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For 50+ days, Constantinople defended itself and its 1200+ years of history as the eastern-most bastion of Christendom against the Turkish Ottomans‘ assault. This is a very detailed account of the siege and battle, and some of the aftermath. Sultan Mehmet was only 21 when he felled the city that had withstood many previous attempts. I suspect age aided his endurance. But he was also a young military genius and had extraordinary control of the ⬇️

The author of the tagged book describes the sources he most trusted to write this historical account of the siege and fall of Constantinople, Doukas being one of them. How crazy that Doukas‘s account stops mid-sentence!

“If there is any moment at which it is possible to recognize a modern sensibility in a medieval event, it is here in the account of reactions to the news of the fall of Constantinople. Like the assassination of Kennedy or 9/11 it is clear that people throughout Europe could remember exactly where they were when they first heard the news.”

I realize how inappropriate this is but in the chapter when Constantinople fell, I had to play this song. Now everyone will have this song stuck in your head. Sorry, not sorry. It is a good song.

I‘m ever so slowly making my way through my #10BeforetheEnd stack.

This was a dense and thought provoking read. Translated from the Turkish and set in the 16th century during the Ottoman Empire, this reflects a culture which is largely unknown to me. It does have a murder mystery as its overarching plot, but that‘s just a framework used to delve into larger philosophical questions about art and religion.

#two4Tuesday Thanks @TheSpineView for the tag

1) Easy, stripes. I have some very nice work blouses with subtle stripes. Hard to imagine being subtle with spots

2) Tagged. Checked out from Libby. It‘s an interesting but slow read. I‘ll likely have to renew my loan

Constantinople in the early 15th century. It had declined quite a bit by then, especially after its sacking by the Venetians.

I‘m also reading this one for the #comfortreadathon. Just switching around what I‘m reading depending on my mood at any particular moment. @BookwormAHN

#WhereAreYouMonday

This Monday finds me in 16th century Istanbul among the scribes, miniaturists, gilders, and other artists of the empire who have been commissioned to create book which will also be a work of art for the sultan. Only 50 pages in, but definitely getting The Name of the Rose vibes.

My next ebook. I read Cloud Cuckoo Land, which in part was about the siege of Constantinople, so this one looked good to me. So far, the writing style is excellent

So, @Kelly326 and I decided to DNF our Q3 chunkster…we‘re going to use the rest of that time to read this instead!

@Amiable