Border - Kapka Kassabova

Part travelogue, part self-reflective inner journey.   I am not sure about this using of place almost as a metaphor for some internal landscape of self-exploration, and self-expression, examination of inner conflict and emotions.
What make this book interesting is the setting - the border area between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece.  This is an area with a very charged history, from Ottoman times, through the Balkan Wars, and into the 20th C Cold War period.    Kassabova does explore some interesting places in the Rhodopes in both Greece and Bulgaria.  She also explores some interesting sounding areas in the Strandzha area of Bulgaria, and also just on the other side of the border in Turkey.  All places I would like to visit. 
A very topical book, with all the current issues around migration, border crossing, etc.  Much of it currently set in the very area she explores in the book.

Walking Home - Simon Armitage

A poet's account of walking the length of the Pennine Way in England while surviving on people's generosity and hat collections at poetry readings.  Some interesting information about the trail, the walk and the weather but a lot of the book was about the author himself and also quirky English ways seen from the inside.  Not as interesting as some of the other walking accounts I have read, such as "The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot" by Macfarlane.

Four Fields - Tim Dee

An excellent example of a genre I really enjoy - reflections and explorations on encounters with a particular natural landscape.  Dee shows a great understanding of natural ecology and human history within the environment of fields - fens in England, grasslands in South Africa and the Midwest, exclusion zone around Chernobyl.

To Find
1. books/art by E A R Ennion (some in reference library TPL)

2. Sixty Years a Fenman, Arthur Randell (reference, TPL)

3. A.K. Astbury, The Black Fens (robarts)

4. The old stories : folk tales from East Anglia and the Fen country /

Kevin Crossley-Holland (Robarts)

5.  Tales from the fens / by W. H. Barrett Enid Porter. (request from Robarts/Downsview)

Roumeli - Patrick Leigh Fermor

A rambling book about Fermor's exploration of various parts of Greece.

While there are some interesting sections - like the first part about a nomadic shepherd group called the Sarakatsans - he spends far too much time on arcane history of Orthodox monastic orders, the merits of Romios vs Hellene as a word for Greeks, and other topics.  While there may be interesting ideas buried in some of these meanderings (for example, a history of the idea of Greece post-Turk), they are too deeply buried for me.

There is also a lot of the turn of the century English educated public school gentleman's idealized vision of Greece and the Greeks (and Byron) lurking behind his writing.  And that annoying habit of making sweeping generalizations about races, nationalities, etc.

The section on Crete reminds me of some of Hemingway's writing on Spaniards during the Civil War.  The natural peasant man seen as some kind of counter or embodiment of virtue in the face of western civilized man.  It is embarrassing to turn the world into some kind of shadow play of your own mind (again that idea of being trapped in stories and mythologies).

River of the Dead - Barbara Nadel

Another Barbara Nadel mystery set in Turkey.  While a lot of the book takes place in Istanbul as usual, a good part of the plot unfolds in the southeast of Turkey - Antep, Mardin and places in between.  The plot is centred on the drug transit trade through Turkey from points further east, and it's  a tight, convoluted plot as usual.  Better written than some of her earlier work.

This book is well-researched as usual, and brings up some interesting cultural elements peculiar to the south-east.  It highlights the complex cultural mix of Kurds, Turks, Suriani, Jews and Armenians that once existed there - mainly through observations about architecture and history - sounds like this area would be an interesting place to visit from that point of view.
There is also a glimpse into the clan and family structure that seems to dominate society there, with identifying tattoos for each clan.
Then there is this whole snake goddess cult thing called the Shameran, which apparently crosses ethnic and religious lines.  On Wikipedia, this cult is traced back to ancient Crete, where the earliest images of a goddess holding two snakes in her hand were found.   This suggests both an unusual cultural affinity and ancient historical continuity worth exploring further.

Al Jazeera means "the Island" and for some groups in the area, this is what they call the great Syrian Plain.  Another name for this area is "the ocean".

