ASIA BOOK CHALLENGE - "IF IT IS JANUARY IT IS TURKEY"

January 2022 - EUROPE OR ASIA / TURKISH WRITERS

Turkey is part of Europe. Well to be specific 3% of Turkey is considered to be in Europe whilst 97% of Turkey's land is Asian according to that "infallible" source wikipedia.

It's writers are very much influenced by Europe and a sense of identity often pervades the writing.

Turkish writers to consider :

Orhan Pamuk - who won the Nobel Prize and is easy to find
Elif Shafak - whose European-ness means she also writes often in English

Sabahattin Ali - whose Madonna in a Fur Coat is in print in English and not obscure
Yasar Kemal - most famously wrote Memed, My Hawk
Ayse Kulin - who has several books available in English including Farewell
Ahmet Altan - recently released from Prison who has about ten novels in Europa translations
Latife Tekin - influential modern realist.
Leyla Erbil - First Turkish author to be nominated for the Nobel Prize though she didn't win

Turkey issues something like 30,000 new titles per year and Istanbul (again according to Wikipedia) has almost 5,000 bookshops. I hope you can join me in exploring Turkey in January.

Our own Ursula is based in Istanbul and I am hopeful she can give some insights to Turkish life to accompany the January thread.

Thread title "suggested" by Mr. Derus who correctly pointed out the slothfulness of relying upon a General Thread the whole year round!

What I plan to read:

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk Reading
Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali
Memed, My Hawk by Yasar Kemal
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
Disquiet by Zulfu Livanelli
Farewell by Ayse Kulin

TURKISH CUISINE



I must admit that I have some difficulty distinguishing between Turkish food, the food of the Levant and Arabian food but since their cultures are so intermingled I guess that is only natural. Delicious though for sure.

I thank you, PC, for this sensible safe haven in which we can discuss matters Turkic.

I'm almost ill with jealousy that you're going to be reading My Name is Red for the first time! A deeply enjoyable story, as you will discover soon.

Like a Sword Wound opened briefly, but a very, very bossy fantasy novel (Godborn: Gods of Bronze) has slammed it shut until I'm through reading about Hercules's origins. Best not to get between two Turks who each want your attention. Scary.

>5 richardderus: My pleasure, RD. I did wonder whether it was wanted or not and Deborah and yourself pointed out the good sense of putting one up.

>4 PaulCranswick: Yum!

Excellent timing in setting this thread up as I've just finished my first Turkish book, Once Upon a Time by Ayşe Kulin. It's a rather dark and violent tale, mostly about women being treated like shit by the men in their lives. Good reading, but not exactly something to lift the spirits on a cold winter's day.

>7 amanda4242: Good start, Amanda!

>4 PaulCranswick: Oh my, this all looks great. Restaurants are closed in Amsterdam right now, unfortunately. And most Turkish restaurant owners disguise their place as a pizzeria, more’s the pity!

I will be starting My Name is Red as well. I loved the first line;-)

One of the things that sparked my interest in all things Turkey during our enforced lockdown was the TV series ERTUGRUL : RESURRECTION on Netflix which tells the fabled story of the formation of the Ottomans through its first hero. There are almost 500 episodes on 50 odd minutes each but I really recommend it. Tremendous action, beautiful cinematography and more twists than a pristine corkscrew.

>9 EllaTim: It is really tasty, Ella, and I am hungry!

Glad you decided to go with monthly threads, Paul. I think it would have become very unwieldy keeping it all together otherwise.

>4 PaulCranswick: Hmmmm. Looking at that Turkish cuisine *almost* makes me think we should also be cooking or baking something Turkish while we're doing our Turkish reads. To get more in the spirit of things, you know? :D

I'm about a quarter of the way through 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak, but I'm not sure if I like the way this author writes or not. I'm looking forward to discussion later about her work. This is my first read by this author.

I am here (on the thread and also in Istanbul)!

I’m happy to contribute whatever I can about Turkey. The food is a contentious thing, lot of places claim certain dishes - you should hear the (joking.. mostly) arguments over where certain dishes came from.

In any event, the one thing not to get “wrong” is that yogurt is Turkish! The word is Turkish, in fact. Chobani was founded by a Turk who emigrated to the US - my Turkish teacher was astonished to see it described on its own website as “America’s #1 Greek yogurt”.

I’ll be back with some pictures etc of Istanbul but if there’s anything in particular you want to see or know, I’ll do my best to accommodate.

>13 SqueakyChu: Having read 1 1/2 of her books, I think Shafak (Şafak in Turkish for those curious) is an over-writer.

>12 laytonwoman3rd: It made obvious sense, Linda, but only when the obvious was kindly pointed out to me!

>13 SqueakyChu: I didn't get that far with her Bastard of Instanbul a couple of years ago but that was mainly because I left it on the TV console and Yasmyne took it over without a bye or leave!

>14 ursula: I can imagine, Ursula, because I have a Lebanese friend who largely does the same thing!

It would be brilliant if you could put up one or two pictures of 'your' Istanbul as it would bring it ever nearer to us all. xx

>13 SqueakyChu: I have not started on that one yet, Madeline, but I do have it set aside to read this month. I will be curious as to what you think of it in the end.

I have 3 books on the agenda for this month: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, which is the one I am currently reading; 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak; and, Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

Hi, Paul! I'm from the CATEGORY challenge group and saw this link posted. One of my categories this year is Asia (authors or settings). When appropriate, I would like to join in. For Turkey I'm planning My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk and Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali. I hope to begin one of them in the next day or two. Here's to reading Asia in 2022!

I'm halfway through Snow and wishing I were reading My Name is Red. Even on a second reading, I think it would be more interesting. After a strong beginning, I'm finding Snow to be less impressive.

>14 ursula: I think Shafak (Şafak in Turkish for those curious) is an over-writer.

You know, I was getting that impression, but I didn't want to say anything before I read a little bit more, but her description of things is already making me tired. I'm also not liking the way she is dividing the chapters into descriptions of different people, but that is a pet peeve of mine anyway. I'm going to continue to read this book...especially to see what others think of it later.

>16 alcottacre: I read Snow by Orhan Pamuk and thoroughly enjoyed that book. I'm sure anything else by that author would be great as well. I'm gald we'll be able to compare notes on 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World later on.

I am in for My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk as well as all the related topics including yummy food!

>10 PaulCranswick: Also, how can a season have 90 episodes a year?! LOL. Hubby and I are gonna give Resurrection a try.

>15 PaulCranswick: I am giving some thought to what photos to post!

>22 Berly: In Turkey they actually air as 2 hour, 10 minute+ episodes. They're cut down to more palatable 50 minute episodes for the international market.

>17 Tess_W: Tess you are of course very much welcome! I remember you from my brief and failed flirtation with the Category Challenge Group. I failed. The Group did not and I have several good buddies over there.

>20 SqueakyChu: I liked Snow well enough too but it is a long time since I read it and I may have been a tad disappointed had I read My Name is Red. I am 90 pages in on that and I AM IMPRESSED.

>22 Berly: I really enjoyed the series and the theme music is constantly in my mind's stereo system.

>24 PaulCranswick: I guess I'll have to read My Name is Red then. :)

>23 ursula: >24 PaulCranswick: Well, we watched two episodes tonight, so I guess we are hooked. Should only take us two years to get through it all if we watch an episode every night. LOL The problem is I can't multitask because it is all captioned and I have to listen and read!

>26 Berly: Good though isn't it? Slightly off-putting at first to see the Crusaders as the bad-guys.

I loved both Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red and Snow.

This month I will read 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Şafak, and The White Castle by Orhan Pamuk (both in Dutch translation).

