In this episode, I chat with Ova Ceren about her highly popular social media channels excusemyreading, her upcoming debut novel, and reading.
Ova Ceren is a creative spirit nestled in the heart of Cambridge, sharing the magic of books, reading, and cottagecore. With a passion for cozy living, Ova has cultivated a unique space on Instagram and TikTok that radiates positivity and the simple joys of everyday life, delving deeper into the art of living beautifully and mindfully amidst the chaos of the modern world.
Her platform is a picturesque collage of bookshelves, interior décor, whimsical garden escapes, and literary journeys.
Ova cherishes her bond with followers, creating a community with shared stories and cozy moments. She’s also a writer, currently working on her debut novel, crafting worlds that resonate with the things she enjoys sharing most.
Ova Ceren Instagram
Death at the Sign of the Rook: A Jackson Brodie Book, Kate Atkinson
Assistant to the Villain, Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Bookshop Podcast
Mandy Jackson-Beverly
Social Media Links
Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Mandy Jackson-Beverly and I'm a
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bibliophile.
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their next favorite read and connect with a vibrant literary
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Okay, let's get on with the show.
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You're listening to episode 275 .
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Ove Jaron is a creative spirit nestled in the heart of
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Cambridge, sharing the magic of books and cottagecore across her
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highly popular social media channels.
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Excuse my Reading.
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With a passion for cozy living, ova has cultivated a unique
00:02:30
space on Instagram and TikTok that radiates positivity and the
00:02:34
simple joys of everyday life, delving deeper into the art of
00:02:39
living beautifully and mindfully amidst the chaos of the modern
00:02:43
world, and mindfully amidst the chaos of the modern world.
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Her platform is a picturesque collage of bookshelves, interior
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decor, whimsical garden escapes and literary journeys.
00:02:51
Over cherishes her bond with followers, creating a community
00:02:55
with shared stories and cozy moments.
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She's also a writer currently working on her debut novel,
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crafting Worlds that Resonate with the things she enjoys
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sharing most.
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Hi, ova, and welcome to the show.
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It's lovely to have you here.
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Speaker 2: Thanks, wendy, it's so lovely to be here.
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Thanks for having me.
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Speaker 1: Are you in that gorgeous little writing shed in
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your garden, or are you in the house?
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Speaker 2: I'm inside.
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The internet connection can be a bit wonky there.
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Speaker 1: so Well, that's probably a good thing, because
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quite often the internet seems to distract us from writing.
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Speaker 2: Well, that's a good way to see it definitely.
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Speaker 1: Let's begin with learning about you and your work
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as a software developer and engineer, Growing up in Turkey,
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your move to the UK in 2011 and what brought you to Cambridge.
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Speaker 2: So the simple answer would be a desire to have a
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better life, better work and life balance, because I was
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quite burnt out in Turkey I was working for a multinational oil
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and gas company and was lost inside the corporate jungle.
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I did an MBA.
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My employer encouraged me to do it and I think that was like
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the last drop for me because it was so hard while working
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full-time.
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And then I will never forget, like one day an ex-employee came
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to the office he was retired and I'll never forget that
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moment like he was just visiting after retirement.
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But I looked at him and I said to myself I don't want to be
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that person.
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You know what I mean.
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So I kind of explored the options I had and my friend told
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me about this visa called Highly Skilled Migrant Visa.
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And it was so easy back then you just applied.
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This is back in 2008.
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So it was just free.
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You know, the migration policies weren't changed back
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then, you know.
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So I just wanted to try with my husband.
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So I found a job here and we just moved to the UK and I lived
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in another city called Milton Keynes.
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Then another company in Cambridge made me an offer and I
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found myself in Cambridge and haven't left since 2012.
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Speaker 1: Well, you live in a beautiful part of the world.
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The UK is gorgeous.
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Let's talk about reading.
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From where or whom does your love of reading derive?
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Let's talk about reading.
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Speaker 2: From where, or whom, does your love of reading derive
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?
