Travelers' Tales Turkey: True Stories

Rating:
Summary: An odd assortment of tales, with some gems
Review: For those who may not know of it, Traveler's Tales is a San Francisco-based publishing house that has earned a reputation for producing high-quality, well-designed books that bring together stories from leading travel writers, presenting a kaleidoscope of outlooks on a specific place or topic. Past editions have focused on places like Mexico, Japan, Tuscany and Tibet, and themes such as romance, food and spiritual travel.

Traveler's Tales' 2002 collection of stories from Turkey contains 31 full-length stories, as well as numerous factual side details, excerpts from literature on Turkey, and anecdotes from the road. It covers grand adventures, like Richard Halliburton's epic swim across the Bosporus and Tim Cahill's mountain search for the legendary Caspian tiger, as well as sublime experiences like Mary Lee Settle's visit to the tunneled moonscape of Cappadocia and Laurence Mitchell's journey with religious pilgrims to the southern city of Urfa, birthplace of Abraham.

The book also provides sensible, sometimes sensual information on such customs as smoking the narghile (water pipe) and sipping Turkish tea. Vivid descriptions of the country are encountered frequently, with some of the best being James Villers' portrait of the vibrant Istiklal Caddesi shopping street in Istanbul and Nicholas Shrady's trip to the tomb of the mystic poet Rumi in Konya.

...Without a doubt, the best story in the collection is Tim Cahill's "Anyone seen a tiger around here?" This rollicking tale describes a real quest- the search for the perhaps extinct Caspian tiger, told with great humor and aplomb by the king of improbable outdoor adventures. Along with Cahill's retelling of memorable encounters with Turkish military officials, we also learn a fair bit about the Kurds, Armenian churches, and the anatomy of myths as passed down in villages everywhere. The story proves irresistible to the very end, where the discovery- almost- of the fabled beast leaves the author intimating a return trip sometime in the future. This clever twist leaves the reader impatient for the sequel.

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Rating:
Summary: disappointing; merely adequate
Review: I was mostly disappointed by this book.

Very few of the tales described Turkey in a positive way that showed that the traveler had really connected with the country, culture and people.

Too many of the tales spent way too much time in poetical daydreaming and flights of fancy. One, fairly long entry, called "Encounter With The Goddess" was really horrible. The author goes on and on, indulging in the most ridiculous, woolly-headed speculations about deep, primeval origins of goddess worship. And to make matters worse, he spills his guts about his inner most feelings (mostly negative, VERY negative) about his current sex partner and companion. I was really flabbergasted that the editor of this book allowed this to be included in the collection.

This book could have used a lot more tales from seasoned Turkphiles. Many of the entries in this book seem to be submitted bu people who are either dillitantes or who have major reservations about Turkey and who want to maintain their distance from it.

Still, it's quite a bit better than nothing.

Rating:
Summary: For people who love Her..
Review: Or for people who want to know why she is loved. Poetic without being maudlin. A fine book.