The Bastard of Istanbul

Given my upbringing in Istanbul, I'm surprised that it has taken me this long to delve into a novel by Elif Shafak, especially given my reputation for devouring novels by Orhan Pamuk. I found this novel incredibly gripping and entertaining. It follows the story of one family of women, 3 generations all living under one roof. The novel starts with a glamourous woman, dressed in a mini skirt, going to a doctors office in Istanbul and demanding an abortion. A lot of the themes in this novel might be surprising to someone not familiar with the western side of Istanbul life. I found some of the issues sensitively and entertainingly dealt with and have now put this novel on a shelf of things to pass on to my mum and sister. I am looking forward to reading more of Elif Shafak's work in the future.

New project!

New fabric has arrived for my next project! Very excited to try something new for my future nephew or niece. Will be a crib sized quilt entirely made up of equilateral triangles which will have its own challenges. Mainly oranges and light taupe. Have started cutting all of the triangles but way more to go! 

Capital

Did I mention that I've joined a book club? I have - and tonight is the first meeting. We've read John Lanchester's Capital as the first book and I'm looking forward to seeing what the other ladies thought of it.  I found this book really interesting from page one. It follows the stories of people who live on or are associated with Pepys Road in London. The introduction to the book is particularly interesting in that it follows the history of the street, from when the houses were first built to the current day and the changes in the types of people that live there and the changes made to the buildings to suit changes in lifestyle. The reason that I found this particularly interesting is that I was born on Pepys Road in London (well, in the hospital really but I came 'home' to Pepys Road). Whilst there were some elements in the novel that made me think that Pepys Road was the one that I knew, there were also some references that made me think that it could be another road in London.

Anyway, back to the story, it centres around different people's lives on the street, with each chapter following a different story. It is pulled together when all of the residents on the street start to receive postcards with pictures of their own front door and the message 'we want what you have' written on the back.

Catch 22

I'll be honest - I didn't know anything about this book when I picked it up. I was expecting a heavy war book, which, lets face it, is not my favourite type of book. Instead I found this really funny - it's a comedy set in the context of the second world war. The book follows a number of American pilots who are stationed in Italy. The main protagonist wants to be grounded (ie not fly anymore) but is stuck in a situation of catch-22 - where in requesting to be taken off the list to fly, he is showing his sanity and therefore is healthy enough to fly.  The novel explores the feelings and fears around war and those fighting for a cause that they don't fully understand or relate to.