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It definitely comes from my mother, who is a teacher and a
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historical fiction writer in Turkey.
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My mum always, like I, grew up around books.
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You know, she had a bookshelf like this, so she always took me
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.
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I remember, like on on the weekends we always went to the
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bookshop and the books were quite expensive in like 90s,
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late 80s Turkey and I was like allowed to only take one and I
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remember, um, I was finishing it already in the on the bus home,
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um, and then I was complaining again in home and like our
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neighbours used to bring books to us and so that I can read or
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magazines, because Turkey wasn't like in EU it was quite it was
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hard to find you know things, it was expensive.
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So I was exhausting every avenue I could find books in
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neighbors libraries.
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My parents really loved that I was just reading and not going
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out too much I'm sure they did.
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Speaker 1: And which part of Turkey were you living in?
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Speaker 2: I am from West Turkey , izmir Izmir, it's like on the
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west coast.
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It's quite a big city, I think it must be three million right
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now.
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Speaker 1: You recently wrote a novel in your second language,
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which is English.
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Right, yeah, how was that experience for?
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Speaker 2: you.
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I think it was one of the most bravest things I've ever done.
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I didn't believe that I could do it For a very long time.
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I didn't believe that I could do it for a very long time.
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I didn't believe I could do it because it was really difficult,
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really hard, and I'm saying this as a person like who
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survived Turkish education and British immigration.
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It was fun, but it was also really difficult, especially
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when having like a full-time job .
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Yeah, I'm so happy that I managed to do it, you know, and
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I had people that believed that I could do it, and is the book
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you've written fiction or non-fiction?
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So it's a fiction book, it's a YA book.
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So my book is about a girl who dies every time her heart is
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broken, she's cursed and she dies of heartbreaks and then she
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travels from the UK to Istanbul to discover more about this
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curse and her family.
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Basically and I think it was quite a profound experience
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because my inspiration was my own heartbreaks obviously my
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inspiration was my own heartbreaks obviously- and it
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was such an emotional experience for me to write this book.
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Speaker 1: Why did you choose to write the book for an YA
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audience?
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Speaker 2: I don't know.
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I mean, I ask this question myself many times, but I think
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it's because there is something about heartbreaks that is so
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tied to growing up, and I wanted to write a book to tell all
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these young girls you know, and boys and whomever, that no
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matter how hard your heart breaks, you will survive, like
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it will feel like it's going to kill you, but it won't, and it
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will make you stronger.
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So it is so related to being young heartbreaks, because we
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never forget our first heartbreaks, do we?
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So that's why I made my character 17 years old, like a
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year before adulthood, official adulthood.
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Speaker 1: It's interesting to hear you say that.
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I have spoken with many children's authors and I always
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ask them why did you start writing children's books?
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What is the draw?
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And quite a few of them have said because it's the first time
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for everything.
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For children, For example, it's the first time they maybe get
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their own pet, it's the first time they lose a tooth, and
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that's what brings many writers back to continually writing
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children's books.
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They have fun with that first time experience.
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How long did it take you to write your book?
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Speaker 2: I think it's roughly two years.
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I was quite lucky with my publishing journey.
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This is the third novel I wrote .
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I started writing in 2020 and queried two novels before that
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and this third one made it.
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And I know, like I speak a lot of authors and I know this is a
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very you know, people write sometimes 10 books before
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getting picked up and I think the book, like it, morphed from
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one shape to another and, to be fair with you, I did like four
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drafts and each of them took some time, its own time to write
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.
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Speaker 1: I think it does take a long time to write a book.
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I'm not too sure how these people do it, whether churning
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out you know four or five books a year Over.
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From your social media, it seems you read mostly fiction.
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Are there genres or authors you're drawn toward?
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Speaker 2: Yes, so I have a good answer for this question
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because this is one of my favorite questions.
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So I'm a totally mood reader.
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I read depending on how I feel.
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Um, and when I was younger, like in my 20s, I used to be
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such a snob.