If time permits I might get to Zelfs de stilte is niet meer van mij by Aslı Erdoğan (I can't find an English translation of this one).

My İstanbul ...

first the clichè view - from on the Golden Horn looking at Galata Tower and the Beyoğlu district of the city. Water, boats, old (Galata Tower was built in the 1300s) and ever-expanding. The city is home to 16 million people.



And second, a photo from a neighborhood. This is İstanbul - new and old, bright and newly painted and crumbling, side by side.



But really I think the best way to see my İstanbul is through video. I have filmed a few walking videos to send to friends, I'll share one here. It's a 3-minute video I took walking in my neighborhood, headed toward the post office. It's a not-particularly busy day, but generally typical of walking around here (not enough cars and scooters going the wrong way, and not nearly enough honking but otherwise pretty normal). You can access it here until February 1. Apologies for the shaky camera, I don't have a gimbal.

>27 PaulCranswick: I mean, were the Crusaders supposed to be the good guys?

>30 ursula: Not in my books!

>29 ursula: Thank you so much for that!

>29 ursula: Just to prove that I watched it. (Thrice)

I Watched It Thrice
2 January 2022

A downward path;
shrubbery defiantly
verdant

even as its
presence is questioned
for being. Just being.

Graffiti decorates the way
towards coffee shops
and galleries -

the sleek and the skewed
cohabit; orderly intersected
by tidy sidewalks.

The people of the town
have occupation
and preoccupation;

pregnant in parkas,
adjusting hydrants amid
the reek of local tobacco

and vehicle fumes
from saloon and scootering,
indifferent to you

as you advance,
now an upward path
to a waiting friend.

PC

For this month, I am also reading Pamuk but a different one than everyone else is reading. I am reading Istanbul. I started it last night and so far, so good. The book includes lots of photos of this city where he was born and grew up and (I believe) still lives. I would love to watch your video, Ursula in >29 ursula:, but it seems I have to download it to my computer in order to view it and I am a bit hesitant to do that.

>33 PaulCranswick: Ooh, poetry!

>34 jessibud2: You don't have to download it, you just click on the preview at the bottom.

>35 ursula: - Oh, that worked, thanks! Is this recent? I only noticed one or two people wearing masks....;-)

>29 ursula: Wow! Thank you so much for sharing the video. It was great for me to be able to do this three minute walking tour in Istanbul, never having traveled to Turkey myself. What are those columns on the sidewalks?

For this month challenge, I plan to read Like a Sword Wound by Ahmet Altan and maybe Love in the Days of Rebellion.
I discovered this author in 2020 with his non-fiction book I Will Never See the World Again, a reading that is still very close to my heart. After this book, I planned to read some of his fiction work, bought the two books of his Ottoman Quartet but never got a chance to read them, so this challenge is just the nudge I needed, so here I am!

Following on some conversation around Orhan Pamuk, I've read 3 books from him, Snow being the one I liked less. My Name is Red was wonderful, and I also liked a lot A Strangeness in My Mind, that I would recommand.

>38 raton-liseur: Lovely to see you over here 'raccoon'!
I have Endgame by Altan on the shelves but I'm not sure I will get to it this month.

Brittany is one of my absolute favourite places.

>36 jessibud2: it’s from October. Mask compliance outdoors varies, although also in that video some proportion were clearly tourists, and they are the worst at it. But there has never been any lifting of the mask mandate, it is required indoors and on public transportation. After over a year and a half of mandatory masks everywhere, some people are over it outdoors on hot and humid days like that one.

>37 SqueakyChu: the pillars on the sidewalks are to keep the cars off them. Doesn’t keep the scooters off the sidewalks but what can you do. (It’s actually one of these pillars the guy is whacking with a sledgehammer, Paul, undoubtedly because some car thought it had more room than it did for some maneuver.)

>39 PaulCranswick: Thanks for welcoming me! Brittany is not as sunny as Kuala Lumpur, but I agree, it's a nice place!

>29 ursula: Thanks Ursula! I’ve never been to Turkey, so it’s nice to get a small view of Istanbul. My husband has done an extensive visit, years ago, before we met. He still has stories about it, as he enjoyed it very much.

>34 jessibud2: Interesting suggestion Shelley.

And here I am, all excited about getting my copy of My Name is Red for this challenge.

>3 PaulCranswick: 6 books for the challenge? Wow.

>29 ursula: Great pics and I loved the video. Thanks, Ursula.

Thanks for making a thread for Turkey Paul. As I stated on the general thread, I am reading Memed My Hawk by Yasar Kemal, and enjoying it very much. I would also like to read something by OrhanPamuk (I've only read his Snow, which I loved), but realistically I'm not sure that will happen.
And thanks to a Ursula for the pictures and video. Istanbul looks fascinating.

>29 ursula: Just gorgeous, thank you for sharing!
***
I fell into the world of Like A Sword Wound:

All of those old and forgotten things; a cut crystal inkstand, yellowed paper covered with Arabic script that writhed like a dying animal, a leather armchair that was cracked here and there, a classical lute with a broken string, propped against the wall, a walnut table with missing drawers, fruits, made of soap, their dye flaking, sitting in a cracked porcelain bowl, a tin globe, dented on one side, its thin iron axis rusted, a silver sword and an ivory walking-stick hanging side by side on the wall, old magazines piled in a corner of the room, Morocco-bound books; all of it, the whole room,the whole house, perhaps even the whole city, was covered in dust; a thin layer of dust spread over everything, penetrated everything,wormed into things and killed them.

Like reading a Caravaggio painting, watching a Merchant/Ivory film...immersion. I love that discovery.

>40 ursula: Yeah. I picked up on that whacking at a post on my first view of your video. I plan to revisit it. (the viewing, not the whacking) :D

>29 ursula: Thanks for posting the video! I like seeing this street-side view

I am reading Bastard of Istanbul, so far am underwhelmed, but I'm not sure if that is the book or my sinus-infected head while waiting on a delayed flight in the airport.

Hey again, Paul, I ordered I Will Never See the World Again to join for January.

>44 arubabookwoman: With your interest in art history, I think you would love My Name is Red.

>47 markon: I'll be reading Bastard of Istanbul next because I have it, but so far the reviews seem to be underwhelming.

>30 ursula: Even in Walter Scott they were a bit ambiguous. But they thought they were the good guys and would get lots of land for their efforts.

>29 ursula: Thanks so much for sharing the video. It gives a real feel for the real Istanbul. I was planning to read The Island of Missing Trees but hearing all the raves for My Name is Red I'm tempted to read that instead. Can't do both. Not this month anyway.

I found My Name Is Red is supposedly on the shelves at my local library. I placed a hold on it. They will call me when it is ready to be picked up. I think they are still doing curbside, but if not, the path to the circulation desk and the way they set it up during COVID should be safe enough.

49 Thanks Lisa. I did not know that. I own The Black Book, and that was going to be the one I read, but I checked the library, and they had My Name Is Red, so I checked it out. Hopefully I can get to it after Memed, and the tbr pile will just have to stay one book higher.

Last month I read an entertaining graphic memoir by a Turkish artist, Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey by Özge Samancı. She's growing up in the 1980s and this covers her education and family life through to university.

I've just cracked open The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Sharak. I enjoyed her 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World so hopefully this will work for me too.

PAUL - just one more suggestion that may already have been made on one of the threads:

both the NF and American Authors Challenges list just the month with a brief commentary.

We can then print those out on 1-2 pages and write in the books we choose. Neat and succinct.

I've started Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk. I'm going to try to fit in a second book as well, perhaps The Island of Missing Trees if I get it from the library in time.

