On the cover of my version of the book, the title is actually spelled “Istanbul - memories of a city” , and In a way I suppose that both titles work in reflecting what the book contains. In this book Orhan spins together history and small facts about Istanbul together with his own experiences growing up and living in the city. He describes the city and its people with the word “hüzün”, which if I remember correctly sort of translates to a feeling of collective melancholy.  Orhan Pamuk himself seems to be very melancholic- and when reading this book for longer periods of time I felt like he painted me too with that black and white melancholic feeling, so therefore it took a while for me to get through it. It was an interesting book to read.