Fez

At the risk of moving my totally excellent Belgian paver joke further down the page, I thought I’d mention that my current read is a great book about the utterly fascinating history of the fez, called “A Fez of the Heart — Travels Around Turkey in Search of a Hat” by Jeremy Seals. (I’d normally link to Amazon, but they seem to be having a little web attack just now — the page just reads “FOO”.) I bought this for Lee some time ago, given that she has a much greater interest in the Middle East (or anything on that side of the Atlantic, for that matter) than I have, but it looked like an interesting book. It turns out to be part travelogue, part history, very nicely written by a British writer who has spent quite a bit of time in Turkey. It’s partly the story of the fez — where it came from, where it went, and whether any fezzes remain today. And it’s partly the story of Turkey, the nation that doesn’t quite fit in Europe or the East. Very well-written, very informative; he never assumes you should know the history, and he isn’t condescending in giving it to you.

Now, of course, the old Country Joe and the Fish lyric from “Flyin’ High” is stuck in my head: “The one with the fez, he turns and he says, ‘We’d like to help you make your trip’ . . .”

By the way, I am killing in French class.