>55 m.belljackson: Let me go and see what I am doing differently, Marianne, because I think my General Thread would allow anyone to do that.

I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the video!

Since there seem to be a number of people reading My Name Is Red, I’ll repost this from my read of it last year:

A couple of notes about names (forgive me if you know this already, I just realized it might not be obvious) -

We have Elegant Effendi and Enishte Effendi, and the man who was preaching at Bayazid Mosque is called Nusrat Hoja. These are not last names, these are honorifics.

Turkish still uses these, sort of - beyefendi means "gentleman" and hoca/hoja (in Turkish the c has a j sound) means "teacher". Beyefendi/hanımefendi are the male and female terms for sir and ma'am. When you are addressing someone named Kamil Öztürk, you don't call him Mr. Öztürk, you call him Kamil Bey. (Shortened from beyefendi - Kamil's wife named Zeynep would be Zeynep Hanım.) My husband is a professor, and they call him Morgan Hoca.

Enishte is also not really a name - in Turkish like in a number of other languages relatives all have their own specific names telling how they’re related. Enishte (enişte) means uncle by marriage, or brother-in-law (it does double duty).

>58 ursula: Thanks for that Ursula. I sort of knew some of it but I didn't know the bit about Enishte. x

Happy new year everyone! I will be reading Other colours - essays by Orhan Pamuk and The silence of Scheherazade, which is a historical novel set in Smyrna. I'm really looking forward to this challenge!

>4 PaulCranswick: Mmm, thanks for the delicious feast Paul! The perfect way to begin this month!

Fascinating discussion here. I love the photos of the food and of Istanbul.

I don't know if anyone is still looking for a book to read, but the online bookclub I'm in read two from Turkey relatively recently translated into English, and they both provided lots of food for discussion: Snapping Point and The Blacksmith's Daughter. The first one is a kind of magical realism that imagines a town breaks off from the mainland.
The second is a family history. At the end one of the main characters goes to Germany to work (not a spoiler, mentioned on the back) and there are two more books following the family's life there. Although I don't know if those two have been translated into English yet.

More about Snapping Point (via publisher)
http://istrosbooks.com/products/books/snapping-point-117/

More about The Blacksmith's Daughter (via publisher)
https://vq-books.eu/wppb_works/the-blacksmiths-daughter/

>61 charl08: I had forgotten - I have bought Snapping Point fairly recently. I must see if I can get around to that as well.

>58 ursula: Ursula, thank you! This is also helpful with Snow. And I love your video posted upthread, so thanks for sharing.

>61 charl08: Thanks, Charlotte. Snapping Point is just $3.45 on Kindle currently, so I snagged it.

>60 Sakerfalcon: Claire, you are welcome and lovely to see you here.

>61 charl08: Great to see you here, Charlotte - missed you lots in the group. Those look two interesting books.

>29 ursula: Lovely video, Ursula.

I've decided to read my copy of The Essential Rumi, even if the Coleman Barks is not the best translation.

I've read several of the Pamuk books and have The Black Book on my shelves if I need to jump ship.

Last year I also read A Recipe for Daphne: A Novel by Nektaria Anastasiadou through the LTER program. I'm always interested to see their offerings by international authors.

On Kerry/avatiakh's recommendation, I started reading the graphic memoir, Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey, and it's fantastic.

I may finish My Name is Red tomorrow and it is a good start to the Challenge for me too. Excellent, if off-kilter, novel.

My Grandma's Photos by Özge Bahar Sunar, illustrated by Senta Urgan, translated by Amy Marie Spangler

Last month's selections of free books for Prime members did not interest me, so I just selected the children's picture book, and it's fortuitously by a Turkish author. It turned out to be a very good story about a woman with dementia looking at old photos with her grandson. It's obviously a bit melancholy, but it ends with the grandson hanging the photos in his room so he can remember his grandmother through them.

>63 Crazymamie: ah good, I didn’t realize it would help with Snow as well, but it makes sense since the means of address would be in there undoubtedly.

Glad you liked the video! I have some other sorts of videos of İstanbul I plan to post on my thread too.

>58 ursula: Thanks for the explanation, Ursula. The way that the titles "Elegant Effendi" and "Enishte Effendi" are used in the book led me to think that they were honorifics, but it is nice to have confirmation!

>67 PaulCranswick: "Off-kilter" is a good way to describe it, Paul. I am thoroughly enjoying it though!

>58 ursula: Thank you Ursula. I have just started My Name is Red and that explanation helps a lot.

Have you seen the documentaries Kedi (about the cats of Istanbul) and Stray (about the dogs)? The city of Istanbul seemed to feature as a character in both of these.

>71 SandDune: Happy to help!

Yes, I've seen Kedi - we watched it before we came here and now I want to watch it again because I have since learned that a lot of it was filmed in my neighborhood. I haven't seen Stray ... although now is not the time for me to watch it. The situation with the dogs in the city has changed recently.

>72 ursula: Yes I have seen that on the news.

>67 PaulCranswick: The library called and told me my hold is ready. I have a week to pick it up. Since the library is in the next block up from the church, I'll probably stop by before I head to choir rehearsal. I'm glad I'm running screens for that. I would not want to be sitting too close to anyone with Omicron rampant even with 3 vaccine doses.

>74 thornton37814: Your choir is singing and rehearsing? We are still having online services, and though we have live music, its not the same as the group. I miss live music!

>71 SandDune: I have not heard of Stray, but if the situation has changed, not sure I want to see it either.

I've started The Island of Missing Trees and it seems it will be a novel about Cyprus. The other novel I thought about reading Women Who Blow on Knots by Ece Temelkuran doesn't seem to be set in Turkey either.

How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division by Elif Shafak

In this extended essay, Shafak is basically just saying that means of communication that were supposed to bring people together are actually dividing and polarizing them. Why she had to go on for dozens of pages to say this is beyond me. There's nothing awful about her writing, but it's really just well-meaning pablum.

>75 markon: Yes. We are back. When we first resumed, the chairs were placed 6 feet apart. It's a little harder to do now because more people have returned to choir. I run the screens during rehearsals so I'm off by myself--not close to anyone. On Sundays, because I don't have a regular place in the choir, I get added to the end of a row where I can move over a bit more and not be so close to others. We are not up there all that long since we go down before the special music and message, and I scope out where it will be safest to sit. If the organ side has a lot of open seats, I go sit there. If not, I go up to the balcony where distancing has not been a problem since COVID. We even did a Christmas program (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzIiLXPGMWc if you want to watch).

I finished my first book of the year, a delightful graphic memoir called Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey (thanks to Kerry/avatiakh for the recommendation). It's fun, but I also learned a bit about life in Turkey in the 1980s.

I started The silence of Scheherazade last night and was enchanted by the descriptions of a September evening in early C20th Smyrna.

And I brought the Orhan Pamuk to work with me - the essays are just the right length to read one or two on the train.

I will read I Will Never See The World Again.

I am on the home stretch with My Name is Red. Another three or so hours of solid reading and I'll be done.

What a book!

I have finished my first Asian Book Challenge of the year and I will be surprised if I better it all year.

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk



The link to my review is here for anybody interested. https://www.librarything.com/topic/338399#7710621

>83 PaulCranswick: I'm picking it up at the library today. They have it held for me at the desk. I almost went yesterday, but I knew I'd be in the area today so I decided to not waste gas--especially since I had books in hand.

>84 thornton37814: Sensible lady!

>83 PaulCranswick: I liked, not loved, My Name is Red, when I read it in 2019 for a translation challenge. It was interesting.

So I'm reading My Name is Red and The Island of Missing Trees for this month. I haven't actively started either one, but I did read the opening pages of each to decide what to read next. Amazingly, both open with a mention of someone at the bottom of a well.