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I only read literary fiction, thinking like the books these
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books, classics and literary fictions they are worth, worth
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my time, you know.
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And then I grow up to learn enjoying, you know, every book
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and I completely dismiss all that you know genre fiction
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thing right now, because I think every book that I read, like
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they make me a better reader, if not a better writer.
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I wasn't reading romance until recently and I started reading
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some really cool romance books and I was like, why didn't I
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read before?
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For example, I in pandemic, I only read horror, I was only
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reading scary books, I don't know why.
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For a year I read like all horror books I could find and
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right now I have like a vein for like murder, mysteries and
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fantasy books.
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But like some authors I would definitely recommend everyone to
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check out is for like Elif Shafak, kate Atkinson, michael
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Ondaatje, michael Ondaatje, emily St John, mandel, laini,
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taylor, leigh Bardugo, ruth Ware , samantha Downing, and for
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romance, definitely LJ Shannon and Ali Hazelwood, I would buy
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anything they publish.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for that fantastic list of books and
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authors.
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I agree with you.
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I found that in the last four years since I started the
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Bookshop podcast, it's pushed me to read out of my comfort zone
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and I am so grateful for that.
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I got kind of stuck in the rut of just reading fantasy or crime
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thrillers and now I read everything, and I'm so grateful
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for that.
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Do I agree with you about reading making you not only a
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more interesting person but a better reader and a better
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writer?
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Speaker 2: Absolutely Well.
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Some romance books I read are the best books I've read in my
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life because they become unforgettable for me.
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You, know.
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Speaker 1: Yes, I understand and agree.
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Your first post on Instagram was of Claire Fuller's book
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Bitter Orange.
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From what I could tell, the date was July 21st 2018.
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And the text on the post read, quote out and about with my
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bitter orange today hitting the shelves on August 2nd, end quote
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how did you build up your relationship with publishers to
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get early copies of books or ARC's advanced reader copies?
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Speaker 2: Before I was on Instagram, I had a blog and a
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Twitter account.
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It's called X these Days.
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I think I left it now, but I don't know.
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I was also on the website NetGalley, which is like for the
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early copies of the books.
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So I started requesting on NetGalley and I was publishing
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reviews on Twitter and my blogs and publicists were engaging.
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And then soon I realized like everyone was emailing, all the
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bloggers were emailing publicists asking for the copies
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they would be interested in.
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So I started doing that and, like Claire Fuller, which is
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also a writer I admire and love so much, and then I had like a
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list of publicists who would like email to me with like do
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you want this book?
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Would like email to me with like do you want this book?
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But in time when I started writing, to be honest, I
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couldn't just review it.
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You know what I mean.
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It's because it takes so much time to read and review a book.
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So right now it's only very specific books.
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If I want to read, I accept them, but it's just if people
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want to kind of get into book blogging.
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I would recommend starting from NetGalley, because that's the
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perfect way to build a relationship with publicists,
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because that's how you get into their email lists.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I found that recently I'm just getting so
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many books that there's no way I can read them all.
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And I want to read the books so that I can speak with the
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authors about the books and about their writing on this show
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.
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So now I found myself listening to audiobooks when I'm driving,
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which actually is a good thing, and then, for the first time
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ever, I've had to turn down some books, which makes me really
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sad.
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But you're right, you just cannot physically read every
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book you're sent.
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And I also think you come to a place in your life where you
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just think, okay, I'm not going to read this one, but I'll read
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this one.
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Exactly, I'm going to switch gears a little bit because, on
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your Excuse, my Reading blog you've written book reviews,
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along with the occasional political post.
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Elections in Turkey, stranger Than Fiction is one headline
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that comes to mind from June 21st 2018.
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And you've posted photos of you and your family's support of
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Ukraine.
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We live in a fractured political world.
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How important is it for you to use your platform to voice your
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socio-political views?
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Speaker 2: If I'm completely honest with you, I will give you
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a recent example.
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I posted something about Palestine because I was really
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like upset about the hospital bombing and then I can't tell
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you the hate I got after posting that post.
