What to Read?
 

Does anyone have a suggestion of books to read in preparation for a trip to Turkey in October? For example, before I went to Israel in June, I re-read Mitchner's The Source and a book entitled O Jerusalem. Both were excellent and helped me get my head ready for the trip. I recently read Tales from the Expat Harem, a collection of stories by women who have chosen to settle in Turkey from other parts of the world -- and I would like some suggestions of something else great to read about Turkey.

Thanks,
Nancy

There's an English writer called Barbara Nadel who has doen an excellent series based in Istanbul. It's fiction, but very much of its time (today, I mean)

I've not been to Turkey, but _The Historian_ made me very much want to go. It's set in Chicago, Brussels, France, and the Balkans as well as in Turkey (primarily Istanbul), but its descriptions of the city, of Hagia Sophia, really made an impression on me.

Istanbul: Memories and the city by Orhan Pamuk. Also his novels

I was also going to suggest Istanbul: Memories and the city by Orhan Pamuk. I also read his book My Name Is Red.

Have a great trip, I'll be in Turkey at the end of this month and read both the books above in anticipation of the trip.

Rage of the Vulture by Barry Unsworth is a good novel set in 1908 Istanbul.

Halide's Gift, by Francis Kazan is an excellent novel about a young girl growing up in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. I bought it in paperback in Istanbul and recommend it.