I'm currently reading Twenty Short Stories by Turkish Women Writers and, in the process of adding biographical information and links to the authors' LT records, found a wonderful resource. Women Writers of Turkey is a website providing the biographies of hundreds of Turkish women authors and lists of their works.

ETA: Here is some information on the first few authors:

Nezihe Meriç: couldn't find translations
Sevim Burak: possibly Everest My Lord in English
Selçuk Baran: couldn't find translations
Leyla Erbil: first Turkish woman to be nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature
-Her novel A Strange Woman will be published Mar 1, 2022 per Amazon.
Füruzan:
-Her novel A Summer Full of Love (2001) is available on Amazon in Turkish/English (other titles in other languages)
-″In the Park by the Pier″ is available online
-"The River" is available online
Sevgi Soysal:
-Her novel Noontime in Yenisehir is available on Amazon, other titles in French and German

That's it for now. Terribly time-consuming.

Currently reading for the challenge:



Walking on the Ceiling by Ayşegül Savaş

Seems to be mostly set in Paris, although the narrator is from Istanbul and the city has featured in a few different ways up to this point (40%).

I'm not joining in this month but I will say that I read 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World the year before last and I loved it.

Of course, >83 PaulCranswick: has me rethinking my non-participation for January.

I cannot endorse My Name Is Red highly enough. I thought it was terrific and gave it 4.5 stars.

Thank you again, Paul, for starting this challenge so that I am exposed to authors I have never read before.

>90 EBT1002: :D love you, Ellen!

>91 alcottacre: My pleasure, Stasia, I am learning quite a bit as we go along too. xx

I added Last Train to Istanbul today by Ayse Kulin and will switch it with her other book hopefully to read with Carrie. It also has a Holocaust element to it as pointed out on the new group set up for Holocaust Remembrance Literature set up by Lisa and Kerry and which I want to give a shout for.

Link to the Group is here for anybody interested:
https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23593/Holocaust-Literature

>93 PaulCranswick: Thanks for that link. LT continues to support learning and reading more widely. I love it.

>91 alcottacre: I am about a quarter of the way in to it. A fascinating read & so different than I'm accustomed to.

>93 PaulCranswick: I am going to look for a copy of Last Train to Istanbul too. Thanks for the mention, Paul.

>95 ChrisG1: I agree. I do not think I have ever read another book like it. I hope you enjoy the read, Chris!

Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated from the Turkish by Maureen Freely

I read My Name is Red a few years ago and thought it amazing, so I began Snow with anticipation and high hopes. Unfortunately, I struggled to like this book, or even finish it. I think it would have made a good novella.

My review is here.

I started Last Train to Istanbul last night.

I finished The Island of Missing Trees last night. I may be back with comments, but I loved it.

I've started My Name is Red and I am really liking it.

>79 labfs39: I brought that one home from the library today so thanks to you and Kerry for the recommendation, Lisa. I hope I enjoy it as much as you both have done!

I'm well into Like a Sword Wound and the political bits are less interesting to me than the personal bits, but boy is it ever male gaze on steroids, even what purports to be women's internal motivation is overwhelmingly male self stimulation. As if a beautiful woman who eschews male entanglements after leaving her husband has no better motivation than self-involvement. A well off 19th century Egyptian woman who had fulfilled marital duties and was now free in Paris would have had to find a really unusual man to make taking a lover worthwhile.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/097Ji7QYVwefi_V8m_VuX3P5A#Fatih_-_Suleymaniye_Mh...

Call to prayer, anyone? I took this in the oldest part of the city, Fatih, looking at the Süleymaniye Mosque.

>103 ursula: In Turkey that has a quite distinct and political connotation, Ursula, as I am sure you know. Ataturk as part of his move to make Turkey secular banned the recitation of Adhan (the call to prayer) in Arabic. It has since been returned to the traditional Arabic as witnessed in your video. Does still raise hackles in some corners of Turkey and I cannot think of any other practising country in the world that does not use arabic these days.

I commend you, Paul, on attracting me to join your Asia Book Challenge. With 10 minutes 38 seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak , I have now completed my first book in an official challenge other than my own TIOLI challenge (although I'm also counting it for my TIOLI) for several years now! Since quite a few others are also reading this book, I'll save most of my comments for the end of the month when others have had the chance to read it completely. To be completely honest, I really, really wanted to bail on it, though. :D

>103 ursula: Nice! Thanks for sharing.

>104 PaulCranswick: Wow! Interesting.

>105 SqueakyChu: Well Madeline there was a little bit of quid pro quo there as I have got excited about TIOLI all over again and have already 9 books for the challenge read; 3 shared reads and 9 different challenges!

>106 PaulCranswick: Wow! I welcome your return to TIOLI!

>107 SqueakyChu: I still cannot keep up with Joyce and Anita and Suz, though, Madeline, but I am doing my best.

>108 PaulCranswick: That seems to be a hopeless aspiration...but keep trying! I generally have been reading one or two books a month so you'll always be ahead of me! :D

>103 ursula: Thanks for sharing the photo, Ursula. It is lovely.

>108 PaulCranswick: I am not sure anyone can keep up with those 3!

>110 alcottacre: I'm pretty sure you would make a decent fist of it, Stasia.

>111 PaulCranswick: I am getting back to the TIOLI challenges, but will never catch those 3, trust me on that.

>104 PaulCranswick: Adhan (the call to prayer)

Ezan. 😉

>110 alcottacre: be sure to hit the play button on the lower preview, it’s a video!

>113 ursula: Interesting because the word in Bahasa Melayu is azan

The root of the word "adhan" is "adhina" in Arabic which means literally "listen". "Udhun" being Arabic for "ear".
Interesting that the Malays and the Turks pronounce the word more similarly that do the Arabs.

In the 30 seconds of googling I did on the bus, it seems both languages just did a similar sound shift from the Arabic.

>115 ursula: The Turkish I am not familiar with but the Malays pronunciation and the Arab is slightly different. Of course when we write out the Arabic phonetically in Roman script it will always be approximate.

>104 PaulCranswick: I've just reached Pamuk's essays on politics and the relationship between Turkey and Europe in Other colours and he talks about Ataturk's attempts to secularise and westernise Turkey, including trying to mandate Western dress. There is so much I didn't know about the history of this part of the world.

>117 Sakerfalcon: I am looking forward to reading much more on it too, Claire, as there is so much I want to learn and I presently know so little myself. I do think that Ataturk was slightly before his time perhaps and his efforts to modernise the relationship between state and religion in a Muslim country must be the way forward eventually.

>110 alcottacre: You are still keeping up, Stasia, you just don't put your reading at the TIOLI meter to compare ;-)

>83 PaulCranswick: I decided to try My Name is Red. On order from my local library, should have it for a few days.

This is my first time trying a Challenge. Turkey is one of my favorite countries to explore. The history interests me and the people are great. I have been there three times and hope to get back.

>120 brewbooks: Great to have you along, John!

I must say that I am enthused at the interest in the Asia Book Challenge so far. I have lived in its deepest recesses for 28 years and am deeply fond of our most populous Continent so it pleases me no end that people whom I esteem are reading some of the books produced there.

I just finished My Name is Red, which I see others are reading. Most seem to like it more than I did. For me, the strengths of the novel were weighed down with needlessly redundant discussions about the book illustrating of the characters. Had he cut that down, I'd have given the book a solid 4 stars.

>113 ursula: I did not realize that, Ursula. Thank you for pointing it out to me!

