Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary continues her regular
column about her recommendations for a good read, and life as
she sees it ...
Turkey is starting to cool down - it's still 30degC during
the day, but once the sun goes down, it is time not just for
a sundowner, but a jersey as well.
Paddleboarding before breakfast is now cool enough to try
hard not to fall in, tricky when a whole school of skittery
flying fish startle me as they tickle and prickle the silky,
salty surface of the water.
Turkey is home to the Lycian Way, a 500km-long walking trail
that runs along the southern coast of ancient Lycia. It
follows the tracks formed by people over time, but the Romans
did their road building thing on it a couple of millennia
ago, so as you walk, you trace ruins from the Greek, Roman,
Byzantine and Persian civilisations.
We had a few goes at finding it and getting hopelessly hot,
cross and very lost, but suddenly I discovered it started
just near the Fethiye marina.
Off I went, and although I managed not to see the very clear
red and white markers a couple of times and nearly turned
back, the Lycian Way found me again and I made it all the way
to the ghost town of Kayakoy.
I felt so proud, especially when a van-load of Romanians
stopped and asked me for directions!I love our walks at home
in the Wakatipu, but there is something pretty special about
walking on 2000-year-old trails past tombs and ruins that are
far older. It's fun to peep into people's houses and watch
the baggy trousered, headscarved ladies scything fields, or
drying figs and chillies. And even more fun when a group of
them sitting under shady grapevines offer you grapes and cups
of herb tea.
Now I'm hooked and want to do more and more of this walk
which is billed as one of the world's top 10.
I've only got three more weeks left on the boat as I'm off to
Frankfurt for the Book Fair. New Zealand is the guest of
honour this year, and the theme of our pavilion is "While You
Were Sleeping", which will showcase all the amazing things
little New Zealand gets up to while the rest of the world
snoozes.
Andrew Patterson has come up with a spectacular design for
the huge space allocated. The Hobbit team are putting on a
show, and there are all sorts of competitions and culinary
wonders and so much more, I can't wait, and nor can Germany
as there have been a team of bloggers visiting New Zealand
each with a different focus, so we are being much talked
about there.
While I'm on tenterhooks about meeting all our top authors,
my darling is staying on in Turkey for the World Golf Finals
to watch Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy et al battle it out on the
beautiful new Turkish courses at Belek. Golf is becoming
increasingly important here and Turkey is stealing a lot of
golfers away from more traditional golfing locations. Our own
clever Lydia Ko is playing here at the end of this month as
well, and no doubt she will win the hearts of the Turkish
media as she has everywhere else.
And a lot of hearts in the Wakatipu will be sad at Grant
Adoph's resignation from the high school. It's hard to
imagine the school without him - he's given so much of his
time and energy to help so many of our children.
Keep an eye out for Jenny McLeod's new book on the Earnslaw
that is being launched on the 26th - the book, not the boat.
If you're an Ottolenghi fan, hold on to your hats - their new
recipe book Jerusalem is just out and it's even better than
the first two. Michael Guthrie gave me a copy when he arrived
two days ago and already it is covered in stains and scraps
of food. Middle Easterny type food - loads of salads and
vegetables and delicious dressings.
Mountains of garlic, lemon and fresh herbs - mmmmm.
Too many people have asked me about Howard Jacobson's Zootime
for me not to have read it. Like many of you, I can't help
but put myself in the place of the characters, so this is
uneasy reading. Guy, the hero, is an author who lusts after
his gorgeous mother-in-law and writes a book about an author
doing the same. I didn't enjoy imagining my darling lusting
after Granny and can only imagine such a problem would make
for very stressful Christmases and other family gatherings.
Apart from that, it's very funny - that delicious, dry Jewish
humour.
- miranda@queenstown.co.nz
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