Nudge me some Greek books

It looks like I will get to spend some time in Greece this summer. I'd like to find a few interesting Greek reads prior to then. So, no holds barred, no special time period or other limitation - what would you recommend?

In no particular order:

The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
Zorba the Greek by the same
The Illiad The Odyssey
The three-plays comprising The Orestia (utterly awesome)
Lysistrata by Aristophanes or anything by Aristophanes for that matter

I'll need to check my memory for more recent works. I do remember one novel about Greece (but not by a Greek author but Greek-American author): The Priest Fainted by Catherine Temma Davidson

One contemporary Greek author - Panos Karnezis. I feel so-soish about his book Little Infamies.

One other interesting read - about a Greek colony in Russia Medea and Her Children - I enjoyed this one.

Of course Medea by Euripides is also a must.

I read this one before a trip to Greece in my teens - it was a riot, and added a lot to my experience:

Forever Old, Forever New by Emily Kimbrough

Oh, oh - my specialist subject! How long are you going for? I can keep you happy for a couple of years.

Any book to do with Greece might well be good wherever you're headed but there are a lot that will narrow it down to your particular island or part of the mainland. I'll try to categorise them a bit but if you can tell us whereabouts you're planning to go I may be able to come up with more.

So just to get the ball rolling:

Anywhere -
Little Infamies is a joy. Interconnected short stories set on a make-believe island, often quite 'dark' but very 'Greek' in atmosphere and beautifully written.

Volcano and/or So Immortal a Flower both by Cecil Roberts. It's been a while since I read these and I don't remember a lot about them -particularly whereabouts they're set - but they were both very enjoyable. Might not be that easy to get hold of these days though. (So Immortal might have been set in Crete - not sure.)

The Mainland
Athens -
The Athenian Murders Set in Athens (especially the area around Lykavittos) in the ancient world. Another beautifully written book that is much, much more than the murder story it sets out to tell. A truly unusual story best read on an Athens balcony.

The Northwest Coast -
Eleni This is a truly heartwrenching true story of the civil war that so cruelly ensnared Greece before the country had even begun to recover from WWII. The eponymous Eleni was the author's mother who was tortured and killed by Greek communists for the crime of trying to save her children from abduction into communist training camps. Also contains one of the most gripping 'escape' scenes I have ever read. Heartbreaking.

And this next one's more modern but this time written by Eleni Gage, daughter of Nicholas (who wrote Eleni). North of Ithaka tells of her own experiences when she moves to the area many years later, only to find her grandmother's death still casts a long shadow. Another true story and a nice companion to Eleni.

Sparta/the Peloponnese
Here's a nice new one that I got as an ER book last month - The Hidden (no touchstones) by Tobias Hill is a modern day story about a young man who joins a group of archeologists on a dig near Sparta, but their activities and relationships aren't as straighforward as they seem. Strongly reminiscent of The Magus but an easier read for the beach and a great story on its own.

Crete
A handful of really good war memoirs - Crete - the Battle and the Resistance, Ill Met by Moonlight and The Cretan Runner

Who Pays the Ferryman A somewhat lighter read yet still engrossing. About an English man who returns to Crete after the war to try and find the woman he fell in love with then, but his presence on the island rekindles a vendetta that has tragic consequences. A terrific 'beach read'.

Crete/Lakonia (Peloponnese) -
Zorba the Greek - not exactly beach reading but a great story, well-told and enough of a classic to be required reading fo all travellers to Greece. Kazantzakis was born on Crete (Heraklion, I think, or nearby) so if you're on that particular island, you may decide to visit his home town. Part of the story also takes place on Kalogria on the Peloponnese and there is a statue to him there as well. Zorba is probably your starting point for Kazantzakis but you might also want to try Freedom and Death (Crete again) or any of his other books.

Kefalonia -
Too wonderful a book to miss wherever you go really but set on this island Captain Corelli's Mandolin. A sweeping saga of love and sacrifice that takes places during WWII and continues up to the 70s. Very Greek-atmospheric and not to be missed by anyone who loves a truly brilliant book.

Spetses
The Magus is another beautifully written classic. Set on the fictional island of Phraxos, which is actually Spetses in disguise, this enthralling philosophical novel is another book that simply feels of Greece. Set in the period between the two wars, Nicholas Urfe moves to Greece to teach in an English school on the island where he mets up with some very strange characters indeed, who draw him into a world of mystery and danger. A classic.