>119 FAMeulstee: Not even sure what the TIOLI meter is, Anita, let alone how to use it! lol

>2 PaulCranswick: if you are imitating the title of a very old movie about travel, it should say 'if its january it must be turkey'. But this works just fine!

Unfortunatley I have bailed on island of missing trees The talking fig tree was bad enough (I usually like magic realism but not this) the writing was rather poor dialogue juvenile. Granted that might be translation at work. But Ursula mentioned elsethread about the author so I don't feel so bad. Pity I really wanted to learn more about the history of Cyprus here. Ill find out elsewhere. ETA just noticed that Paul is reading this as well; perhaps you can help me through it?

>4 PaulCranswick: I do love meditaranean food and all the variation. We have lots of greek and generic arabic places here, and we had a turkish place here for a while that was just delish.

>29 ursula: Oh I love the video, more of them please! Turkey was a place I always wanted to visit, and with my joints being what they are, probably not in the plan for me. So I'll go vicariously with you! The vespas remind me of rome, but at least they stayed in the street....

>34 jessibud2: after my name is red, that is my fav of his. Excellent memoir/travel narrative

>80 Sakerfalcon: wanting to read that; i remember readig what happened to smyrna when I was reading birds without wings ages ago and still have images in my head of that massacre. have that book in my cart

>125 cindydavid4: I believe Sharak writes in English.
I'm reading this one at present and got over the fig tree as character part as it is the fig tree segments that tell the history. The background on the Civil War was interesting though fleeting. I'd prefer a much grittier read than what she gives here.

>130 avatiakh: you are probably right. And yeah i don't know why Im having trouble with the talking tree; it makes sense, just magical realism. Maybe because I feel like she is lecturing us?

>125 cindydavid4: Heh, I'm about 60% into The Island of Missing Trees and I'm loving it. I got used to the fig tree pretty quickly even though I don't care much for magical realism. I love learning about the history of Cyprus, which I knew nothing about.

>132 brenzi: ok, I may give it another go, thanks

>125 cindydavid4: To be honest, Cindy, I was inaccurately imitating Richard who had urged a separate January thread. I must plead ignorance of the movie. As, I think Kerry mentions, Shafak indeed writes in English but I do understand she is rather convoluted in her phrasing! I will try to add what little bit of history I can to a discussion of Cyprus when I get round to the book.

>126 cindydavid4: Me too. The food of the Med is the food of the Gods.

>131 cindydavid4: Talking trees is a stretch but then again we were all mostly able to swallow Pamuk's talking coins and talking dead.

>38 raton-liseur: >45 richardderus: I finished and reviewed Like a Sword Wound. Unpleasant with a side of politics.

>134 PaulCranswick: that is true

Heres the movieif its tuesday this must be belgium

>125 cindydavid4: Sorry you didn't enjoy Island of Missing Trees. I finished it earlier this week and I really liked it. I was initially skeptical about the talking fig tree, but it ended up being one of my favorite parts and I thought it was a clever narrative device to fill in bits of the story. (There is one thing about the tree that comes at the end that I'm still processing, but I won't spoil anything.)

Here are the comments I posted on my thread.

The Island of Missing Trees - Elif Shafak

Because in real life, unlike in history books, stories come to us not in their entirety but in bits and pieces, broken segments and partial echoes, a full sentence here, a fragment there, a clue hidden in between. In life, unlike in books, we have to weave our stories out of threads as fine as the gossamer veins that run through a butterfly’s wings.

Set in London in the present, and Cyprus in 1974, this is a sad story about star-crossed lovers (Defne is Turkish and Kostas is Greek) whose lives were upended by civil war, and about grief. The fig tree is an important narrator, bearing witness to many of the story’s events.

As the title suggests, and as you might expect from a story narrated by a tree, there is also a naturalist/environmental angle to this story–besides the human casualties, deforestation and habitat destruction are consequences of war and turmoil, and humans do not stop to notice the other creatures around them. Except Kostas, who as a boy wept over the deaths of songbirds and bats, and as a man became an evolutionary ecologist and botanist (one who knows how to care for a fig tree and is more interested in trees than people, according to his 16-year-old daughter Ada).

The dedication–”To immigrants and exiles everywhere, the uprooted, the rerooted, the rootless, and to the trees we left behind, rooted in our memories”--does a pretty good job of highlighting the author’s themes.

I knew little about Cyprus except that it is disputed territory and that there was a conflict requiring UN peacekeepers, and I found this an immersive read. A great start to the challenge.

>127 cindydavid4: I lived in Italy - I clearly remember the Vespas not staying on the streets! Although maybe they are more strict about it in the tourist areas of Rome. In any event, you most definitely have to watch for scooters on the sidewalk. And cars on the "pedestrian only" İstiklal Street and Taksim Square.

Here is another video: https://www.icloud.com/photos/#009W6WZWuLxT56yK0vy0FR6gg

This one is on the Metro as it crosses the first half of the Haliç Bridge. So we're going across the Golden Horn. To the right is the oldest part of the city, Fatih. The bridge farther down is the Galata Bridge. On the bottom of it, it's lined with fish restaurants. You can see some of the many ferries at work.

The land in the distance behind it is the Anatolian side of the city. The bit tower is the Çamlıca Tower, and the white mosque off to the left out there is the Çamlıca Mosque. Right after the train pulls into the station, on the left you can see the Galata Tower.

I finished Ayse Kulin's Last Train to Istanbul in the wee hours. It started out slow, but I found it hard to put down once I reached the last half of the book.

>137 AnneDC: Well, thanks to you and others who encouraged me, I am well into the book and really liking it! Not sure what my problem was. Thanks again!

I am looking for a short history of Turkey, and unfortunately the OUP Very Short Introduction series doesn't have one. Could someone recommend a book? Paul, are you reading the Norman Stone one? Is it good?

>139 cbl_tn: You beat me Carrie. I hope to finish it today - Sunday.

I'm about half-way through My Name Is Red. It's different! I haven't decided whether or not I like it.

>139 cbl_tn: I just received that one, Carrie. I hope I enjoy it as much as you did.

>140 cindydavid4: I finished The Island of the Missing Trees last night and ended up enjoying it. I grew quite fond of the fig tree.

Ill probably finish today; yeah the tree is not so bad :)

Looking through my bookshelves I discovered Cyprus: between venus and mars john munro and Zahi Khuri(no touchstones for this), Looks like it might be a good companion read to the above

My short review of The Island of Missing Trees

Told through flashbacks from 1974 during the Cyprian Civil War and the late 2010s London (which I assume may be 2018-19) this book about love, loss, grief and how to live your life amidst tragedy was very good in so many ways. Although I'm not a fan of magical realism, the talking fig tree became my favorite part of the book because it revealed so much of the history that I had little knowledge of. The characters were well drawn and sympathetic for the most part and what stood out to me besides the history was the search in 2000 for all those lost and buried in unmarked graves throughout the island of Cyprus so that family burials could take place. So devastating a story.

I finished My Name is Red yesterday. I enjoyed my trip to 16th Century Istanbul with the historical details about Persian culture, Islamic beliefs, and descriptions about miniature painting in the manuscripts. Oh yes, it's a murder mystery as well. It took me awhile to get used to the writing style, but it was worth the close reading.

Thank you, Ursula, for posting the videos about modern-day Istanbul. It made the experience more complete. My dog came to attention during the call to prayer!

I finished My Name Is Red this afternoon. It is told in an unusual manner which both helped and hindered it. I think it will stick with me for some time, but I don't think it will ever be a favorite.

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
Published 2006, 360 pages

I enjoyed this novel of two families, one Armenian and living in San Francisco, the other Turkish and living in Istanbul. When the Armenian American teen visits her Turkish counterpart, lots of willfully forgotten secrets come to light.

