Last week I finished reading my first novel in a long time, Star, by Danielle Steel. In a place with a large selection of English reading material I would be embarrassed to go near a Danielle Steel book. Mersin is not such a place. Sevil gave me the second-hand paperback novel when she returned from the UK in summer.

I took a few months to read the first 60 or so pages. The last 340 pages were read in 4 nights. On one night, after 10 pm, I went through 170 pages (Shannon, you would be proud)! I was hooked and could not wait to read the next chapter.

Putting it simply, Star is a roller coaster story of love between a man and a woman set after World War 2 – sound clichéd and done-to-death? I didn’t find it so (maybe because I had nothing to compare it to).

The story involves different subjects, including: racism, politics, the basis of marriage, war, the Hollywood Machine and many, many others. Star contained several plot twists and most of the time I was clueless as to where the story was going next. I recommend it!

This novel has kick-started my reading habit and I hope to read several more books from now on.