There's a whole bunch of books in the 'We-lived-in-Greece-and weren't-the-natives-funny' genre. These are some of the better ones:
Village on the Plateau (Lassithi in Crete)
Riding the Minotaur (Crete)
On a Greek Island (Paros)
Attic in Greece (Nafplion near Athens)
The Olive Grove (mainland and island-hopping)
Winds of Crete (more Crete, obviously)
Ebdon's Odyssey (Andros/Kos)

Travel literature -
Mani (Pelopponese)
Roumeli (Northern Greece) both by Patrick Leigh Fermor and great for long, langourous days in the mountains.
The Villa Ariadne (Crete) Story of the home of Knossos archeaologist Sir Arthur Evans
Hellas - A Portrait of Greece by the author of Eleni

Ancient Greece
The Parthenon History of the most famous structure in Athens
Courtesans and Fishcakes Truly readable study of the appetites of the ancient Greeks.

The Myths
The Standard work has to be by Robert Graves but if you fancy a more gentle introduction there is a lovely little series by the Stephanides brothers that are mostly available online and from most bookshops and general stores in Greece

And a few that don't fit any classification:
The Dilessi Murders True story - In 1870 four British aristocrats travelling to Marathon, were kidnapped by Greek brigands. This is the story of the kidnappings and the bungled investigation that followed. Gripping.

An odd little book you may not be able to get here but will almost certainly find in Greece is The Komboloi and its History. Komboloi, in case you didn't know, are those 'worry beads' all old Greek men seem to spend their days playing with. You wouldn't think there'd be a lot to say on the subject but I actually found this book fascinating.

And there are, of course, lots of books of photos of Greece but probably the loveliest, if you want something to drool over while you're waiting for your holiday, is Vanishing Greece by Clay Perry and Patrick Leigh Fermor. Well worth a trawl around the out-of-print websites and shops.

You are going to the most beautiful country this side of heaven (except that Greece actually exists) full of the most wonderful people. Have a fantastic time - I'm sure you will!

All I know so far is that I'll be at a wedding in Attica for a couple of days; we've yet to plan the rest of the trip, but are figuring about ten days. We may do a quick weekend stop in Florence or Zurich on the way. I'm very excited.

This is GREAT! Keep it coming - I'm still digesting.

Florence and Zurich may be lovely but I never met anyone yet who went to Greece and wanted to leave. What time of year are you going?

I wouldn't leave out The Apology and The Crito by Plato.

Slightly out on a limb from all those Greek ones, The Secret History has connections with ancient Greece despite being set in America. I read it in Greece and it went down very well. You also need to take a smallish volume of poetry by Cavafy, preferably one that includes my all-time favourite poem, Ithaka.

Ah, yes, Constantine Cavafy - I've read Ithaka but very little else. I've read some Elytis, and then there's Seferis, whom I've always meant to read but don't think I have - any other modern Greek poets whose works must be chanted out across the Aegean?

How about Histories?

For Crete, I would add The King Must Die by Mary Renault. It's a historical novel that sort of re-imagines the Theseus myth. It of course also takes place in other parts of Greece, but its main action takes place at Knossos.

Looks like 3 days in Florence, 8 in Greece, with a mix of Attica and the Islands on tap in Greece. We're going to be doing the islands by boat.

Do you read Greek? I can come up with one or two that, as far as I know, haven't been translated.

I once could read some ancient Greek, barely, but that's long lost. I'm lucky to make out all the letters at this point.

Great Suggestions from Booksloth. I would add the following:

Bitter Lemons
In a Marine Venus
The Greek Islands all by Lawrence Durrell

Yannis Ritsos is another Greek poet you should intone across the sea, as well as Pindar of course.

There's a great anthology of modern Greek poetry called......
Dark Crystal (I'm not sure if the touchtsone is correct, you can find it in my library). It has all the main poets and is pocket sized, great for travelling.

Also, don't forget the two volumes of Pausanias's Guide to Greece. And Thucydides. And Herodotus. And you will need a string of pack horses -or mules- to carry all these books. Good luck!

Pausanias looks like the right travel guide for me. I'll have to look for Dark Crystal. I probably need some Byron, too, no?

Oh, I'll read mostly before hand, and only bring a dozen books with me. And an ipod with a bunch of audio books. Which is my usual travel routine.

hi