My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk (A book with a colour in the title)

This was a book that I brought during a weekend in Istanbul. We had popped into a bookshop and there was a table of books by Turkish authors that had been published in English. I was browsing through these and was looking at this one when another book lover also looking at the table told me that it was a good read.
Though this was November it remained on my to read pile for a long time. As usual with this challenge I was in a quandary as to which category it should go under - a book of more than 500 pages (most books I read are more than that!), a book originally written in another language, a book with a colour in the title. it was ousted from the over 500 pages category and shunted into the colour in the title after I read Gone with the Wind. I think it will stay here.

The book is set during the Ottoman Empire amongst the world of miniaturist artists one of whom is murdered and the plot develops as to why he was killed and by whom. It raises the differences in Ottoman art and the depiction of religious stories and the impact of Renaissance art. Not only a mystery the book also has a love story, and covers philosophical ideas of the time. The story only covers a few days one winter but as it is told from so many angles it is quite a big read. The murder mystery remains the central plot and you are kept guessing till the end who was the murderer.

Initially I found it hard to get into this book as each chapter is narrated by a different character (including a dog, a coin, a corpse) and it took me a few chapters to get into the rhythm of the story. I found it a fascinating read as it described a lot of local traditions (eg the role of a Jewish match maker), the set up of a household, day to day working life - all of which I love discovering more about.

The topic of religious art and representation of Muhammed was also very interesting to me as I started to read this shortly after the Charlie Hebdo murders here in France and so this was obviously a current topic of conversation and made the book all the more poignant but also answered some of the questions I had about why there were historical religious paintings but now a modern day Islamic belief that it is forbidden to make pictorial representations of Allah's creation.

• This is a great book and I highly recommend it!