Anyone have either travel tips for Istanbul

or book recommendations?

I'm trying to do a little reading - novels set in Istanbul/ Constantinople or good, not too labored, histories of Constantinople or Byzantium would be appreciated.

Thanks.

You might take a look at a novel set in modern-day Turkey entitled Snow, by Orhan Pamuk.  He is the Turkish writer who recently won the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

A previous book of his was a "period piece", a kind of historical murder mystery set in that part of the world, about five centuries ago.  I thought it interesting-----it is called My Name Is Red.  It is about the painters of those highly stylized miniatures that illustrated one of those gorgeous, labor-intensive books that a ruler would commission as evidence of his greatness.  The painters would lose their eyesight preparing such a book . . . .while in the "Western world" the pin-hole camera was already in use, aiding Italian portraitists to do their fabulous canvases.

Thanks, Bonnie.

I've added them to my list.

Barbara Nadel has written several police procedurals set in Istanbul, starting with Belshazzar's Daughter. Jason Goodwin wrote an excellent  history of Turkey (Lord of the Horizon), and also a series of historical mysteries set in Istanbul, starting with The Janissary Tree. For something bizarre, you might try Mehmet Murat Sohmer's mysteries about a transvestite nightclub owner in modern Istanbul, starting with The Kiss Murder.

Jason Goodwin, who wrote fiction and nonfiction about Turkey, published a list of 10 best books about Turkey in The Guardian. I stumbled across it whien I googled on "Jason Goodwin" + books, to see if he'd written another in his mystery series that I like so much. (No, alas) Maybe  his list would give you some more reading suggestions.

Julian by Gore Vidal