Anatolian Days and Nights: A Love Affair with Turkey, Land of Dervishes, Goddesses, and Saints [Paperback]

Angie Brenner (Author), Joy E. Stocke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2012

A chronicle of two women's travels through turkey

When Joy Stocke and Angie Brenner meet on the balcony of a guesthouse in a small resort town on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, they think they have only a mutual friend and a summer dream in common. Soon, they discover a shared love of travel, history, culture, cuisine, and literature; and they begin a ten-year odyssey through Turkey.

Inspired by the poetry of thirteenth-century mystic Jelaluddin Rumi, Brenner and Stocke journey to central Turkey for the Whirling Dervishes Festival. A visit to a Turkish bath becomes a lesson in sensuality and patience. Their interest in the cults of the mother goddess takes them to Ephesus, the Black Sea, and east into Mesopotamia. Through intuition, experience, and a bit of serendipity, Brenner and Stocke find excitement, friendship, and love, and learn how and why Turkey--a country that holds the keys to Western Civilization--continues to grow in world importance.

Travel writing with literary value, Anatolian Days and Nights will appeal to armchair travelers as well as those about to hit the road.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''Compassionate, nuanced, tender and informative, this book will change your perspective on contemporary Turkey.'' --- Elif Shafak, author of The Bastard of Istanbul and Black Milk.

''Anatolian Days and Nights is an intimate, clear-eyed view of a fascinating country. Joy Stocke and Angie Brenner have captured the contradictions of modern day Turkey, while exposing the complex web of history at the heart of our human story. This book will make you want to grab your bags and hop the next flight to Istanbul.'' --- Alan Drew, author of Gardens of Water

''In their touching, often humorous memoir, Anatolian Days & Nights: A Love Affair with Turkey, Joy Stocke and Angie Brenner write vividly about their journeys through a one of the world s most vibrant countries. The landscape and people slip beneath your skin until you are no longer sure whether you've become a part of Turkey or whether Turkey has become a part of you. As a frequent visitor to Turkey, I applaud Stocke and Brenner for skillfully weaving a tale that leaves me yearning to return.'' Harriet Mayor Fulbright, Widow of Senator J. William Fulbright, Founder of the Fulbright Scholarship Program and President of Harriet Fulbright College

''Filled with smiles, laughter, dancing, whirling; exotic foods I want to taste and exquisite crafts I want to buy. Joy and Angie walk us down ancient paths where ghosts of the past still dwell; they lead us into cooking kitchens where eggplant and lamb fill today with magic blends of herbs and spices. The authors' love of the culture, then and now...its joy, its challenges, its exuberance... is contagious. After reading this book, I have moved Turkey to the top of my list.'' - --Rita Golden Gelman, author, Tales of a Female Nomad, Living at Large in the World.

In their vivid memoir, Joy Stocke, a travel writer from New Jersey; and Angie Brenner, a former travel bookstore owner from California, document their travels through Turkey, spanning nearly 10 years and stretching from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean coast, and from the Iranian border to Istanbul...Every destination on their itinerary is home to ghosts of Turkey's past, but the friends also take time to enjoy ''whitewashed façades tinged sienna in the late afternoon sun'' and ''breeze[s] rustl[ing] through the cobbled streets.'' Over-eager guides embody the country's tumultuous national identity--a mélange of Muslims, Christians, Jews, Armenians, Turks, and more--and descriptions of the past weaved into the present provide a rich portrait of the region. --Publisher's Weekly

''There is a lot to be said for two women, one married with children, the other single, who choose to travel through a country where such a thing provokes shock, distrust, and assumptions about the flexibility of their moral character. The two handle awkward or frightening situations with grace and intelligence.'' --Philadelphia Inquirer

About the Author

Angie Brenner began her love affair with Turkey when she embarked on a quest to see Whirling Dervishes in Konya, where Sufi mystic Jelaluddin Rumi taught. An avid traveler and illustrator, Brenner would spend the next twenty-five years searching the remote corners of Turkey for historical and cultural links between Turkey's past and present. A former travel-bookstore owner and freelance writer, Brenner is the West Coast Editor for the online magazine Wild River Review. She lives in the rural mountain community of Julian, California.

Joy E. Stocke has been traveling to and writing about Turkey and the eastern Aegean since 1982. Her quest to discover the roots of Western religion has brought her to all of Turkey's borders. She is the author of a novel, Ugly Cookies, and a collection of bilingual poems (English/Greek), The Cave of the Bear, based on her travels in Crete. Founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Wild River Review, Stocke is a Lindisfarne Association fellow and serves on the board of the Princeton Middle East Society. She lives in Stockton, New Jersey.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Wild River Books (March 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0983918805
• ISBN-13: 978-0983918806
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.8 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #58,157 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Travel > Asia > Turkey > General
  • #22 in Books > History > Middle East > Turkey
  • #92 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Travel

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting Introduction to Turkey April 18, 2012

By Prestonfield

Format:Paperback

I have made sure that daughters, sisters and friends have gotten copies of this book. It is an inspiration in a number of ways: two women want to live a life of adventure...and then they do. And it is deeply satisfying that these two stout-hearted women in hiking boots are also poets. Lucky for us, really, since we don't need another dry eyed travel book. We need the magic. These two determined women bring it!

Rather than memorizing travel statistics, it is so much more interesting to get to know a country by living in someone else's skin for a while. Brenner's and Stocke's adventures become my adventures. I'm wrapped in the sunsets, I taste the spices, my heart beats a little faster for the exotic romances that couldn't quite work out.

Nobody said Turkey was always going to be easy. But its enchantment seems to go on and on. When you have this sun-colored book on your shelf, you have permanent motivation to pack your suitcase, fly far away and ask yourself: "Why shouldn't I?"