Bread and Ashes: A Walk Through the Mountains of Georgia - Tony Anderson

A bit of a mix as a book.  Some good personal recollections of landscapes, people and places, mixed with a fair bit of anecdotal history from the ancient and recent past.  In describing his experiences and journeys, I find his personal point of view a bit too loud at times - too much judgement, too much commentary, not enough description or facts.  Particularly noticeable in the section on traveling in Eastern Turkey's former Georgian region.
He does present a clear picture of Georgian society and what it is like to travel in that context, if it hasn't changed in the past 10 years or so.

Most of the travels seem to have taken place in the 90s - I wonder how much it has changed since then?

Scottish Imprints in Quebec - Ray Baillie

An interesting book with text and photos looking at the Scottish influence and traces of Scottish life and architecture in Quebec.  There are sections on many areas I have visited, including Scotstown, Murray Bay, Eastern Townships, Montreal and Quebec city.
Many interesting vignettes about buildings, farms, names, people.  There is even a small section on the MacMorine farm in Kingsbury and a photo of Uncle Ian.

The Broken Road - Patrick Leigh Fermor

- subtitled:  From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos

The last of Fermor's journal of his walk from Holland to Istanbul.

For me, the least interesting of the three volumes.  Written when he was quite old, and never actually finished, it lacks the detail of the other volumes.  The Mount Athos section is interesting at first, but becomes repetitive.  There is almost nothing on Istanbul - seems he kept no journal when he was there.

Still worth reading over to say you've read them all, but not as enjoyable.

A Time to Keep Silence - Patrick Leigh Fermor

A book about stays in several monasteries.  Reveals his fascination with things medieval.  There is one section about a visit to the rock monasteries of Cappadocia.

I found this book a bit thick and self-indulgent; not so much about the purported subject as about Fermor's image of the subject.  Loaded with charged adjectives, you really learn more about him and his view of life than you do about the monasteries.  For someone who had so much trouble with authority and structure in his schooling, he is remarkably respectful of, even infatuated with, authority in other realms.  This is equally true when you look at who he praises in this travel books too, though less evident.  As if he can have a romanticized view of authority and a life of rules, but only so long as it doesn't apply to him.

A Time of Gifts - Patrick Leigh Fermor

The first of the three books about Fermor's walk from Holland to Istanbul in the mid 30's, covering the walk through Holland and Germany.  It shows the same fascination with the intersection of Roman and Medieval history with the modern world.  I think in this book he has a bit more contact with everyday folk compared with the second volume where he seems to spend most of his time with the landed aristocracy that has come down in the world.  There is also more of an awareness of politics, social movements and recent history (WW 1) than in the subsequent book, which makes it more grounded and less fanciful.

I have recently also been reading Picketty's huge tome, Capital in the 21st Century, and interestingly, there is a certain intersection of the two books.  As he traces the history of capital, Piketty's charts show the huge drop in capital in Europe between the two wars, which wiped out many family fortunes and essentially destroyed what remained of the historical aristocracy.  This very class is the one with which he spends so much time, especially in the book dealing with Hungary and Romania.  You see this in the character's stories of their youth in Paris and London (pre WW 1, at the height of capital accumulation by the 10%/1%) and their current life at their country estate, much reduced but surrounded by decades, even centuries of accumulated trappings.

Between the Woods and the Water - Patrick Leigh Fermor

An account of a journey by foot undertaken by Fermor in 1935/1936.  The whole journey extends from Holland to Istanbul, but this book covers the section through Hungary and Romania.  It is well written, and fun to imagine travelling like this, but the most interesting part is the portrait he draws of a world that was on the edge of disappearing in 1936.   Eastern Europe was at least 50 years behind it seems at that time.  It was still a land of landed aristocratic families and village tenant farmers, something which had disappeared from France, England and Germany by then.  It is as if this corner of the world had remained untouched by the cataclysm of the First World War, and the social and traditional norms that had been swept away elsewhere hung on for a few last decades in the world Fermor is travelling through.  Of course, you have to realize also that he is of that world, and a young romantic, so his portrait is highly coloured.
But it is still an interesting oddity to read this book that would have been produced at the same time that the Surrealist, Dadaists and other modern art movements were raging elsewhere.

