Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in Literature and has thus become Turkey’s foremost writer. His book Istanbul: Memories and the City is a fascinating walk through his life as it relates to the city of Istanbul. This is part history, part literature, part travel guide, and in part a memoir. Actually, it is mostly a memoir, but set in one of the world’s great cities.

Istanbul may be the only city that can say it was the home of three great world powers. It was the capital of Rome when Constantine created the city in the 300’s. Then it was the seat of the Byzantine empire for centuries. Followed by the great Ottoman empire that collapsed just 100 or so years ago. So every corner, every stone, every building has a story that can speak to pagan, Christian, and Muslim history in some way.

Pamuk grew up in this city — and still lives in the same apartment building — as the country set about to redefine itself. Istanbul has always been a crossroads between east and west, so it has been drawn to both the modernization of the west and the traditions of the east. In the 50’s and 60’s it was a backwater trying to redefine it’s role in the world. At that time it was leaning heavily toward the west (for political, military and economic reasons). Pamuk saw this tension first hand as all the physical reminders of great empires dotted the cityscape. As he wrote in the book about the changes that were happening around him, “Although everyone knew it as freedom from the laws of Islam, no one was quite sure what else westernization was good for.”

An amazing writer, I found myself pausing every few pages to reflect on his words. He builds thoughts into his narrative and questions into his statements. It’s a stunning book in this way. Here’s a snippet from his opening chapter that might give you the flavor of what I’m trying to convey:

“Beautiful though it is, I find the language of epic unconvincing, for I cannot accept that the myths we tell about our first lives prepare us for the brighter, more authentic second lives that are meant to begin when we awake. Because — for people like me, at least — that second life is none other than the book in your hand.”

Thoughtful, insightful, beautifully written, this book should be on any reading list.