If there is one word to describe Elif Batuman's new novel The Idiot, it's the word "mundane." And that just might be the novel's greatest strength. The book follows the year in the life of Selin, a Turkish-American freshman at Harvard. As Selin goes through her freshman year, she must navigate getting along with her roommates, an infatuation/ relationship with an older Hungarian student, and later, a trip to Europe to teach English.  Oh, and all the while dealing with the typical college freshman woes of examining the relationship between truth, existence, and language while studying linguistics. Casual.

Looking at the foreign investor map of Turkish companies by region, American investors stand out, having invested in 161 Turkish companies through merger and acquisition transactions in the pharmaceutical and energy industries in the last decade. The greatest interest in Turkish companies abroad has been shown by American investors over the past 10 years. According to data compiled by Ernst & Young, an independent company offering audit, consultancy, corporate financing and tax services, American investors have invested in 161 Turkish companies over the past decade. Also, many foreign companies entered the Turkish market through mergers and acquisitions, transfers of enterprises or privatizations in the same period.

Turkey marked the anniversary of the country's crushed military coup with a series of rallies and other commemorative events. This is how American media outlets see July 15th Commemoration.