Summer in Greece is the time to relax, and for many people relaxing is about reading a book at the beach, at the pool or the hotel balcony with view to the fantastic sea or the romantic sunset.
Here are some suggestions about beach reading, concerning books connected to Greece, written by people who deeply love our country. We have chosen both classical and modern books for Greece summer reading that we believe they have something special to offer to readers.
#Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi
This is probably the most famous travelogue in Greece. A part travel book, part autobiography, part philosophical, this book of the American writer Henry Miller is considered by critics as among his best.
Set in pre-war Greece of 1939, the book includes the adventures, impressions, and thoughts of a writer traveling for 9 months across Athens, Crete, Corfu, Poros and Delphi. “The light of Greece opened my eyes, penetrated my pores, expanded my whole being”, is among the most famous phrases of the book.
#Victoria Hislop, One Cretan evening and other stories
She is famous as the writer of “The Island”, this fantastic book (later turned into TV series for the Greek television and also screened in other countries) on the leper colony of Spinalonga island, off Crete.
Victoria Hislop is a true lover of Greece and has frequently worked on unknown sections of Greek history and society through her writings. For a Greece summer reading, we suggest something lighter than “The Island”, but very interesting: the book is called “One Cretan evening and other stories”.
#Vanessa Gordon, The Meaning of Friday
English author Vanessa Gordon writes entertaining and atmospheric mystery novels set on Naxos, but wherever you travel in Greece these books are ideal reading. Enjoy a taste of Ancient Greek history and archaeology, revel in Greek food, bask in Greek landscapes and sunsets, and meet warm-hearted Greeks.
We suggest you start with The Meaning of Friday, in which eccentric archaeologist Martin Day discovers the human passions, family histories and archaeological secrets that lie behind the sudden death of a friend. The Greece of today and the distant past meet in his journey of discovery.
#Christian Brechneff, The Story of a Painter’s Love Affair with the island of Sifnos
This lovely book with the blue cover and the long title is the joyful description of a young Swiss artist arriving in “primitive” Sifnos island back in 1972. It was the time with almost no streets, certainly no bars, very few studios, and one or two taxis on the island.
Through a 30-year humorous and touching narrative, the writer describes how Sifnos has changed with the overflow of tourism, and how myself changed from a 21-year-old boy looking for inspiration into a self-confident man.
For more info on this book, read the interview of Christian Brechneff to Greeka.com
#Marjory McGinn, Things can only get feta
With a playful title inspired by a Greek commercial, the Scottish journalist Marjory McGinn narrates her relocation from the arctic winter to a small village in southern Peloponnese, right in the heart of the Greek crisis.
Through her book “Things can only get feta: two journalists and their crazy dog living through the Greek crisis”, we encounter warm-hearted, eccentric Greeks, macabre local customs, touchy ex-pats, pure rural life, and strange incidents. This is a humorous book to keep a good company for your Greek summer reading.
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