular website Pantip.com. It features various experiences that the author had while working as a taxi driver in New York City.

“The experiences of a Thai person who drove a cab in New York are fun to read about. This book was written in a casual style that inspired me, because I thought that I could write in a similar way.”

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Title: Sing Mee Chee Wit Nai Rong Ram (Living Creatures in a Hotel)

Author: Vichai

Publisher: a book Publishing

A worker in a five star hotel has to deal with different kinds of customers, as well as various tiring and boring situations. Vichai said that he got the idea for his first book from the hotel logbook in which morning staff would write down their experiences with guests so that the afternoon employees could keep up to date with what had happened.

“Reading the logbook was always fun because the staff wrote about their experiences in emotional ways. That gave me the idea that other readers might also have fun reading about these experiences.”

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Title: Mon Ma Kap Kwam Meow (All About Meow)

Author: Vichai

Publisher: a book Publishing

All About Meow features the hilarious stories of three cats called Bun Earn, Look Phee and Pha-ek, along with their owner, Vichai.

“I felt as fresh writing this book as I did with my first one. It was fun to try new writing techniques that I thought might be funny. I was laughing as I wrote it!”

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