Istanbul

A memoir of Pamuk's childhood and youth in Istanbul, mixed with a portrait of the city itself. He describes the family apartment building, his relatives, school, and his early wish to be a painter. Alongside this he writes of the city's melancholy, called hüzün, the faded Ottoman grandeur, the Bosphorus, and winter streets.

He also draws on visiting foreign writers and Turkish authors who saw the city in different ways. The book ends as he decides to become a writer. It is both a personal story and a meditation on a place.