Elliott Bay Gift Certificates
Our unique handwritten
Gift Certificates are available in-store or charge-by-phone only! Call 1-800-962-5311
to order yours today!
The perfect gift—in any amount—with that personal touch of classic old world charm.
Ira Sukrungruang was born to Thai immigrant parents in 1968 and grew up in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Like many immigrant kids, he tried to fit in by acting as 'white' and 'normal' as possible at school, while speaking Thai and living in a Thai way at home. His memoir, Talk Thai: The Adventures of a Buddhist Boy (University of Missouri Press), is a warm, nostalgic take on being the newcomer who doesn't quite fit in, not only because he's the child of immigrants, but also because he's fat. Behind the humor is some incisive critique. "[Talk Thai] gives readers the vivid particulars about morphing from a comic-book nerd to an overweight but love-hungry romantic—but one who, true to his nerdy roots, watches porn videos with his equally nerdy friends, white and Thai. The personal narrative speaks with wry, heart-aching detail: the young teen gets the American idiom, including the F-word, 'so simple, it was Buddhist.' He knows he could be one of them, if only he wasn't so fat." - Booklist.
