Elif Shafak's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Elif Shafak recommends? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Elif Shafak's favorite book recommendations of all time. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

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Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey

Deniz Kandiyoti, Ayse Saktanber

4.3

Fragments of Culture explores the evolving modern daily life of Turkey. Through analyses of language, folklore, film, satirical humor, the symbolism of Islamic political mobilization, and the shifting identities of diasporic communities in Turkey and Europe, this book provides a fresh and corrective perspective to the often-skewed perceptions of Turkish culture engendered by conventional western c

Recommended by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak

This is one of my favourite books and an excellent gateway to Turkey’s social, cultural, and political complexity. It is composed of numerous articles by leading scholars in different fields and is therefore, quite multi-disciplinary. Herein you will read well-observed and well-analysed essays on a variety of subjects, ranging from language to cinema, black humour to the globalised new middle class. When it was first published it was a true groundbreaker and is today still very relevant and informative. [source]

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Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey

Sibel Bozdogan

3.7

In the first two decades after World War II, social scientists heralded Turkey as an exemplar of a "modernizing" nation in the Western mold. Images of unveiled women working next to clean-shaven men, healthy children in school uniforms, and downtown Ankara's modern architecture all proclaimed the country's success. Although Turkey's modernization began in the late Ottoman era, the establishment of

Recommended by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak

Turkey has gone through a tremendous transformation after the 1980s as its state institutions, political and cultural elite and the role of the army have been opened up to discussion. Here is a book that sheds light on this bouncy journey and helps us to understand better today’s debates and conflicts. [source]

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Colonial Fantasies: Towards a Feminist Reading of Orientalism

Yegenoglu

4.3

Meyda Yegenoglu investigates the intersection between postcolonial and feminist criticism, via the Western fascination with the veiled women of the Orient. Linking representations of cultural and sexual difference, she shows the Oriental woman to have functioned as the veiled interior of Western identity. Her original and compelling argument calls into question dualistic conceptions of identity an

Recommended by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak

Though not a book on Turkey per se, I would still recommend this to gain a better understanding of the region, the veil, and the question of ‘otherness’. [source]

Istanbul: The Imperial City

John Freely

3.9

Istanbul's history is a catalogue of change, not least of name, yet it has managed to retain its own unique identity. John Freely captures the flavour of daily life as well as court ceremonial and intrigue. The book also includes a comprehensive gazetteer of all major monuments and museums. An in-depth study of this legendary city through its many different ages from its earliest foundation to the

Recommended by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak

Here is a lovely book that is very different from the ones presented above. Turkey cannot be understood without understanding its Ottoman past. [source]

Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey

Anastasia M. Ashman

4.1

As the Western world struggles to comprehend the paradoxes of modern Turkey, a country both European and Asian, forward-looking yet rooted in ancient empire, Tales from the Expat Harem reveals its most personal nuances. This illuminating anthology provides a window into the country from the perspective of thirty-two expatriates from seven different nations - artists, entrepreneurs, Peace Corps vol

Recommended by Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak

In the academic/journalistic literature on Turkey it is not easy to come across personal stories. Amidst all the macro theories, political analyses, and sociological overviews, I would also recommend this book because it vividly brings out the voices of expat women in Turkey today. Some of them are married to Turkish men, some of them are working or raising their kids in Turkey, and some of them have travelled throughout the country and never forgotten their experience. [source]