|
I remember quite clearly the day I
met Toni Sepeda.
I was in Istanbul on a Fulbright-Hays Dissertation
Fellowship studying historical
documents in the Ottoman archives.
I had just taken on the task of teaching
a college-level
course in Turkish Life and
Culture for the University of Maryland, European
Division, and I was meeting the other
instructors in the program.
Toni had a terrible cold, but she
looked great and was full of energy
and enthusiasm.
It was a good clue to the Toni I would
know for the next three decades: adversity
is a bother! Ignore it! Get over
it! There's just too much wonderful
and beautiful in the world to let a
little setback spoil your day.
Life, for Toni, is a feast
of possibilities and delights, and the little setbacks
are just part of the overall beautiful
picture.
This attitude served her well when
she and her partner, Craig Manley,
decided to build a vacation house on
Turkey's Black
Sea coast east of Istanbul.
Toni (pardon me: Dr Sepeda),
knew Turkey and the Turks well, having
lived
and
taught
in the
country
for years, but nothing gets you into
the fabric of a country, a culture
and a society like undertaking a domestic
construction project.
The story of a house? Not really.
This is a story of living and
loving Turkey, its culture and its
people,
by a writer (Ph.D. in literature) with
a fluent, graceful, informed style,
and a discerning eye to what makes
life happen.
"Around an engrossing and sometimes
hilarious account of the building of
a holiday home—ten years in the
making—on Turkey's Black Sea
coast, a rich social, cultural and
historical hinterland is opened up.
Evocative, informative and entertaining,
the book brims with fascinating insights
into Turkish life." —Peter
Kemp (London literary critic)
Click
here to buy it online from Nettleberry (recommended)
Click
here to buy it online from Amazon.com
Life with a View:
A Turkish Quest, by Toni
Sepeda, with illustrations by Craig
Manley
Istanbul: Çitlembik,
2007. ISBN 994442420X Softcover, 312
pages, YTL14.50,
US$18.95
An
Island in Istanbul: At Home on
Heybeliada
Biographies
Turkish
History
Turkish Culture
Good
Books About Turkey
Links,
Books, Films & Mags
Travel
Details
Special
Interest Trips
|
