This weekend I’m delving into Orhan Pamuk’s memoir Istanbul. He interweaves childhood memories with a wonderfully textured description and cultural history of his beloved hometown and city of his birth.

Istanbul comes alive with Pamuk’s vivid recollections of his childhood spent living in the city with his parents and extended family, all in separate apartments in their own apartment block.

Blurb on the back:

Turkey’s greatest living novelist guides us through the monuments and lost paradises, dilapidated Ottoman villas, back streets and waterways of Istanbul – the city of his birth and the home of his imagination.

After just one sitting I’m already ten chapters deep into Pamuk’s memoir and am enjoying every page. Now I wish I could visit his beloved city…