Orhan Pamuk's Reading List

"Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh" — subtitled "The Persian Book of Kings," a great translation and compilation by Dick Davis — is a Penguin Classics edition. Like Rumi's "Masnavi," or "Arabian Nights," "Shahnameh" is a great ocean of stories that I browse from time to time."

"The truly great books are always novels: "Anna Karenina," "The Brothers Karamazov," "The Magic Mountain.". . . Just as with "Shahnameh," I browse these books from time to time to remember how a great book works on us, or to teach my students at Columbia University."

"The truly great books are always novels: "Anna Karenina," "The Brothers Karamazov," "The Magic Mountain.""

"The truly great books are always novels: "Anna Karenina," "The Brothers Karamazov," "The Magic Mountain.""

"Julian Barnes has some of his cruel and humane humor. I liked Barnes's "The Sense of an Ending" very much."

"Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" is about the atrocities committed by the army and people of King Leopold II of Belgium, between 1885 and 1908… this great book was too infuriating for anyone — especially someone like me who believes in the idea of Europe too much."

"Many years before he was elected president, I knew Obama as the author of "Dreams From My Father," a very good book."

""Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values" is a great American book based on the vastness of America and the individual search for values and meaning in life. This highly romantic book is not a novel, but does something every serious novel should do."

"I am sure Erdogan would enjoy the great Japanese writer Natsume Soseki's book "I Am a Cat," a satirical novel about the devilish dangers of too much Westernization, narrated by a smart cat."

"Encyclopaedia Britannica's 1911 edition, the first edition of "Encyclopaedia of Islam" (1913-1936) and Resat Ekrem Kocu's "Encyclopedia of Istanbul" (1958-1971), which I wrote about in my book "Istanbul," will keep me busy for 10 years."

"The first edition of "Encyclopaedia of Islam" (1913-1936)."

"Resat Ekrem Kocu's "Encyclopedia of Istanbul" (1958-1971), which I wrote about in my book "Istanbul," will keep me busy for 10 years."

"Since I went to an American secular high school in Istanbul, Robert College, I've read "Tom Sawyer" as required reading, as well as "A Separate Peace" and "To Kill a Mockingbird," enjoying the democratic and egalitarian spirit of these books."

"I've read "Tom Sawyer" as required reading, as well as "A Separate Peace" and "To Kill a Mockingbird," enjoying the democratic and egalitarian spirit of these books."

"I've read "Tom Sawyer" as required reading, as well as "A Separate Peace" and "To Kill a Mockingbird," enjoying the democratic and egalitarian spirit of these books."

"Salinger was not taught at school then, so I read "The Catcher in the Rye" as a subversive book in high school years."