Greek island books.

August 5, 2013 3:54 PM

Last year we accompanied our trip to Greece with some chosen volumes of contemporary Greek writing: Panos Karnezis' Little infamies, Vangelis Hatziyannidis' Four walls, Petros Márkaris' Expiring loans, Apostolos Doxiadis' Uncle Petros and Goldbach's conjecture, and, for our kids, Evghenios Trivizàs' The last black cat. What are some other great books either set in Greece or by Greek authors, for us to take this time?
posted by progosk to Society & Culture (12 answers total)

Not contemporary, but have you considered Lawrence Durrell's The Greek Islands or Bitter Lemons?

Also not terribly contemporary, The Magus, by John Fowles and/or Corelli's Mandolin, by Louis de Bernieres.
posted by janey47 at 4:05 PM on August 5, 2013

Middlesex
posted by pizzazz at 4:16 PM on August 5, 2013

The Corfu trilogy.
posted by ephemerista at 4:23 PM on August 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mary Renault, especially The Last of the Wine and The Mask of Apollo. Not contemporary and not islands exclusive but hugely entertaining. The poetry of Cavafy, including Ithaka.
posted by Morrigan at 4:52 PM on August 5, 2013

Well, if you like weird books, I recommend Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart. As I recall, about half of it is set on a Greek island. Also, it's weird, like most/all of Murakami's writing.
posted by number9dream at 6:20 PM on August 5, 2013

I came to recommend The Corfu Trilogy as well, absolutely enchanting!
posted by greta_01 at 8:09 PM on August 5, 2013

Mani: Travels across the Peloponnese by Patrick Fermor. Fantastic travelogue, history, and linguistic musings.
posted by zippy at 10:50 PM on August 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seconding Mani.
posted by mani at 1:43 AM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's not really contemporary but then nor is his brother... Lawrence Durrell wrote several works on Greece: Prospero's Cell; Dark Labyrinth; Reflections on a Marine Venus; The Greek Islands. Similarly, not terribly contemporary, but Kay Cicellis, Stratis Haviaras, Stratis Myrivilis and, of course, Kazantzakis are all good reads.
posted by TheRaven at 3:20 AM on August 6, 2013

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (Lawrence's brother) is one of my favorite books. My dad used to read it out loud, chapter by chapter, when I was a kid and I enjoyed it then too.
posted by AnnaRat at 5:56 AM on August 6, 2013

Read some Homer!
posted by BibiRose at 7:10 AM on August 6, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks all - plenty here for the summer!
posted by progosk at 1:25 PM on August 6, 2013