Armenian History Month Adult Booklist

Adult

Click on the book cover to access the library’s copy of each title.

Quick Links:

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Cookbooks and Culinary History

Armenian Language Books

Music

FICTION

Burning Orchards

by Gurgen Mahari, translated by Dickran and Haig Tahta and H. Ghazarian

Gurgen Marhari’s controversial novel, Burning Orchards, is set in the Ottoman city of Van, Eastern Anatolia, during the period leading up to the Armenian rebellion of 1915 and relates the epic story of the events which culminated in the catastrophe of the following years, wonderfully told by one of the great writers emerging from Soviet Armenia.

My Name is Aram

by William Saroyan

William Saroyan's 1940 international bestseller recounts the exploits of an Armenian clan in northern California at the turn of the twentieth century. Based on the author's loving and eccentric extended family, the characters in these 14 related short stories enact humorous and touching scenes from immigrant life.

 
Also Available: eBookeAudio

Also Available: eBook

eAudio

Orhan’s Inheritance

by Aline Ohanesian

When Orhan's brilliant and eccentric grandfather Kemal -- a man who built a dynasty out of making kilim rugs -- is found dead, submerged in a vat of dye, Orhan inherits the decades-old business. But Kemal's will raises more questions than it answers.

Also available: eBookeAudio

Also available: eBook

eAudio

As the Poppies Bloomed : a novel of love in a time of fear

by Maral Boyadjian

Outside the village leader's home, the sound of voices carries past the grapevines to the lane where Anno, his youngest daughter, slips out unseen. She forgets that enemies surround her village. She knows only the love she has for Daron, who waits for her as she hastens to him, once again breaking the ancient rules of courtship. Neither is prepared for the dark, dangerous secret that Daron's father keeps or the upheaval that will soon envelop their village, their land, and their hearts.

 
Also available: eBook

Also available: eBook

Forty days of Musa Dagh

by Franz Werfel

This is the story of how the people of several Armenian villages in the mountains along the coast of present-day Turkey and Syria chose not to obey the deportation order of the Turkish government.

Also available: eBook

Also available: eBook

The sandcastle girls : a novel

by Chris Bohjalian

Parallel stories of a woman who falls in love with an Armenian soldier during the Armenian Genocide and a modern-day New Yorker prompted to rediscover her Armenian past.

 

My mother's voice : a novel

by Kay Mouradian

This story of fourteen-year-old Flora Munushian, the author’s mother, brings an epic chapter in Armenian history to life and takes it to heart. Flora’s incredible story honors her people with dignity and personifies the human spirit of hope, love, and justice.

April 1915

by Haig Tahta

Tahta examines the period through the personal lives of four families in Constantinople and the provinces as the ravages of war and ideology destroy Armenians and the Ottoman Empire.

 

Skylark farm

by Antonia Arslan ; translated from the Italian by Geoffrey Brock

A beautiful, wrenching debut novel chronicling the life of a family struggling for survival during the Armenian genocide in Turkey, in 1915.

The well of Ararat

by Emmanuel P. Varandyan

The Well of Ararat is the story of a swift and passionate tragedy, seen through the eyes of a troubled, sensitive boy whose early life is shaped by events around him. The first violent incidents of an adventurous life come to Sassoon, a boy in a remote Persian Armenian village, in the ominous years preceding World War I.

NON-FICTION

Sisters of Mercy and Survival : Armenian Nurses, 1900-1930

by Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill

This book focuses on Armenian nurses in the Ottoman Empire, Armenia, the Middle East, and Greece before, during, and after the Genocide. It shows how Armenian nurses laid the foundations of modem nursing, midwifery, and public health in these regions.

Trauma and Resilience : Armenians in Turkey : hidden, not hidden and no longer hidden

by Raffi Bedrosyan

This book is a record of Raffi Bedrosyan's activities between 2011 and 2018 championing the rights of Armenians, especially 'hidden' or Islamized Armenians, living in Turkey.

 

Judgment At Istanbul

by Vahakn N. Dadrian and Taner Akcam

This book provides vital background information and is a prime source of legal evidence and authentic Turkish eyewitness testimony of the intent and the crime of genocide against the Armenians.

The missing pages : the modern life of a medieval manuscript, from genocide to justice

by Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh

The Missing Pages is the biography of a manuscript that is at once art, sacred object, and cultural heritage. Its tale mirrors the story of its scattered community as Armenians have struggled to redefine themselves after genocide and in the absence of a homeland. Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh follows in the manuscript's footsteps through seven centuries, from medieval Armenia to the killing fields of 1915 Anatolia, the refugee camps of Aleppo, Ellis Island, and Soviet Armenia, and ultimately to a Los Angeles courtroom.

 
Also available: eBook

Also available: eBook

Armenian Golgotha: A memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918

by Grigoris Balakian

Armenian Golgotha is Balakian’s devastating eyewitness account—a haunting reminder of the first modern genocide and a controversial historical document that is destined to become a classic of survivor literature.

