Osman Kaya is a friend I made while I was walking through Isparta at the end of September. I met Osman on the side of the road as I was leaving the city, and then I saw him again later in the day at Lake Egirdir. I have seen him a few more times since, and he is a regular follower of the walk.
The other day Osman read A Tight Wide-open Space and had this to say about it:
Dear Matt,
I have just finished reading your book and rushed to my computer to write to you. It won’t be an exaggeration if I say I have finished it at a sitting. Now I clearly see what you went through in life.
If only I could express what I really feel and think now. But I can say your book is like a mirror that shows us our faces. I re-discovered my country with it.
I often lived ups and downs as I read it. At some parts I was really excited. I never wanted it to come to an end.
I’d like to say congratulations for such a perfect job and I want to express my special thanks for helping Turks see themselves in a mirror.
I want to remind I am a real and native Turk living in Turkey. I invite my Turkish friends to read A Tight Wide Open Space in order to see our country from a different perspective.
I think I will be more addicted to following your travel in Turkey from now on.
Looking forward to reading your second book.
Thanks again
Have a good night
Osman
When I first started this walk, I thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce Turkey to the folks back home.
It has been that, but it has also been something else I didn’t think about beforehand: a great opportunity to hold up a mirror and show Turks their own country. They know their country better than I do, and the walk’s mirror can’t show them Turkey through a Turk’s eyes, but it can show them Turkey through a foreigner’s eyes, and a foreigner walking through the country at that.
If you would like to read A Tight Wide-open Space, it’s available in paperback and on Kindle at Amazon.
I like it when people buy the book, because it puts a few bucks in my pocket.
But if you’re not in an Amazon country, the shipping charges can be many times the cost of the book itself. So, if you don’t mind reading a PDF, the book is available for free here…
Happy reading!