Balkan Ghosts - Robert D. Kaplan 2005 edition

Balkan Ghosts focuses mainly on the period around the transition from Communism to independence, at least as a travel narrative.  Included are many historical asides which shed light on how and why each Balkan country has ended up in its particular situation.  Well-written, informative, little detectable bias, although at one or two points there are some highly charged statements about Ottoman rule.
The chapter on Greece is quite interesting, as I know very little about Greek politics, the various 20th century Greek wars (aside from Anatolia), the various coups and dictatorships.  A real eyeopener in terms of how the country became such a mess.  Worth exploring further.
An interesting source for off-beat travel information on the various countries.  Of particular interest to me are Macedonia and Romania.

To find:

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Rebecca West

Judgement on Delchev, Eric Ambler

Crowds and Power, Elias Canetti

Garden of the Brave in War - Terence O'Donnell

This is a wonderful book on so many levels.  Foremost, it fills me with nostalgia for a time when the world really was a different place, and travelling really meant experiencing a feeling of complete "dépaysement".  It must have been a wonderful time to travel.  What is amazing is that this other world managed to survive in Iran until the '70s outside of the big cities.  I suppose I experienced a bit of this world the first time I travelled to Turkey, and even those first one or two times a I went to France.  Sad that this is gone - at least in the countries I am interested in visiting.
The picture of Islam that emerges from O'Donnell's book is also fascinating.  It is such a different Islam from the one presented by the post revolution mullahs of Iran.  Tolerant, kind, wise, generous, forgiving, open to the joys and pleasures of the world, and the richness of human emotion.  In a way, this new hard-edged Islam is their version of the Protestant revolution.  I'm not sure it is an improvement.  There is something inhuman in that world view that links it to the new corporate social ethos that seems to be taking over our world - both are joyless, inhuman, impersonal and all about rules and regulations (that work to the institution's benefit.
The epilogue of the book also reveals the seed that has destroyed much of the richness of the world's cultures.  His wonderful traditional garden home is to be destroyed by the landlord to build a pseudo-western suburb for Iran's emerging middle class with cars.
The book is full of wonderful anecdotes with a collection of memorable characters.

Travels with a Tangerine - Tim Mackintosh-Smith

A writer sets out to follow in the footsteps of Ibn Battutah - this should be a very interesting book.  Unfortunately, I just can't seem to get into it. I keep asking myself why...  I think for me, there is too much of Mackintosh-Smith and not enough history, culture, flavour of the land.  The author recounts details, but I sense this filter of judgment, attitude, wry amusement.  The subtext is a bit offensive to me - a journey to distant lands to marvel that it is not like home and to poke gentle fun at the outlandish ways.  I will keep trying for a bit, but I don't think I'll be able to finish this one...