My review is here.

>150 labfs39: That is so much better than the cover I own, Lisa. I need to read that one soon.

>150 labfs39: Oh I read that back in 2019. I even remember enough that your summary seemed familiar!

>151 PaulCranswick: I hope you like it when you get to it, Paul. There are a lot of LT reviews trashing it, which I find surprising. I gave it 3.5 stars.

>152 quondame: Did you like it, Susan?

>153 labfs39: I liked it, but didn't love it except for the food, my favorite character.

>154 quondame: Food was featured prominently, for sure. It made me want to join them at the table.

I finished The silence of Scheherazade and really enjoyed it although it is a sad tale. Here's my review:
The book opens in Smyra, 1905, a time when the city was a place of prosperity and culture, where Europeans, Greeks, Turks and Armenians lived side by side with little conflict. However, the aftermath of WWI changed all that, as Smyrna became a pawn in the power games of Western Europe. This novel shows the devastating impact that international socio-political policies can have on the lives and fates of individuals. We know the fates of the narrator and the city right from the start, but the story meanders back and forth in time and between points of view before reaching the climax in 1922 as Smyrna is devastated by fire and pillage. We see events through the eyes of Edith, daughter of a wealthy French family, her lover Avinash, an Indian man working as a spy for the British, Panagiota, a young Greek girl and her family, and Sumbul and her family, who adopt the narrator after the events of 1922. They experience the horrors of war and invasion, as the Turkish army, appalled by the atrocities committed upon their people by the Greek army, commit atrocities of their own in revenge. Thankfully we are not shown these horrors; characters relate what they have seen and heard, which is bad enough. This was a very good read. It required close attention to the characters and the time as the narrative jumped about, but the pieces of the jigsaw came together satisfactorily. The streets, sounds, and foods came to life and left me with a sense of sadness for all that was lost.

Ursula, thank you for posting the videos of Istanbul!

>156 Sakerfalcon: Added this one to my wish list.

Sorry. Weird double post

Have about a quarter of the way finished with Islands of Missing Trees, and really am liking it. But it is sobering to remember, in Aug of 1974 all I cared about (I was 17) was flying out of tel aviv and meeting up with my dad and bro for a wedding of a cousin in Boston. When I heard the flight had been canceled I totally didn't understand why. They got me booked again for a few days later, and I went back to stay with my mom's friend till then, Natch I missed the festivities, but then I just forgot all about that little island. Just at the time of their civil war were slaughtering each other, burying people in mass graves and all of the destruction, I was going hom in time to see Nixon's resignation. Didn't think about Cyprus for a while till learned about it in class in college. fast forward to now, oh my god....I couldnt have known, and I was just a teen, but reading this gave me pause what was happening not to far away (of course at the same time we stayed i bomb shelters several times while I was in Israel, and there was a massacre of israeli teengers while I ws ther) but how ignorant people can be about what is going on in the world. Anyway, very glad that Ive read this, and may try another of hers later in our challenge.

Ok finished. didn't mind the fig tree till she got her messages from all the insects, think that info could have been presented in another way, but I really liked the book. The writing was excellent, the pacing of the story was very good. Loved the relationships betwwen Ada and Kortas and Ada and Myriam, and how they all together worked to help Ada learn about her family.

I marked page 325, first paragraph where the tree is talking about what happened to the people who were never found 'while those who were found were tended and buried by their loved ones.

Nature tended them;wild thyme and marjoram grew from the same soil;the ground splitting open giving way to possibilities.Myriad birds bats and ants would carry seeds far away where they would grow into vegetation;In the most surprising way,the victims continued to live on, because that is what nature does to death;it transformed abrupt endings into a thousand new beginnings

giving it a 5, despite the fig tree :)

>160 cindydavid4: Your 5 stars Cindy more than gives me a bit of hope about it!

>156 Sakerfalcon: I will look out for that one too, Claire.

Although I think I'm going to continue to read Turkish books throughout the year, I've started another for January specifically, Pamuk's A Strangeness in My Mind.

Finished My Name is Red today at lunch. It was definitely a good one for me, though a bit more work to read than I expected. I loved the way Pamuk told the story through "interviews" with people, objects, characters from stories. And his capture of late 16th century Ottoman Empire was fascinating. This was a good find!

Just received a strangeness in my mind hope to start it once I finish a few almost done books

>150 labfs39:. I also read Bastard of Istanbul, and I think my opinion is pretty similar. I am giving in 4 stars, basically for the guts Shafak showed in dealing with the Armenian genocide.

I read Snow some years ago, and LOVED it.

>156 Sakerfalcon: I added this one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the review and recommendation!

I completed Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali. This is a bit of a strange love story. Story of unfulfilled love and death. I would say it's a tragedy. It is beautifully written but I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Takes place both in Turkey and Berlin in the 1920's.

I'm starting My Name is Red today. Will be reading this book in Russian. Figured since it is a translated book, I might as add it to my list of books I'll read in Russian this year.

>167 Tess_W: I'm not sure that I will manage it this month, Tess, as I promised Liz to fit in Hotel Bosphorus as a shared read but there is still a possibility.

>167 Tess_W: I hope to be starting that one in the upcoming week. I will be interested to see how my thoughts on it compare to yours, Tess.

Not sure if I'm going to get my Turkish read in this month. If not, I will revisit later in the year, as I have a couple to hand.

>135 quondame: I have finished Like a sword wound a week ago and did not manage to read more than one third of Love in the Days of Rebellion, which is the following volume.
The politics part were interesting, but swamped in so much non interesting individual considerations. The way women are described were particularly infuriating.

I am really disappointed as I wanted to like those books. I read I will never see the world right after it was published in France and loved this book, how it was written, in which circumstances, what it said… I do recommand highly this non-fiction book but I am unlikely to read another novel by Ahmet Altan.

>172 raton-liseur: How the men in the books treated the women was bad enough, but what's disgusting is how the author set them up so he could portray them as deserving such treatment. It's ghastliness is topped when Ragip Bey leaves the bed of his 14 year old bride, who prayed through their intercourse, goes outside for a smoke lamenting that he would be unhappy forever. I think all the men deserve worse than being unhappy forever.

>172 raton-liseur: I have requested I will never see the world again from the library, but I will skip the novels. Thanks for taking one for the team.

>173 quondame: Agreed... And you've not read the sequel... Hikmete Bey, whose suicid attempt failed, finds confort with a woman that his father bought for him. And she is described as being happy in this relationship. I could not take more of all this crap.
While reading, I kept thinking that Altan is supposed to be a progressist in Turkey. He is definitely in terms of defending democracy, but the feminists seem to have a lot of work to do if Altan is at all representative of a certain way of considering men-women relations. (To be fait, Like a sword wound was published in Turkey in 1997, ie 25 years ago. Things might have changed, including Altan's own position towards women).

>174 labfs39: I hope you'll like the non-fiction, it's a short and surpringly sweet read.
I feel I have done my share for the team this month, yes! Not a great way to start the challenge, but reading those books was long due for me, so at least now, the task is behind me! I hope I will be more lucky with my novel choice for next month!

>166 alcottacre: I hope you'll enjoy it!

I finished Other colours and really enjoyed this collection of essays. Normally I would read a book like this slowly, a couple of essays at a time, over several months, but because of the challenge I read it straight through. It didn't get repetitive though, and I was able to immerse myself in Pamuk's world and his thoughts. I learned a lot about Turkey, its history, and its relationship with the West, which is something of a priority for Pamuk. You also learn about his writing process, his thoughts on literature, how he perceives the role of the writer in the world. The short story at the end is clearly autobiographical - some of the essays talk about how much his life and family have informed his work, in some cases to the cost of his real-life relationships. This is a great read that I'd recommend to anyone with an interest in Turkey, writing and books.

