one of the best books i've read lately is Snow by Orhan Pamuk. i love istanbul, and even though the story is set in what i think is the northeast corner of turkey, the frequent references to places like the very european nisantasi neighborhood reminded me of my visit to that "melancholy city". pamuk recently became very controversial after he was arrested for commenting on turkey's massacre of the armenians. turkey dropped the charges (of embarassing the state) right as i finished reading this book --what a coincidence.another controversial book i read recently is the japanese Ishi ni Oyogu Sakana (fish swimming in stone), the first novel by Yu Miri.
i had read a few of her other novels and essays but i had resisted this one because i knew it was the censored version. but when i saw it at the bookshop the other day with the advertising blurb "words were buried but their spirit survived", i decided to give it a try. it was one of the most depressing books i had read in a long time. it left a nasty aftertaste, but the kind you're glad to have experienced in a sick sort of way. definitely not iyashi-kei.
