A few weeks ago I finished reading Orhan Pamuk’s historical murder mystery book, “My Name is Red“. Honestly I had never even heard of the apparently very popular book or the Nobel laureate author until I saw the book in the hands of an acquaintance, and well, the cover of all things took my attention. =P

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The book goes deep into the culture and mentality of the society of miniaturists in the Ottoman empire, and through that, reveals many interesting facts about the general life style, religious views and beliefs in different classes of the society. But I guess what really got me reading, was that the book talks more about Persia even that it does about Turkey! Seeing that the Persian miniaturists and calligraphists of the time were considered pretty much deities of the field, there’s a great deal of discussion and historical facts regarding Persia.

The books touches upon topics that I in the past couple of years I haven’t read much about, and it gave me a rather nostalgic feeling. It also brought a few historical facts to my attention that I actually did not know about, despite the fact that I myself practice the Persian calligraphy and have done my fair share of reading on the topic.

And well, the story was also pretty good. =) So yes, recommended reading.