>129 cindydavid4: I found a copy of Birds without wings in a charity shop this weekend and picked it up. I remember starting to read it shortly after it was published but I think I could tell it was going to be traumatic and got rid of it before I'd finished.

Finally finished my first read for the challenge, with Istanbul: Memories and the City. It was hard to follow as someone unfamiliar with the city, but it's both a love letter to it and Pamuk's memoir. Next up is Dare to Disappoint on Stasia's recommendation.

>178 bell7: - I am still reading this one, too and agree with your assessment of it. I will probably not finish it before the end of the month and I've resigned myself to that fact. I won't abandon it but it's very slow going for me and seems to meander an awful lot. Maybe this sounds trivial or petty to say but thank goodness for the photos; at least they give context to what I think would otherwise be a slog through a lot of unpronounceable names and places.

>179 jessibud2: If you can get your hands on the audio read by John Lee, that helped me a lot with the pronunciation part! I was able to finish this weekend by listening and reading along so I could look at the photographs, otherwise I would've been in your shoes, planning on finishing it next month.

I am about halfway through My Name is Red and once I finish that, I have Dare to Disappoint out from the library after seeing favorable reviews here.

I read Dare to Disappoint today and really enjoyed it (thanks, Stasia, and others for the heads up!). I may or may not get to The Island of Missing Trees this week, but if not, I'm still happy with two books read for January.

Just about done with Strangeness in my Mind and really liking it!

>179 jessibud2: Turkish is relatively easy to pronounce with just a little bit of information:

Every letter is pronounced.*
Every letter is pronounced in essentially the same way every time.
A is ah
C is pronounced like j. (Can sounds like John)
Ç is ch. (çay is chai)
E is the sound somewhere between hey and red
G is always a hard g. (Gergin is gair-gheen)
* ğ is kind of silent. It’s a little harder to explain than that but it’s close enough. (Erdoğan is air-doh-an, ağaç is aaaah-ch)
H is always pronounced. (Sabah has a slight breath out at the end, feshetmek is fes-het-mek)
İ/i is like ee
I/ı is like “uh” (ıslak is uh-slock)
J is zh (but not used much, only in loan words)
O is oh
Ö is like the German one (if you’re familiar with that)
Ş is sh (beş is besh, meşhur is mesh-hoor)
U is ooh
Ü is like the German one again

>184 ursula: Fascinating. Thanks for that, Ursula.

>184 ursula: Thanks! That’s incredibly helpful.

wow thats perfect, thanks!

>185 PaulCranswick:, >186 drneutron:, >187 cindydavid4: you’re all very welcome. Also, I realized I’d left out ç, so I went and edited the post.

strangeness in my mind is my fav Pamuk! Love using asides from other characters to give descriptions and histories as the story moves along

Just received The silence of scheherazade and will be reading it shortly,in fact will take it with me on a trip down south to see some friends.

>189 cindydavid4: I hope you enjoy it!

I had a weird reaction to Like a Sword Wound by Altan. As with other readers here, I had a visceral response to his treatment of women (unpleasant and unconvincing, so a double whammy) even as I appreciated the language and creativity. I found that juxtaposition to be troubling. I may pick up the sequel at some point, but not in the near future, and I won't spend $$ on it.

I read a short story by Orhan Pamuk.

I am going to have a go at a Turkish book I have had on my kindle reader since 2020, The Girl in the Tree by Sebnem Isigüzel. According to Amazon:
About the Author
Şebnem İşigüzel was born in 1973. Her first book, Hanene ay dogacak (The Future Looks Bright), won the prestigious Yunus Nadi Literature Award for published collections of short stories in 1993. She has gone on to write eight novels and two more short story collections. The Girl in the Tree, published in Turkey in 2016, is her first novel to be translated into English.

I read a book of fiction about the situation on the Turkish border with Syria in the camps and particularly the plight of the Yezidi an ancient peoples believing in the Peacock Prince and who ISIS tried to exterminate.

Disquiet by Zulfu Livaneli is one of the best things I have read in a while and I heartily recommend it.

Is it ok to not finish a book because its too sad to read? Loving the language of The Silence of Scheherazade but I know how this story ends and am not sure I can finish it. I feel I should read it to bear witness to this tragedy of mans inhumanity to man, but thats happening so much in real time, not sure I could handle this.

Twenty Stories by Turkish Women Writers translated by Nilüfer Mizanoğlu Reddy
Published 1988, 129 p.

The short stories in this anthology are all written by women born after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, but have little else in common. The stories range from domestic vignettes to avant-garde experiments to social commentaries. Some of the authors achieved fame within their lifetimes, while others remain obscure. Some authors have books that have been translated into English, but most have not. This collection was a good introduction to female Turkish authors and to social issues in Turkey between the 1950s and 1988 when this book was published.

One of the short stories is available online: "In the Park by the Pier" by Füruzan (1970). As is one other short story by the same author, "The River" (1973).

I suppose it's unsurprising that I didn't get the angries at the women of Like a Sword Wound, which I think is a Turkish soap opera. I gave it 4* and my review's posting tomorrow.

The Pasha of Cuisine was more to my taste, TBH, and entertained me *royally* with its food-culture digressions. Another 4* read, review posting tomorrow, though I warn anyone who thinks about reading it to do so while replete from a full meal and with some acceptable snack on hand.

But both were pleasurable reads for me. I'm glad PC did this because they'd still be on my Kindle otherwise.

>178 bell7: The credit goes to Lisa for the recommendation of Dare to Disappoint, Mary. I took the BB from her!

>197 alcottacre: And I got it from Kerry/avatiakh!

>198 labfs39: The book bullets fly around this group!

Yes, this thread (and probably this challenge) is just one extended book bullet.

I'm afraid to say I have not got on with My Name is Red but am very much enjoying (and have nearly finished The Island of Missing Trees.

I think I am going to set aside Pamuk's Istanbul for now. I didn't *not* like it but it just isn't holding my attention and I need to get past that in order to pull myself out of the reading slump I am in. Hopefully, I will get back to it at a later date. Time to move on...

Well, I didn't enjoy My Name Is Red as much as others did. There were sections I liked, but it just dragged on for so long that I was often tempted to throw it against the wall in frustration.

>203 amanda4242: I do agree that I would have liked it a whole lot more if it was a whole lot less.

I finished my last book for this part of the challenge tonight, Last Train to Istanbul, bringing me up to 5 books read for the challenge this month. I was just hoping for 3, so I am pleased with that.

I won't be finishing my second Turkish book by the end of the month, but then ... Turkish books are kind of an all-year project for me so no worries! ;)

>205 alcottacre: Impressed! I have fallen slightly short of my six book target but managed Pamuk, Kulin, Livaneli and Aykol.

>206 ursula: The challenge is only nominally January, Ursula and Turkish books at any time in 2022 count.

>207 PaulCranswick: I do not think I will do nearly as well in February, although I do have a couple of extremely short books by both Amos Oz and S.Y. Agnon that I might be able to sneak in. Agnon's A City In Its Fullness is going to take me a while since it is around 600 pages long and I am reading a couple of other long books this month too.

>207 PaulCranswick: Thanks for the 'pass' on finishing the Turkey book in January, Paul. My reading has taken a hit since my medical issue last November, and I find that I'm having a hard time reading things that aren't completely in my comfort zone. My Name is Red takes more concentration than I have right now, but it's still out in my 'currently reading' bookended books, and I'll work on it.

Off to see February!

