Did you visit Greece and dream about never going home? These great books will deepen your love affair with Greece and intensify your desire to find whatever it is your missing…
If you can only read one…
Richard Romanus, ACT III: A Small Island in the Aegean. I first found out Richard Romanus, a fairly recognizable Hollywood face, lived on a Greek island with his wife, Anthea Sylbert from Hellenic Seaways in-ferry magazine. I was heading to Agristi for a long weekend and needed something to read. What a delight! Romanus feels like a more down to earth, real Peter Mayle (A Year in Provence). In this case, Romanus has retired and relocated to Skiathos. The book was heart warming and soul searching. Highly recommended!
Honorable mentions
Eleni N. Gage, North of Ithaka: A Journey Home Through a Family’s Extraordinary Past. I can’t say I’ve ever seen this book on sale in Greece. I have seen her father’s book, Eleni on sale in a few places. Here is the continuation of the story of her namesake and grandmother, Eleni. Eleni was tortured and killed during the Greek Civil War, and in this book the grand daughter returns to the village of Lia for a year of soul-searching and learning about village life. Not nearly as heavy as Eleni – which is a heart wrenching, emotional story of one man’s quest to find out what happened to his mother.
John Mole, It’s All Greek to Me: A Tale of a Mad Dog and an Englishman, Ruins, Retsina, and Real Greeks. Purchased from a kiosk in Zakynthos. Mole moves to Evia to try life living in a village. It’s a fish out of water story. Mole comes across as a a little crazy and a little deranged. Nevertheless, it’s a fun book and it hits at some big things like mortality, family, community and the joy of building something from nothing.
Greece in Focus 