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mommy Moments with Abby Book Review April 9, 2012

By Mommymomentswithabby

Format:Paperback

I have wanted to travel for a while and love learning about other area's of the world without really having to sit and read a boring travel guide. This book offered both the personal experience to draw you in plus the cultural and historical facts mixed in give you an insight into an area that you have heard about, but maybe haven't know about. I will be definitely re-reading this book as it is one that you can read once and then read a second time and pick up on things you missed the first or still find just as enjoyable as the first time you read it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tastes of Turkey July 25, 2012

By bookbuzz

Format:Paperback

An Aegean sunset, the breeze, soft and warm against my bare skin, dining in an outdoor café, senses assailed by the salty air of the Mediterranean and the fragrant spices of Turkish cooking -- something I can only dream about in wintry Melbourne, Australia, where I live.

Reading Anatolian Days & Nights, Joy E. Stocke and Angie Brenner's new book, subtitled: A Love Affair with Turkey, is almost as good as being there. The most aromatic book I have ever read, it had me salivating from page one; I haven't been to Turkey but I feel like I can taste it. Joy Stocke, a travel writer and editor of the online magazine, Wild River Review and Angie Brenner, freelance writer and former bookstore owner, write about Turkish cuisine, whether in private homes or cafes, in loving detail and oh-my-goodness, every meal they have is a feast for the eyes, nose and taste buds. Not surprisingly, Joy has compiling a Turkish cook book on her to-do list.

Experienced travelers in Turkey, Joy and Angie first met in 2001 when they volunteered to help a friend by running a small guesthouse on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. The beginning of an enduring friendship they coped with the friend's sulky male partner while trying to turn a rundown pension into a profitable concern. Not so much a travel book as pages from a `day-in-the-life-of' diary, Joy and Angie share with readers the good, the bad and not ugly, but sometimes frustrations of travelling in Turkey.

The book maps Joy and Angie's trips back and forth between the US and Turkey between 2001 and 2009.... The text alternates between Joy and Angie's depiction of people and events; friendships are forged and Turkish society is peeled back to reveal fascinating intimate detail of family life and values in large cities and villages where not much has changed since ancient times. The writing, uniformly good, the descriptive sequences are often poetic and always absorbing.

A Whirling Dervish festival, Istanbul, Ephesus, the Black Sea and Mesopotamia are all described with empathy and great enthusiasm for the people met and the places visited. Neither author moralises about Turkish cultural or traditional customs which may be at odds with western society's view of civilised practice - they write it like it is and allow readers to make up their own minds.

Joy, an indefatigable traveler, is supported in her wanderings by a sympathetic husband and daughter who wait patiently at home for the next instalment of her Turkish adventures. Angie, single, and I suspect, an incurable romantic, generously shares with readers a brief love affair with a Turkish guy. A crescent moon above, a dark eyed lover by your side - a romantic or not, it would be hard to resist.

If you are planning a trip to Turkey don't leave home without a copy of Anatolian Days & Nights in your backpack. It's a worry free guide to tripping around in Turkey and gives info on transport, tours, local customs, sights and sounds not to miss, and the whys and wherefores of safe travel in a country where adventure awaits around every corner. If you're not lucky enough to be going to Turkey, take the tour with Joy and Angie; read Anatolian Days & Nights, it's an exciting intriguing journey. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Touches the Soul of Turkey March 17, 2012

By Frank L. Hicks Jr.

Format:Paperback

I've been slow doing this review because this book is special and is not one to be rushed nor fully appreciated in one reading. I could tell that when I first started it. This truly is a love affair between two women and a certain land. That land is not just a place but a feeling; a culture; a people of past countless souls; yet all blended into the present moment. I have always been intrigued with Turkey and have it on my list for this year. I was on a ship headed there ten years ago but the war rerouted me. This book is well written with a depth that goes beyond memoirs of travel. These two women have traveled into the soul of the land and that is something you don't find in the normal book on a particular land. For instance, "Her eyes seek mine, as if to say "Let's leave the men here. Let's talk about our lives as women." With a glance over her shoulder, she gives us a fleeting smile." Now that is getting into the heart of a people not just a political entity and a lot of historical ruins. It is touching lives in a way you and I will probably never see.

Or after climbing into a deserted place they see "a girl standing in a grove of olive trees" gathering "olives that have fallen to the ground and studies us, two women in sun glasses, tank tops, shorts and hiking boots. Gravely, she places a handful of the bitter, green fruit on a stone ledge, an offering. And darts away."

But as lovely and peaceful as they paint the picture of Turkey there are moments. When on a picnic and as "curfew approaches". A tank stops and four soldiers get out with "AK-47's in hand." One "his rifle site levels in our direction." "My back twitches, anticipating the sting of a bullet. Blood beats in my eardrums....." They demand passports and inspect Polaroid photos spread around.... "'I told him they are just tourist photographs and the you are not spies,' says Basir." The three soldiers slightly loosen their grips on their rifles." as the girls offer to shoot photos of them they can send home to their girl friends. "Whatever fear Angie might feel, I see none of it in her actions as the soldiers take turns posing for their portraits, straightening their backs and positioning their rifles across their chests....."

Maybe I'll revise this review after I have had time to just find a quiet place and reread this wonderful adventure in real life in a fascinating land buy two girls who love the real heart of a land. Maybe I'll need to read it several times, a people and place most of us will never visit, and even if we do it will never be with such abandonment and depth into a people as they share in this book. You can actually feel the spirit of this place called Turkey.

This really is an unusual book and one everyone can relate to regardless of your travel interests. It is one you must read for yourself since a review will never do it justice. This is truly an insight into a people which seems such a mystery to most of us. And it is a fun adventure of two girls truly in love with life, with people, and with Turkey. Read more ›