Armenia and the Near East

by Fridtjof Nansen

This book describes Nansen’s visit to Armenia and Georgia in 1925. By this time the Communists were firmly in control, both in Moscow and in the outlying states making up the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Nansen was the head of a commission making enquiries into conditions in Armenia for the League of Nations.

 

Accursed Years: My Exile and Return from Der Zor, 1914-1919

by Yervant Odian, translated by Ara Stepan MelkonianA remarkable account of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Odian was sent to the depts of the Der Zor desert (in Syria) and witnessed the remnants of over 300,000 Armenians who were killed in that area. His own exile to Der Zor had been delayed for a number of factors, and he thus survived the killing fields of the Armenian Genocide.

Also available: eBook

Also available: eBook

The Young Turks' crime against humanity : the Armenian genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Ottoman Empire

by Taner Akcam

Introducing new evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, this book demonstrates in unprecedented detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted from an official effort to rid the empire of its Christian subjects.

 

Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times

edited by Richard G Hovannisian

Edited by the leading historian of the Republic of Armenia, this is the definitive history of an extraordinary country - from its earliest foundations, through the Crusades, the resistance to Ottoman and Tsarist rule, the collapse of the independent state, its brief re-emergence after World War I, its subjugation by the Bolsheviks, and the establishment of the new Republic in 1991.

My Grandmother: An Armenian–Turkish Memoir

by Fethiye Cetin

Çetin’s family history tied her directly to the terrible origins of modern Turkey and the organized denial of its Ottoman past as the shared home of many faiths and ways of life. A deeply affecting memoir, My Grandmother is also a step towards another kind of Turkey, one that is finally at peace with its past.

COOKBOOKS AND CULINARY HISTORY

Armenian family favorite recipes

by Aida Sarkisian

Food and its preparation are the essential parts of Armenian culture. Old Armenian recipes have been passed down from generation to next, from mother to daughter. In this book most recipes have been passed down from my mother. There are also international recipes in this book, along with my own recipes. Arranged by category, from appetizers to desserts, these recipes can bring more variety to everyday menus and add special flavors for family gathering and holiday events.

Cooking with my Armenian family

by Mariam Pashayan

My family style cookbook features 28 great recipes for dips, snacks, dinner, entrees and desserts that are easy to prepare with just few ingredients. Whether you are inviting a few friends or having a casual family dinner you will find savory and comforting recipes that are easy to follow.

 

Lavash : the bread that launched 1,000 meals, plus salads, stews, and other recipes from Armenia

by Kate Leahy, John Lee, and Ara Zada, photographs by John Lee

This cookbook of 55 recipes reveals how to make the ubiquitous and do-able flatbread lavash, as well as recipes for what to eat with it (soups, stews, dips). With plated food, step-by-step and atmospheric photography that reveal the deliciousness and conviviality of Armenian cuisine, this is the next interesting cuisine to explore for people who love Israeli, other Middle-Eastern, and Mediterranean cooking.

Also available: eBook

Also available: eBook

Simply Armenian : naturally healthy ethnic cooking made easy

by Barbara Ghazarian

The secrets of the Armenian table are revealed for North American home cooks. "Simply Armenian" draws on the ancient culinary traditions of the Tigris and Euphrates river basins to explore over 150 classic recipes ranging from inexpensive but tasty peasant fare to special occasion dishes. More than half are meat-free and all are delivered with the cheerful generosity of a neighbor.

 

Everyday Armenian cooking

by the Armenian Community of the Twin Cities

Armenian food is one of the best, healthiest, and most succulent of the world’s cuisines because of their emphasis on natural taste of the food. The over 120 classic, mouth-watering recipes in this book are written with easy to understand, practical directions. Tips are provided by the authors based on their extensive experience. The ingredients are easy to find with a few rare exceptions. We have included appetizers, lamb, pork, chicken, pilafs, stuffed dolmas, soups, traditional salads, flat and loaf breads, and irresistible desserts.

Secrets of cooking : Armenian, Lebanese, Persian

by Linda Chirinian, photographs by Rene Chirinian

ARMENIAN LANGUAGE BOOKS

Անունը Լեզուիս Տակ Գրիգոր Պըլտեան

Anuně lezuis tak

by Grigor Pěltean

Վեպ

Novel

Անիծեալ Տարիներ Երուանդ Օտեան

Anitseal tariner, 1914-1919 : andznakan hishatakner

by Eruand Ōtean

Յուշագրութիւն

Biography

 

Արտոյտների Ագարակը Անտոնիա Արսլան

Artoytneri agarakě

by Antonia Arslan

Վեպ

Translation of the novel Masseria delle Allodole (Skylark Farm). A beautiful, wrenching debut novel chronicling the life of a family struggling for survival during the Armenian genocide in Turkey, in 1915.

Հայ Կնոջ Կեանքի Ուղիին Հետքերով Սոնա Զէյթլեան

Hay knoj keankʻi ughiin hetkʻerov

by Sona Zēytʻlean

Յուշագրութիւն

On the traces of Armenian women's life-journey.