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For some people I was supporting terrorists, for some
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people I wasn't condemning Israel enough.
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But I think what I struggle to understand is the people's urge
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to take a side.
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Like the world isn't black and white.
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There are shades of gray shades of every color.
00:16:40
You know, and maybe because I'm British and Turkish, so I follow
00:16:45
British media and Turkish media and I see how different they
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report everything.
00:16:50
You know they, one of them looks from one side and the other
00:16:54
looks from another side, and I just simply refuse to take a
00:16:59
side on anything anymore, if that makes sense, because, um,
00:17:03
there is so much outside my control and it can sometimes
00:17:07
become, um, really hard for me to read all these messages.
00:17:13
When I post something political the back, like the messages I
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get like hateful messages, um, even threats, or like they wish
00:17:23
me.
00:17:24
You know many, many horrible things and I I just don't have
00:17:28
the mental strength to deal with that.
00:17:30
You know what I mean.
00:17:31
I just have I, I personally have anxiety.
00:17:34
I'm suffering from the effects of perimenopause right now, so I
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do donate to charities I believe in, but I I don't know.
00:17:43
I mean when it comes to my platform.
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I don't think I have the power to change politics or the world.
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It's just the space, the safe space for me and other people to
00:17:58
have like a drop of positivity on the internet.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: I don't know the answer to your question, but the
00:18:06
last few years, looking at how different media reports
00:18:11
everything in Turkey and Britain and everything going on in the
00:18:15
world, I don't know anymore if I'm completely honest, years ago
00:18:20
I was writing for an online magazine and I wrote a piece
00:18:24
about a subject that I had fairly strong opinions on and I
00:18:28
sent it in and they accepted it.
00:18:29
And, like you, I remember reading all these comments and
00:18:34
just thinking, oh my God, and I emailed the editor and said you
00:18:37
know what?
00:18:37
I don't think I can do this anymore.
00:18:39
I can't read these reviews.
00:18:42
And she said okay, mandy, the first lesson you need to learn
00:18:46
is that you never read the comments or you may never write
00:18:48
again, because some people don't have a filter, and that's what
00:18:53
the internet does.
00:18:54
It allows everybody to speak.
00:18:55
For example, you're about to have a book published.
00:18:59
Your book isn't going to be for everyone and there's going to
00:19:02
be people that absolutely love it, and then there's going to be
00:19:04
people that just don't want to read it or don't like it, or
00:19:07
they'll read one page and say I didn't like this book.
00:19:09
People have very strong opinions and when they have a
00:19:13
platform to write a review, that's where they make their
00:19:17
voices heard.
00:19:17
Unfortunately, I think for a lot of people, hating something,
00:19:22
having a negative opinion, is much easier than being happy and
00:19:27
giving positive, intelligent feedback.
00:19:29
There are a lot of haters out there in the world, and quite
00:19:34
often they are the people with the biggest voices.
00:19:36
I do tend to use my platform to speak up about certain issues,
00:19:40
specifically climate change or the climate crisis.
00:19:43
That's one that I will not back down on, but you know it's
00:19:46
different.
00:19:47
You have a huge following, and I can see why you want to be
00:19:51
careful.
00:19:51
Our brains can only take so much negativity.
00:19:56
Speaker 2: That's it Like, because it's became so huge I
00:20:00
can't control it sometimes.
00:20:02
And then in that particular post, I look at the comments and
00:20:07
people were even fighting with each other and I took off the
00:20:10
comments because it broke my heart that people were like they
00:20:14
don't, like it's a complete stranger, somebody you don't
00:20:17
know, maybe they are the best person in the world, it's just
00:20:20
you know just because they say something you disagree in.
00:20:25
And it's in Turkey as well.
00:20:27
You know I don't like the Turkish government, the current
00:20:30
Turkish government, but do I hate the people who vote for
00:20:34
them?
00:20:34
I don't know.
00:20:35
I don't think I have the right to hate those people.