Thanks for this Turkey thread for January. It was so interesting. I especially loved ursula's videos. I was not that crazy about 10 minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak, but I am curious enough to see if I would like thgis author's other work so I did put The Island of Missing Trees on hold at my public library.

I'm very much looking forward to next month's thread.

Thanks for this Paul, its been so much fun discussing all these books!Looking forward to next month, tho a little uncertain about politics of it all. But somehow I dont think I have to worry with this crowd!

Just finished The Island of Missing Trees and enjoyed it a lot. Will be doing a review later.

>193 PaulCranswick: If you write a review of Disquiet, I notice there is only one review posted on LT.

>194 cindydavid4: Of course! I struggle with this too. I know real life is not happy ever after, but find I need some of those comfortable feel good reads to balance things that may be realistic.

>213 markon: I rarely post my reviews on the book's workpage, Ardene but I will try to remember to do this more often.

Yeah I know. Ive got a few books coming up for my 'unchallenge - reading from Noel Perrins list' I can go back and forth between them

My review of The Island of Missing Trees is here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/338096#7744210

I was particularly interested in the topic of this book as my sister has lived on Cyprus on and off since 1992 and we have travelled there on a number of occasions. And travelling with a history obsessed husband, and more recently a history obsessed son, it’s impossible to go anywhere without learning at least a little of the history of the places that we visit. Particularly so somewhere like Cyprus where the evidence of its recent history is still very evident. We’ve visited the abandoned Turkish Cypriot villages near Paphos where my sister lives, an area that traditionally had a large Muslim population.

When we first visited Cyprus in around 1992 it was only possible for tourists to visit the North via one checkpoint in Nicosia, and then only for one day - no overnight stays. Later overnight stays were possible but still via Nicosia. At our latest visit in 2017 there were a number of border crossings but the border is still not normalised. The no-man’s zone of the green line is still there, several miles wide in some places. The most noticeable indication for a foreign traveller that the border is still anything but normal is that on neither side is the border signposted. Not too tricky to negotiate to find a border crossing in the rural west when really there is only one road that could possibly be going to the border, rather more tricky on the outskirts of Famagusta when any one of a number of roads could be going in the right direction.

>216 SandDune: Interesting about the border. Your review has convinced me that I need to read this book at some point, especially since I read and liked Bastard of Istanbul by Shafak. I know nothing about the history of Cyprus, and how better to learn than by a talking fig tree!

>203 amanda4242: I am still working through it and for the same reason! I decided to read this book in Russian since if I read it in English it would be in translation as well. I was wondering if the translation made the book so sluggish. Sounds like it's a book itself.

>218 annushka: Shafak writes in English.

>219 avatiakh: the title I'm seeing goes to Orhan Pamuk, and though I haven't read that one, the others I've read have been translations.

>220 bell7: Orhan Pamuk writes in Turkish. Elif Shafak writes primarily in English.

>220 bell7: Yeah, you are right I was thinking of Shafak as that was in the post before #218.

Related to the discussion about who writes in English or in Turkish, I ran across this article about the book I read this month (which was written in English), and also more generally about writing in English vs. in Turkish: https://thepointmag.com/criticism/how-to-lose-a-language/

Leaving breadcrumbs for those not in the 75 Books groups. Link for February, The Holy Land:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/339017#

but crumbs will be eaten by birds; better to use Reeses Pieces! :)

I finished this today, and it is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Thank you to raton-liseur for the recommendation. I was interested in reading it because it's essays/a memoir by a Turkish novelist imprisoned for his beliefs, and two of the novelists I read in January for the Asian Book Challenge (Pamuk and Shafak) were also tried for things they had written. I have read other books of this ilk (Rue du Retour, Prisoner without a name, cell without a number), but Altan's writing is particularly beautiful. If you would like to read a bit about each essay, detailed notes are on my thread.



I will never see the world again : the memoir of an imprisoned writer
by Ahmet Altan, translated from the Turkish by Yasemin Çongar
Published 2019, 211 p.

Ahmet Altan is a novelist and sometimes journalist who made remarks on tv deemed to be "subliminal messages" on the eve of a failed coup in Turkey in 2016. He was sentenced to life in prison with no evidence ever produced. While incarcerated he wrote essays which were smuggled out of the prison by his lawyer. Two were published in newspapers abroad. The essays were published as this memoir while he was still incarcerated. In April 2021 he was released by the Supreme Court of Appeals. The book has not been published in Turkey.

The essays are beautifully written and reflect not only on his situation but on the nature of God, literature, and the art of writing. There are many literary references, although most are paraphrased as the author did not have access to the books and was relying on memory. There is nothing gruesome here, he was never tortured; nor is it a polemic. I highly recommend this book.

Im not done with Turkey yet. Just got Thurbons Journey into Cyprus Didn't realized he walked the whole 600 miles! This took place in 1972, so what he saw was as close to the way it was as possible. In his preface he mentions the war in 1974, and returned in 1985 to see the changes. Should be an interesting read

Well into The Silence ofScherhazade,don't know why I was hesitating, I am enjoying it

I finally finished My Name is Red (in Russian translation) today. I'm quite disappointed with the book. Was expecting much more since it has so many good reviews. Not sure if the translation has anything to do with my opinion of the book. Moving onto February's challenge!

>228 annushka: I am still working on it. Finding it rather difficult. I think I maybe miss things because of not knowing all of the cultural background. I found the miniaturists particularly boring, but other parts I did like. Don’t think it had anything to do with the translation.

>229 EllaTim: Thank you for letting me know! I did find the book difficult too. I lived in Azerbaijan and am familiar with the culture of that region to some extent. Hope my selections going better will be much better books.

>226 labfs39: Hit by a BB Lisa, thanks.

>232 Caroline_McElwee: I hope you enjoy it, Caroline. It's a small book, but powerful.

just finished the silence of scheherazade I knew the story of Smyrna from another book; knowing what happens made me hesitant to jump into this. But I am very glad to have read it, telling the story of this tragic loss of an ancient city through the lives of its people.

Im having a hard time putting into words what made this such a powerful read for me, so I am going to borrow a review off Amazon, which expresses my feelings to a t.

"Told mainly through Scheherazade, this novel shows how a bustling cosmopolitan ethnic and religious melting pot descends into the horror of war; how the machinations of powerful men turn brutal and chaotic; how diverse cultures and people who lived contentedly side by side are torn asunder and how noble ideals sink into depravity on the one hand and into quiet heroism on the other. It is rich with imagery and metaphor. The impact of how idealistic,nationalistic and religious self righteous beliefs are imposed on the everyday lives and loves of the silenced majority (predominantly women and children) is beautifully crafted in this tale set in Smyrna, now Izmir.
It is a thought provoking and evocative masterpiece."

Highly recommended

>234 cindydavid4: I'm glad you "enjoyed" the book! (Not sure enjoyed is the right word because as you say, it is a desperately sad tale.) It taught me about a time and place I knew little about, and brought the characters to life.

>235 Sakerfalcon: agreed on all accounts

I am reading Life is a Caravanserai by Emine Sevgi Özdamar. I am really enjoying this book. It is a memoir, distorted by the way a youth will see things but also filled with folklore and the authors way of putting together sentences is so great, almost poetic book. I am reading it slow as there is so much to savior. Part of this story does take place in the area of the capital of Turkey so would work for that challenge. I know that the author travels to Germany in the book and that she wrote the book in German but it does not have the usual characteristic of German Lit. Highly recommend if you can get a copy of it.

I came across this article about current publishing struggles in Turkey and thought it might be of interest.

>238 bell7: yes, thank you for sharing. How sad that a country with such a robust printing industry is being hit so hard.