Today's post is all about reading

Book I plan to read next

Out of the Shoebox ~ by Yaron Reshef, 2014, memoir (Ukraine), 266 pages

Out of the Shoebox is a fascinating journal that reads like a detective story, comes across as an imaginative quest into the past, yet is the true personal story of the writer, Yaron Reshef.  An unexpected phone call hurls Reshef into an intensive two-year journey, during which he has to solve a mystery that took shape in the 1930s and gradually unfolded in the present.  A mysterious lot, a forgotten bank account, a people long gone (along with their memory) – obliterated during the Holocaust.  All of these rise to the surface, bearing with them memories and emotions previously hidden away in the shoebox.

The author says, "I had no intention of writing a book.  I had no need to write a story in general, nor a story about my family and the Holocaust in particular.  But life being what it is, sometimes things happen in mysterious, even surprising ways.  Stuff that used to take center stage moves to the background, and background stuff moves downstage and center.  That’s what happened in my case."

From an Amazon comment:  "Just one top tip for readers, whilst reading on kindle, there is a family friends list at the back of this book that helps you keep track and cross reference the family tree.  This is a great addition to the book where lots of characters are involved."

Book I'm reading now for the Big Book Summer Challenge

Last Train to Istanbul ~ by Ayse Kulin, 2002, historical fiction (France and Turkey), 417 pages

Turkish diplomats hatch a plan to spirit the Alfandaris and hundreds of innocents, many of whom are Jewish, to safety from the Nazis.

Quote:  "It was inevitable that Fazil Reşat Paşa would hear about it [hear about his daughter's love for a Jewish man], and when he did, he was furious.  The paşa confronted his daughter" (page 43).

I looked up "paşa" (which is Turkish for "pasha") and found that it's the title of a man of high rank or office in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa.  It was the highest official title of honor in the Ottoman Empire and was always used with a proper name, which it followed.

UPDATE:  Yay!!!  I finished all 417 pages on the last day of August 2022, so I feel great about my reading (even though I rated the book only 4 of 10, which I define as "Struggled to finish, but not worth it").  Too bad, since it had such great potential.  I was an editor of two in-house publications once upon a time, and I could see how it could have been tightened up and made to feel less plodding ... through day by day ... and hour by hour ... and thought by thought.  But I did accomplish my goal.  So hurray for me!!!

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

The book I'm finally reading

Last Train to Istanbul ~ by Ayse Kulin, 2002, historical fiction (France and Turkey), 417 pages

As the daughter of one of Turkey’s last Ottoman pashas, Selva could win the heart of any man in Ankara.  Yet the spirited young beauty only has eyes for Rafael Alfandari, the handsome Jewish son of an esteemed court physician.  In defiance of their families, they marry, fleeing to Paris to build a new life.  But when the Nazis invade France and begin rounding up Jews, the exiled lovers will learn that nothing — not war, not politics, not even religion — can break the bonds of family.  For after they learn that Selva is but one of their fellow citizens trapped in France, some brave Turkish diplomats hatch a plan to spirit the Alfandaris and hundreds of innocents, many of whom are Jewish, to safety.  Together, they must traverse a war-torn continent, crossing enemy lines and risking everything in a desperate bid for freedom, from Ankara to Paris, Cairo, and Berlin.

From an online comment about this book:

The action takes place from 1933 to 1941, and the main characters are sisters Sabiha and Selva, who grew up in Istanbul as happy, well-educated, and beautiful blondes who want for nothing.  Older sister Sabiha marries Macit, who works directly under President Inönü's Foreign Minister; they and their beautiful child live a charmed life enjoying all the advantages of their wealth and prominent standing.  Yet Sabiha is too depressed to care, because she's ravaged by guilt at having had a hand in her younger sister Selva's decision to marry the Jewish man Rafael Alfandari.  That is what led to the couple's complete ostracization and subsequent flight to southern France, where they found themselves hiding from Nazis.

I've decided to read this for the 2022 Big Book Summer Challenge

(to read a book over 400 pages long), hosted by Sue Jackson at Book by Book.

I have only this week to read the book before Labor Day weekend (which I can do).

I've already read 16 books in August, and I've started this book now, anyway.

I purchased this on April 18, 2018 (Amazon says), so it also applies to my

TBR 22 in '22 Challenge to read 22 books I already own.

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UPDATE:  Yay!!!  I finished all 417 pages on the last day of August 2022, so I feel great about my reading (even though I rated the book only 4 of 10, which I define as "Struggled to finish, but not worth it").  Too bad, since it had such great potential.  I was an editor of two in-house publications once upon a time, and I could see how it could have been tightened up and made to feel less plodding ... through day by day ... and hour by hour ... and thought by thought.  But I did accomplish my goal.  So hurray for me!!!