00:20:38
Speaker 1: I hear you, and the flip side of that is that you're
00:20:41
bringing joy to people too.
00:20:43
You have conversations with people about books, and I
00:20:47
wholeheartedly believe that reading fiction helps build
00:20:52
empathy.
00:20:52
It helps us to understand people from another point of
00:20:55
view.
00:20:55
Okay let's talk about something brighter.
00:20:58
What are you currently reading?
00:21:00
Speaker 2: So I'm currently reading Kate Atkinson's last
00:21:04
book, death at the Sign of the Rook.
00:21:07
It was waiting on my bedside for too long.
00:21:10
It's a very Agatha Christie-like murder mystery.
00:21:14
Who done it in Yorkshire Moors in a big stately home Just
00:21:19
started it yesterday.
00:21:20
Recently I finished One Dark Window and Dragon Rider, both
00:21:26
fantasy books, both I enjoyed and I'm looking forward to
00:21:30
reading Assistant to the Villain and the Invocations.
00:21:36
Those are like my next to read.
00:21:39
Is there?
00:21:40
Speaker 1: one book that you wish more people would read.
00:21:43
Speaker 2: I actually have the answer on the wall Kurt
00:21:46
Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five.
00:21:48
That book changed my life and changed me as a person, because
00:21:54
I realized that I was living in an echo chamber, agreeing with
00:21:58
everyone around me, you know, and we thought we knew the best,
00:22:02
and I would definitely recommend everyone to read it.
00:22:05
It's a fabulous book.
00:22:07
Speaker 1: Yes, it is.
00:22:07
It's wonderful Over.
00:22:09
It has been such a pleasure chatting with you, getting to
00:22:12
know you.
00:22:12
What is the name of your upcoming novel?
00:22:15
It's called the Book of Heartbreak.
00:22:18
Speaker 2: Oh, that is such a beautiful title, Thank you.
00:22:21
I feel like the luckiest person alive because many writers say
00:22:26
their titles were changed, but mine has been the Book of Art
00:22:29
Break from day one, like since I started writing it.
00:22:32
And the publishers luckily, both the American and the UK
00:22:36
publisher.
00:22:37
Speaker 1: They loved it and which publisher picked up your
00:22:40
book.
00:22:40
Speaker 2: In the UK it's Bonniar Books and in US it's
00:22:45
Crooked House Books.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Alco Press.
00:22:47
I wish you all the best with the book over and I hope to
00:22:51
speak to you again soon.
00:22:52
Thank you.
00:22:53
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
00:22:54
It was my pleasure.
00:22:56
You have the most beautiful voice.
00:22:59
Speaker 1: Thank you, I appreciate hearing that.
00:23:01
Speaker 2: Oh, it's so calming and soothing.
00:23:04
You know you are very kind.
00:23:06
Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
00:23:09
Speaker 1: You've been listening to my conversation with Ovid
00:23:12
Jeren and you can find her on her social media channels at
00:23:16
ExcuseMyReading.
00:23:17
To help the show reach more people, please share episodes
00:23:21
with friends and family and on social media, and remember to
00:23:25
subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to this
00:23:28
podcast.
00:23:29
To find out more about the Bookshop Podcast, go to
00:23:32
thebookshoppodcastcom and make sure to subscribe and leave a
00:23:37
review wherever you listen to the show.
00:23:39
You can also follow me at Mandy Jackson Beverly on X, instagram
00:23:44
and Facebook and on YouTube at the Bookshop Podcast.
00:23:48
If you have a favorite indie bookshop that you'd like to
00:23:51
suggest we have on the podcast, I'd love to hear from you via
00:23:55
the contact form at thebookshoppodcastcom.
00:23:58
The Bookshop Podcast is written and produced by me, mandy
00:24:02
Jackson-Beverly, theme music provided by Brian Beverly,
00:24:06
executive assistant to Mandy, adrian Otterhan and graphic
00:24:10
design by Francis Perala.
00:24:12
Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.
00:24:15
Bye.
