Good books about Turkey

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There are many good books about Turkey, and after reading most of them (and writing one or five of them), here are some I’d like to recommend (updated May 2024). Happy reading! FYI I’ve reviewed the books about Turkey marked with an asterisk and you can read what I thought by clicking on the title.

Memoirs

• Turkish Letters – Ogier De Busbecq
• Dinner of Herbs – Carla Grissman*
• Turkish Embassy Letters – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
• Expat Sofra: Culinary Tales of Foreign Women in Turkey – eds. Katherine Belliel & Francesa Rosa
• Istanbul Dreams – Lisa Morrow
• Twelve Camels for Your Wife – George Dearsley*
• Portrait of a Turkish Family – Irfan Orga
• The Caravan Moves On – Ifran Orga
• Istanbul: Memories & the City – Orhan Pamuk
• Turkey Street: Jack and Liam move to Bodrum – Jack Scott*

Fiction

• 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World – Elif Safak*
• A Mind at Peace – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar
• The Two Currents: Bosphorus Review of Books Anthology
• The Red Haired Woman – Orhan Pamuk
• Aziyade – Pierre Loti
• The Four Humors – Mina Seckin
• Birds Without Wings – Louis de Bernieres
• Bliss – O Z Livaneli
• Ward 72 – Orhan Kemal
• Final Summer of Vodka: The Marmaris Diaries – Louise Bell*
• The Black Book – Orhan Pamuk
• They Burn the Thistles – Yashar Kemal
• The Three Daughters of Eve – Elif Safak
• The Pull of It – Wendy Fox*
• anything by Yashar Kemal
• Salep and Ginger – Jane Gundogan*
• anything by Barbara Nadel, including Blood Business*, The House of Four* & Incorruptible*

Culture, Society & History and more

• Goodbye to the Fez – Barbro Karabuda
• Streets of Memory: Landscape, Tolerance and National Identity in Istanbul –  Amy Mills*
• Fragments of Culture – ed. by D Kandiyoti & A Saktanber
• Exploring Turkish Landscapes– Lisa Morrow
• Crescent & Star – Stephen Kinzer
• A Village in Anatolia – Mahmut Makal
• Ataturk: the Rebirth of a Nation – Andrew Mango
• The Turks Today – Andrew Mango
• Turkey – Culture Smart! – Charlotte McPherson*
• Inside Out In Istanbul – Lisa Morrow
• The Harem: The World behind the Veil – Alev Lyle Croutier
• The Turkish Labyrinth – James Pettifer
• A Fez of the Heart – Jeremy Seal
• Strolling through Istanbul – Hilary Sumner-Boyd & John Freely
• Turkish Cinema – Gonul Donmez-Colin
• A Short History of Byzantium – John Julius Norwich
• Turkish Awakening – Alev Scott*
• Longing for Istanbul – Lisa Morrow

Cookbooks

• Istanbul & Beyond: Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey – Robyn Eckhardt*
• Ozlem’s Turkish Table: Recipes from my Homeland – Ozlem Warren*
• Sebze: Vegetarian Recipes from My Turkish Kitchen – Ozlem Warren

Other book lists

Best Books for Exploring and Understanding Istanbul, Discover the Best Books, May 31, 2021.
Best Books to Understand the Heart and Soul of Turkey and Its People, Discover the Best books, June 21, 2021.

These are only a fraction of the good books about Turkey that I’ve read. If you have any favourite books about Turkey you’d like to recommend, please add them in the comments.