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What's your favorite color?

Color: A Natural History of the Palette ~ by Victoria Finlay, 2002, history, 468 pages (in the print edition)

In this vivid and captivating journey through the colors of an artist’s palette, Victoria Finlay takes us on an enthralling adventure around the world and through the ages, illuminating how the colors we choose to value have determined the history of culture itself.  How did the most precious color blue travel all the way from remote lapis mines in Afghanistan to Michelangelo’s brush?  What is the connection between brown paint and ancient Egyptian mummies?  Why did Robin Hood wear Lincoln green?  Finlay explores the physical materials that color our world, such as precious minerals and insect blood, as well as the social and political meanings that color has carried through time.

Roman emperors used to wear togas dyed with a purple color that was made from an odorous Lebanese shellfish — which probably meant their scent preceded them.  In the eighteenth century, black dye was called logwood and grew along the Spanish Main.  Some of the first indigo plantations were started in America by a seventeen-year-old girl named Eliza.  And the popular van Gogh painting "White Roses" at Washington’s National Gallery had to be renamed after a researcher discovered that the flowers were originally done in a pink paint that had faded nearly a century ago.

This book is full of extraordinary people, events, and anecdotes.  This intrepid journalist travels on a donkey along ancient silk trade routes; with the Phoenicians sailing the Mediterranean in search of a special purple shell that garners wealth, sustenance, and prestige; and with modern Chilean farmers breeding and bleeding insects for their viscous red blood.  The colors that craft our world have never looked so bright.

The author says, "I first became fascinated with the story of colours when I was eight, and my father showed me a stained glass window in Chartres cathedral and explained how the blue glass was made 800 years ago and we couldn't make it like that any more.  Many years later I gave up my day job as Arts editor at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong — where I lived for 12 years — to write Color: A Natural History of the Palette.  In the course of my research, I travelled to the underground opal churches of outback Australia, interviewed retired pearl fishermen in Scotland, crawled through Cleopatra's long-deserted emerald mines, climbed the "blue mountains" of Afghanistan where Michelangelo's ultramarine paint came from, learned about medieval stained glass and tried my hand at gem cutting in the dusty Sri Lankan city where Marco Polo once bartered for sapphires."

Okay, I was hooked, so I bought the book for my Kindle (it's not as heavy to hold that way).  When I noticed this is a "big book" of 468 pages, I decided to join Sue of the Book by Book blog in her Big Book Summer Challenge.  Here are the rules for me, as a blogger:

• Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.
• The challenge will run from Memorial Day weekend (starting May 28 this year) through Labor Day weekend (Labor Day is September 6 this year).
• Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that?  You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate!
• Sign up on the Big Book Summer Challenge page.
• If you have a blog, write a post to kick things off.
• Write a post to wrap up at the end, listing the big books you read during the summer.
• You can write progress posts if you want to and/or reviews of the big books you've read, but you don't have to.

I'm only committing to this one book for now, but if I happen to read another BIG book this summer, I'll add it to my list.

Big Book Challenge

Zora Neale Hurston: Novels and Stories ~ ed. by Cheryl A. Wall, 1995, fiction (Florida)

When she died in obscurity in 1960, all of Zora Neale Hurston's books were out of print.  Now she is recognized as one of the most important and influential modern American writers.  This book features Their Eyes Were Watching God, the acclaimed 1937 novel about a woman's struggle for love and independence.  Jonah's Gourd Vine, Hurston's 1934 novel based on the story of her parents, details the rise and fall of a preacher torn between spirit and flesh.  Moses, Man of the Mountain is her 1939 retelling of the Exodus story in black vernacular.  Seraph on the Suwanee (1948) portrays the passionate clash between a poor southern "cracker" and her willful husband.  A selection of short stories is also included in this volume.

✓  May 25 ~ Kickoff Party and Keynote Speech by Dr. Rafia Zafar
✓  June 16 ~ Stories of the Harlem Renaissance with Bobby Norfolk
✓  June 22-24 ~ discussion of Jonah's Gourd Vine
✓  June 23 ~ Marquise Knox Blues Performance
July 27-29 ~ discussion of Moses, Man of the Mountain
August 18 ~ Film Screening of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
August 24-26 ~ discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God

Every summer, the University City Public Library features the Big Book Challenge for adults.  This year's "big book" is really several smaller books in a single volume.  We'll discuss three of the novels, as shown above, but I plan to read the rest of the book if time permits.  And I'll come back here to check off those events and discussions I'm able to attend.