 
 

Հայ Կինոն Գրավոր Մարտին, Հառություն եւ Տաթեւիկ Հուռիխանյան

Hay kinon-- gravor

by Martin Hurikhanyan

Հայ Կինոյի Մասին Յօդուածներ

Articles about Armenian Cinema

Նահանջը Առանց Երգի Շահան Շահնուր

Nahanjě aṛantsʻ ergi : patkerazard patmutʻiwn Hayotsʻ : vēp

by Shahan Shahnur

Վեպ

Novel.

Nakhapēs ibrew tʻertʻōn hratarakuetsʻaw pʻarizean 'Haṛaj' ōratʻertʻin mēj 28 Mayisēn 3 September 1929.

 

Ալեկոծ Տարիներ Վազգէն Շուշանեան

Alekots tariner : 1920-1932

by Vazgēn Shushanean

Վեպ

Novel: Short Stories.

Մնացորդաց (Ա,Բ,Գ Հատորներ) Յակոբ Օշական

Mnatsʻordatsʻ

by Hakob Ōshakan

Վեպ

Novel.

 

1915-1965 Յուշամատեան Մեծ Եղեռնի

Hushamatean Mets Egheṛni, 1915-1965

by Gersam Aharonean

Յուշագրութիւն

Իմ Յուշերը Վահան Փափազեան

Im husherě

by Vahan Pʻapʻazean Koms

Յուշագրութիւն

 

Ատանայի Հայոյց Պատմութիւնը Խմբագիր Բիւզանդ Եղիայեան

Atanayi hayotsʻ patmutʻiwn

by Biwzand Eghiayean

Յուշագրութիւն

Երբ Դրախտը Դարձաւ Դժոխք... Արհաւիրքի Եօթը Տարիներ

Erb drakhtě dardzaw dzhokhkʻ-- : arhawirkʻi eotʻě tariner : keankʻě zor apretsʻay taragrutʻean mēj 1915-1922

by Sedrakʻ Paghtoyean

Յուշագրութիւն

Biography.

 

Օրերուս Հետ Միսաք Թորլաքեան

Ōrerus het

by Misakʻ Tʻorlakʻian

Յուշագրութիւն

Biography.

Սիլիհտարի Պարտեզները / Զապել Եսայան

Silihtari parteznerě

by Zapel Esayan

Վեպ

Novel.

 

Քասիմ Կեանքի Տեսարաններ Միսաք Գօչունեան

Keankʻi tesaranner

by Misakʻ A. M. Gōchʻunean

Զաւեշտական

Wit and humor from the lives of Armenians in Turkey prior 1913.

Աւերակներուն Մէջ

Aweraknerun mēj

by Zapēl Esayean

Յուշագրութիւն

Memoir

 

Այրուող Այգեստաններ

Ayruogh aygestanner : gitakan hratarakutʻiwn

by Gurgēn Mahari

Վեպ

Novel.

Հայկական Ազգային Խորհրդանշաններ Հայկ Դեմոյան

Haykakan azgayin khorhrdanshanner : zinanshanner, droshner, pargevner

by Gaĭk Hayk Demoyan Demoi︠a︡n

Հայկական Խորհրդանշաններ

Armenian Symbols

 

Համով Հոտով Անահիտ Փ. Տօնիկեան

Hamov hotov : ěndlaynuats

by Anahit Pʻ. Tōnikean

Հայկական Խոհանոց

International, Middle Eastern and Armenian cookery and desserts.

Հայկական Տարազ Գէորգ Բրուտյան

Haykakan taraz : patkerazard albom

by Gevorg Brutyan

Հայկական Տարազ

Armenian costume, clothing and dress.

 

Հայկական Ասեղնագործ ժանյակ: վարպետության Դասեր Լուսինէ Մխիթարյան

Haykakan aseghnagorts zhanyak : varpetutʻyan daser

by Lusine Mkhitʻaryan

Հայկական Ասեղնագործ

Lace, needlepoint and lace making.

Հայ Եկեղեցու Տօները Արտակ Մանուկեան

Hay Ekeghetsʻu tōnerě

by Artak Manukean

Կրօնական

Armenian Church customs and practices.

 
 

Հայկական Մարզադարան Ավետիս Բայրամյան

Haykakan marzadaran

by Avetis Bayramyan

Մարզական

Famous Armenians in the World of Sports

 
 
MUSIC

Djivan Gasparian - Ask Me No Questions

Armenian Music Through the Ages

Music of Armenia V.1

 

Music of Armenia v.2

Music of Armenia v.3

Music of Armenia v.4

 

Music of Armenia v.5

Music of Armenia v.6

Armenian Chamber Music - Babanjanian etc.

 

Armenian Piano Music - Komitas, Babajanian etc.

Khachaturian - Spartacus Suites 1-3

Letters From Armenia - Komitas etc.

 

Mansurian - Cello Concerto, Double Concerto etc.

 

Tigranian - Anoush

 

Apex Theory - Topsy Turvy

 
 

Armenian Navy Band

 

Mt. Helium - Faces

 

Scars on Broadway

 
 

System of a Down - Toxicity

 

Arto Tuncboyaciyan - Every Day is a New Life