If you have been following our travels (and travails), you will know that one of our big decisions when we took on this life-style was to get rid of most of our books. Books can be ideal traveling companions, but they are also heavy, and in our new life we look for what is light! Our abandonment of our books does not, however, mean that we have lost all affection for them. On the contrary, we continue to find ourselves drawn to libraries and bookstores of all sorts. And Istanbul is a town with many bookstores. So we are certain we have only scratched the surface: in a city of 17 (or 20) million, and with so much history, there remain quite a few bookshops to be discovered. So consider this a first report on our findings, with perhaps more to follow.
One thing we have not seen is a mega-store, like Barnes & Noble in the US or Waterstone’s in the UK: bookstores here seem to be independent and on the small side. But, this to our mind, makes them more interesting. We’ve seen a number of stores that cater to new books exclusively, and these take several forms. For instance, one of our favourites, Frankeştayn (yes, named for the famous doctor), has an impressive selection of fiction, essays, and art books. These are attractively laid out in a small storefront. They also have a great selection of books in English, mostly fiction but also history and philosophy. What makes this bookstore particularly attractive is the friendly staff, and the small café at the back. On a recent trip, one of the local cats saw a vacant seat opposite Laurel and decided that he (or she) would join her.
One of the loveliest shops we’ve seen is Robinson 389 Crusoe, on the busy Istaklal Avenue. This is located on the first floor (US second floor) of an art gallery, and the bookstore itself is something of an installation. The books range along a long hallway with smaller rooms branching off. These rooms focus on history or art or the like. The long hallway mostly contains fiction and literature. (Unfortunately, they don’t allow photography in the shop so we don’t have pictures). Though they claim to, have an English-language collection, we couldn’t find it!
There are a number of academic bookstores as well in the same general area. One is the bookstore of Koç University which offers lots of archaeological monographs, and books on Istanbul and Turkish history. Another is a second-hand shop, Galata Bookshop, with lovely old maps, photographs, and books in French, German, English, and (of course) Turkish. This store is not large but has a lovely old-world feel about it.
But our favourite so far is the (aptly named) Homer Bookstore. There are four levels to this shop, and it is chock-full of great books. Fiction, travel, history, art, a sizeable and wonderful children’s section, and cookbooks galore. And, on the top floor lots of books on the ancient world. We had a funny experience there recently purchasing To Kill a Sultan, by the Turkish author, Ahmet Ümit. The book, handsomely bound in hardcover, had a ribbon to mark your place. There was no price, but we decided to take our chances. When we got to the register, the clerk said, ‘That will be 90′. Surprised, we said, ’90 dollars?’. (Remember, we’ve been living in Norway, where everything was hugely expensive.) He laughed very hard and said, ‘No, 90 lira’. (That’s less than 5 US dollars.) So that is another thing we love about Turkey — books are cheap!
And we haven’t even gotten to the Book Bazaar, which is adjacent to the Grand Bazaar, but we’ll save that for a future post and for now simply wish you Happy Reading!