From the Holy Mountain - William Dalrymple

An interesting look at an aspect of Middle Eastern history that is not discussed much - the history and state of Christianity in the Middle East.  The book is loosely structured as a travelogue built around an account of a journey by two monks it the 6th century.  Dalrymple sets out to follow their root and compare the churches, monasteries and Christian communities John Moschos and his companion visited 1400 years ago.
Dalrymple's travels and comments bring up a number of interesting points or threads.
1)  You get a strong sense of Christianity as essentially a middle eastern religion with historically a very strong presence in the region.  This is something ignored by European and American christian churches, as if they wanted to forget its essentially Arabic origins.  This also explains the indifference of western churches to the plight of Christian communities in Israel and Egypt (amongst other countries) where governments are working to eliminate Christianity from the country and its history.  You can include Turkey in this mix, but there the process of elimination is almost complete (and is strongly tied to ethnic issues also).  This indifference also I think points to the narrowness of the various Christian sects and their lack of acceptance of other branches of the faith; perhaps also to the strong historical link between nation states and organized religion.
2)  The strong link between Islam and Christianity - there are early orthodox sects that pray in the same way Muslims do, except they also cross themselves while genuflecting.
3)  Links between early church liturgy and Arabic/middle eastern culture.  The music of some of the Syrian orthodox sects sounds so much like Arabic vocal music - there's lots on Youtube.
4)  The fact that Syria has historically been a haven for middle-eastern Christians pushed out of other countries.  Unfortunately, due to their strong ties to the Assad family, with the Syrian revolution this may no longer be the case -we could be looking basically the end of Christian communities in the middle east.  Especially when you add in the current situation with the Copts in Egypt.
5)  Just the simple fact that large parts of the middle east were essentially Christian at one point in time.
6)  His travels and encounters in Israel and Jerusalem dovetail perfectly with Ilan Pappé's account of Israel's policies and actions in relation to Palestinians regardless of whether Christian or Muslim.  (You can also add Armenians to the list when considering Jerusalem.)  Dalrymple in fact reaches many of the same conclusions about the nature of Zionism.
7)  The Jews only controlled the area of Israel for about 600 years, which certainly doesn't grant much of a title to the land. (this fact to be verified)
8)  Archaeologically, the Muslim take over of Byzantine middle eastern lands does not seem to have created much of an archaeological, cultural or economic break in the historical record.  Any cultural and  population shifts  were very gradual - this was no barbarian horde wreaking havoc as they moved through.
9)  The strong relation between Syrian monks/monasteries and the church in England - one of the first Archbishops in Canterbury was Syrian.  There also seems to be a link between the illustrated manuscripts produced in Syrian monasteries and the early illumination work of Irish monks (now that's travelling...)
10)  There are some interesting bits about Urfa and Diyarbakır which would be worth noting if travelling in that area again.
11)  Lots of travel information for Syria, but I'm not sure at this point how much of it will remain after the current conflict is over.

Includes a decent bibliography

TO FIND:
John Moschos, The Spiritual Meadow
A History of the Arab Peoples, Albert Hourani
The Slaughterhouse Province, Leslie A. Davis (turkey?)
The Cradle of Mankind:  Life in Eastern Kurdistan,  W. A. Wigram (1914)

Caucasus: In the Wake of Warriors - Nicholas Griffin

Part travelogue, part history.  Not sure what the point of the travelogue is really - there are some interesting encounters but the travelling group dynamic parts don't really seem to add much.  Both aspects lack any kind of critical analysis or insight.
While there is a lot on Shamil, there are some anti-mythic or anti-hero facts and anecdotes included, which for me saves those sections.  There is also a tantalizing section on Shamil Basayev, though again not particularly deep or well-analyzed.
Overall, a bit incoherent, rather like the group he is travelling with, but with some interesting points or passages that set it apart from some of the other books on the topic.

Includes a small bibliography for further reading.

Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know - Andrew Finkel

A good general introduction to modern Turkey.  Finkel touches on many current issues and trends, and gives historical background where necessary.  I would say it is a fairly balanced presentation, looking at strengths, issues and weaknesses.  For me, I would like to see a bit more depth but I think it functions well as an overview or introduction to the present state of Turkey.

The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot - Robert MacFarlane

An absolutely brilliant book.  Wakes up the desire to explore the world from up close and inside the landscape.
An interesting contrast to Barry Lopez's writing on nature as wilderness.  Inevitably with MacFarlane, when he writes about Spain or England, it is both about nature and the layer upon layer of traces of human habitation that lie buried in these landscapes.  North America is just too new and too raw (and places far too high a value on the privacy of private property...)

Many references:

-  Icknied Way by Edward Thomas
-  Edward Thomas' poetry
- MacFarlane's other books
- George Borrow, Lavengro/Wild Wales 19th c
- Robert Louis Stevenson,  Songs of Travel
- John Muir
- Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter
- Sarn Helen (an old path in Wales)
- Tim Robinson - Stones of Aran
- Adam Nicolson - Sea Room:  An Island Life
- Nan Shepherd - The Grampian Quartet; The Living Mountain
- Raja Shehadeh - Palestinian Walks; A Rift in Time
- Christopher Tilley - The Phenomenology of Landscape
- Eric Ravilious - artist early 20th C
- Philip Gosse - Go to the Country
- Richard Holmes - Footsteps
- William Cobbet - Rural Rides