A literary trip to Greece with Alex
Happy World Book and Copyright Day! Since I started this blog in June 2018, I have been posting an extra post on this day (‘Aristotle ’s Way: Ancient Wisdom & Happiness’ in 2019, ‘Best London bookstores, tsundoku & bibliotherapy’ in 2020, and ‘My 7 (+1) favourite books’ in 2021). In the meantime, books have inspired many other posts. For example, in June 2022, my friend Deborah sent me a link to the article ’10 of the best novels set in Greece – that will take you there’ which had recently been published in the Guardian. This gave me the inspiration for my post ‘A literary trip to Norway with Alex’. Today, however, we’re going on a literary trip to Greece, instead.
To mark the occasion, I have chosen five books (one short story collection and four novels), all written by non-Greek authors (one Norwegian and four British), but set in Greece. Although I’ve read some of these books in Greek, they’re all available in English.
In future, I plan to further write about non-fiction books that have a strong connection with my home country. Amongst those, for instance, will be the recently published ‘A Thing of Beauty: Travels in Mythical and Modern Greece’ by Peter Fiennes, which I recently finished reading.
The Jealousy Man, by Jo Nesbø
If you’ve read my post ‘A literary trip to Norway with Alex’, then you’ll probably know that I am a big fan of Nordic Noir and especially of Jo Nesbø’s novels. ‘The Jealousy Man’ is the first short story collection by the Norwegian author, also known as ’the king of Scandicrime’. It was first published in 2021 and includes a total of seven short stories. My favourite, as well as the longest of those, is also called ’The Jealousy Man’ and takes place on the Greek island of Kalymnos (close to the larger and better-known Kos and Rhodes).
Santorini, by Alistair MacLean
From Kalymnos, my literary trip to Greece continues to Santorini, a better-known Greek island, which I first visited a few years ago. ‘Santorini’ was first published in 1986, a year before the Scottish author’s death and is his last novel. MacLean is better known for ‘The Guns of Navarone’, which also takes place in Greece.
The Island, by Victoria Hislop
Published in 2007, ’The Island’ is Hislop’s debut novel. It is set on the island of Spinalonga, a tiny island off the coast of Crete, once a leper’s colony. In 2010, the novel was adapted into a TV series, the most expensive in Greek television history to date.
Finding Ithaka: An Epic Story Traversing Time, by Anna Harvey
From the Aegean Sea, my literary trip to Greece continues to the Ionian Sea. Most of us know of Odysseus (or Ulysses), the legendary king of ancient Ithaka and the hero of Homer’s epic poem the ‘Odyssey’. Although modern Ithaka has traditionally been accepted to be Homer’s island, there is a theory suggesting that ancient Ithaka was actually part of modern Kefalonia. This is why ’Finding Ithaka’ does not take place in Ithaka, but in the neighbouring island of Kefalonia.
Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernières
Also set in Kefalonia is ‘Corelli’s Mandolin’, a novel which was first published in 1994 and was later adapted into a film. It is the British author’s fourth novel.
Further reading
If you’re a fan of Jo Nesbø, then check out my post ‘Crime & Fjords: 9 Scandinavian writers you should read‘.
If you’d rather read about Japan, then check out my posts ‘5 (+1) Japanese novels to read in 2020′ and ‘5 (+1) Books from the Land of the Rising Cat‘.
Alex
(the Traveling Psychiatrist)
