Turks Drink Lots of Tea

I've never read a book by Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish Nobel Prize winner for Literature. Silent House, which was published about 15 years ago, but only translated into English recently, gives a true experience of armchair traveling complete with odorama.

The book takes place during the volatile 1980's when Communists and Nationalists were battling for control of the country's political future. But this book is more about characters, what they are thinking and doing amidst the turmoil. Some, history has passed by; others seem to live for the moment; others get caught up in the brutality of the times. One character tries to write an encyclopedia of the East. He's a true atheist in an overwhelmingly Islamic country. Another character, his grandson, wants to write a history of Turkey but can't decide whether it's a laundry list of public records or something grander. In the meantime, he dwells on the meaning of time and how we move through it.

I look forward to reading his other books, one of which my library has but I couldn't justify checking it out when I have two Danticut I'm reading.