This week I've been mainly reading, no. 307. Sabahattin Ali's novella, Madonna in a Fur Coat (1943/2016) is a tale of obsession & retreat that may (I'm not entirely sure) be a metaphor for the relations between his native Turkey & Europe in mid-C20th. It purports to be mostly the found journal of a Turkish man who spent a momentous year in Berlin obsessed with a night club singer/artist. It is a melancholy story suffused with woe, but remains a compelling read. #books #Berlin #Turkey @books