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Title: Living in Istanbul by Jerome Darblay, Caroline Champenois, Kenize Mourad, Lale Apa, Teresa Battesti, John Freely, Nedim Gursel, Tim Hindle, Arzu Karamani, Gerard-Georges Lemaire ISBN: 2-08-013563-5 Publisher: Flammarion Pub. Date: 15 June, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Not perfect but probably the best there is nowadays
Comment: For anyone under a spell of Istanbul, this is a book to have and behold. The photography is excellent if also typical of glossy coffee table books: romantised and beautiful, very - yet the images chosen cover a wide range and offer interesting and evocative - or inspiring, if you like - insights into the life in Istanbul and its settings. Visually, then, the book is a little gem (far better than another recent one, "Living in Turkey"). There are several essays included whichare of varying quality. The preface by an Ottoman princess is - on a second reading - not too bad and rather charming, while her attitude - both nostalgic and protective is as expected as, perhaps, it is befitting, too; a diary by a Turkish writer leaves one with mixed feelings and somewhat at loss as to what is at stake in it (in my opinion, it is the weakest of the essays in the book). "A Day in Istanbul" is rather matter of fact description of the city by and what there is to be seen. "Interiors" is probably what most people would expect to find in a book like this - after all, it leans heavily on interior decoration; the selection of interiors is, as expected, very biased: focusing on yalis or the more contemporary residences of the fashionable Istanbulites, Turkish or foreign - but then, most interior books do the same and this is not to say it is not pleasant to behold, only that at times the text seems little bit selfindulgent in terms of the people whose homes are shown - of course, as long as we don't know these people and their names mean nothing to us, it doesn't really matter, but I can imagine that people, say, in Istanbul might read and view the book rather differently... (also, it might be noted that the books is written by people who mostly reside someplace else than Istanbul). The only section where the text surpasses the pictures is the one about the palaces, or I felt so, as they don't really give you a sense of the buildings nor the interiors - it is a very personal selection and quite small one at that, too. The following section on "Traditions" saves much of the book anew: only, minor, drawback is that the relevant text and pictures don't manage to keep pace but are separated, at times afew pages apart. Finally, the "Rendezvous" is a pleasant, casual and intimate, retake on the city as to what to do and where to go, especially if you don't have a home in Istanbul and you have to experience the "living in Istanbul" through cafes, bars and restaurants. The last part, "Visitors guide" would have been best left out: not only does it start to turn the book - ambiguously and dissapointingly - into a guidebook, but it will also date it - no doubt, when first published, it was useful and it will be nostalgic in a hundred years' time, but in between it is bit of a letdown. Yet, in spite of its drawbacks, it still remains the best book I've found currently available on life and interiors in Istanbul. And some of my friends who know the city better than me, agree. I myself borrowed the book from a library, kept it for a month, extended it for another and then bought my own copy...
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Title: Turkish Style by Cengiz Bektas ISBN: 086565137X Publisher: Vendome Pr Pub. Date: 01 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Turkish Delights by Philippa Scott ISBN: 0500510377 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Turkey From the Air by Yann Arthus Bertrand ISBN: 0865651515 Publisher: Vendome Pr Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook by Ozcan Ozan, Carl Tremblay ISBN: 962593944X Publisher: Periplus Editions Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Eyewitness Travel Guide to Istanbul by Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Deni Bown ISBN: 0789427516 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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