I like to read several books before each trip to get a better understanding of the culture and local life of my next destination. Of course there are the travel guides that I read before I leave or even before I choose my next destination, but my favorites are the fiction novels. I like to read stories that take place in that country or whose authors are from that country.
Below is a great list of non-travel books about Turkey, some by Turkish authors. If you are considering traveling to Turkey soon, take the time to read at least a few of them, they just might make you land your dream trip sooner than expected.
1) Yasar Kemal, The Birds Are Gone Too
A short novel by one of the most widely read and internationally recognized Turkish authors who has also been a candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature. In this book, the author tells the story of three children who struggle to survive in the constantly changing environment of the big city – Istanbul.
2) John David Tumpane, Scotch whiskey and holy water
Entertaining book about the Turkish people and life in Turkey written by an American author who lived in Turkey for 10 years. From the point of view of a Turkish person, you may find the author arrogant and the remarks exaggerated, but it will surely be helpful for Americans to understand Turkish thought. “We arrived in Istanbul via Pan Am after midnight. On the way to the city, all the neon signs seemed very strange to me: Tuzcuoglu, Haci Bekir Lokumlari, Koc. I thought, I will never be able to learn this language.” Then I saw a sign that said Is Bankasi and I was sure the word “bank” was lurking somewhere there. Since I already knew a word of Turkish, I decided to stay.”
3) Orhan Pamuk, The memories of Istanbul and the city
The Nobel laureate remembers the Istanbul of his youth. The melancholy of Istanbul enriched his childhood and continues to inspire him. “…the melancholy of this dying culture surrounded us. As great as the desire to westernize and modernize may have been, the most desperate desire, it seemed, was to cast off all bitter memories of the fallen empire: rather like a rejected lover throws away the clothes, possessions and photographs of his lost loved one”
4) Mustafa Ziyalan and Amy Spangler (editors), Istanbul Noir
Comprised of 16 stories, all original, from some of Turkey’s most exciting authors; the result is an underground portrait of the city and of Turkey, told in evocative, often poetic and powerful language.
5) Louis de Bernieres, Birds without Wings
Birds Without Wings is a novel by Louis de Bernières, which tells the tragic love story of Philothei, a Christian girl, and Ibrahim, her Muslim childhood friend. The story is set in Eskibahçe, a small fictional town; although it is fiction, the setting for Eskibahçe is based on the village of Kayaköy near Fethiye, the ruins of which still exist today; a beautiful historical romance novel.
6) Elif Safak, The Palace of Fleas
Safak is a young Turkish novelist, best-selling writer in Turkey, France and Bulgaria. The Flea Palace is a novel about the daily routines of the inhabitants of an apartment building in Istanbul called BonBon Palace, a miniature representation of the city itself, the city of contrasts and contradictions, the city where East meets West. Here is an excerpt from The Flea Palace: “Istanbul was under heavy fog that morning, and as everyone in Istanbul knew only too well, during foggy days even the city itself could not tell what its color was. However , Agrippina Fyodorovna Antipova had always been pampered with great care from birth and had subsequently been led to assume that others were to blame whenever she could not get what she wanted…”
7) Tales from the expat harem: foreign women in modern Turkey
A nonfiction anthology created and edited by Anastasia M. Ashman and Jennifer Eaton Gokmen. The collection includes the life experiences of 32 expatriate women from seven nations and five continents, whose collective experience spans the past four decades. These diverse women describe religion, culture, conflicts, traditions and customs from the perspective of foreign women living and working in Turkey. They will take you to the narrow streets of Istanbul, to warm homes and smoky Hamams. If you are planning to visit Turkey soon, this book is a great read to warm your heart with the Turks.