1 comments about Adventures in Ancient Greece (Good Times Travel Agency).

1. Another homeschooler recommended this book to us as one book to read for our study of Ancient Greece. When my 6 year-old son saw the cover he begged for me to read it immediately. He loved the book and is asking if there are others available (which there are because this is one in a series).

   We had just finished "Growing up in Ancient Greece" by Chris Chelipi which I thought was a bit boring. "Adventures in Ancient Greece" duplicated the same information and included additional information. So if you are wondering if this comic book style book (less serious tone) is lacking in content, I can assure you that it is not.

   The format of the book is comic book style with sidebars that read more like a regular text. The storyline is that a boy and his two sisters enter a time travel-travel agency and request to go to the next Olympic games in the future. By mistake they are transported to Ancient Greece. A boy gives them a tour of Athens and explains daily life in Ancient Greece. They experience daily living such as the role of women, slaves, and foreign visitors vs. men, voting, worship, parties, and common foods eaten. They also find themselves in the middle of a war that is called to a truce before casualties occur, at the Olympics, and finally on a warship that is engaged in a war before coming back home, magically. There is some sarcasm and some silliness. Some of the sarcasm borders on disrespect, such as when the boy gives them olives to eat, and proclaims they are the best in the world and the boy thinks, "this is a treat?" The girl is annoyed that women lead subservient lives and makes some sarcastic comments. I chose to skip over some of the silly and sarcastic comments. In the end I know my son learned important content from this book, which is the goal!

5 comments about Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese (New York Review Books Classics).

1. The NYRB Press has done the world a great service by re-issuing Patrick Leigh Fermor's travel books about his 1939 trek across Europe (A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water) and his stay with the Mani in Greece(The Mani). To call these "travel books" is to understate their value. Fermor is a supremely gifted writer with an encyclopedic knowledge of European history, and traveling with him through Europe on the eve of World War II is an education to equal anything you might pay a university $30,000 a year for. Fermor was a unique and original 20th century spirit -- talented, curious, intelligent, adventurous, brave and much more. He not only wrote and traveled, he inserted himself into the nexus of the war and carried out spy missions and acts of bravery that showed he was a man of action and conviction as well as a man of ideas.
   
   Anyone who loves words and loveds to learn deserves to experience his books. Please do yourself this favor.



2. Alhtough I'm Greek American, am not particularly a Grecophile. While in Wash, D.C., a book seller recommended Mani and I got hooked. This is a book that I enjoy so much that I savor it in small pieces - the writing is fine prose, sometimes random, and a somewhat free association but what a feeling for Greece it imparts! Some sections have more details, minutae than one might be able to appreciate, but overall this is an awesome book. Makes one want to adventure travel to this area of remote Greece. The writing has such a fine patina - one can hardly stomach reading magazine travel articles in comparison to this book. Thanks to the person who recommended this book to me. For those interested in Greece, Fermor's books will be especially appreciated.



3. In this entertaining book, Leigh Fermor describes his travels in the Mani peninsula, the southernmost and at the time of his writing, one of the least developed parts of continental Greece. Like some of his other books, this book describes a traditional society that was disappearing at the time of his writing. Mani combines some brilliant descriptive writing, particularly with respect to landscapes, keen social observation, and a series of historical asides inspired by his travels. All of these components are individually compelling and the quality of writing is unusually good. There are times, however, when some of Leigh Fermor's asides tend to overpower the primary narrative which tends to disrupt the narrative flow.



4. Leigh Fermor has written one (actually,two) of the best travels books in English, "A Time of Gofts" and "Between the Woods and the Water." This is not quite up to them--a bit of the edge has gone off the subject matter--but if you like showy, razzle-dazzle writing from a master stylist and raconteur, this will do very nicely.



5. This must be the quintessential summer read.
   
   While I was a bit put off at first by the exuberant luxury of the prose [at times I felt bludgeoned] and the rampant introduction of cultural terms I'd never heard before, it was also hard not to delight in a mind so cheerfully discursive.
   
   Do you need to be a Grecophile to enjoy an outing with Fermor and Mani? I should think not. But you'll need to bring your own map.
   
   Interestingly, it seems that the covers of Mani and Roumeli on the Amazon sites were swapped for mysterious reasons.

No comments about Fodor's Greece, 8th Edition (Fodor's Gold Guides).

2 comments about Greece, A Love Story: Women Write about the Greek Experience (Seal Women's Travel).

1. I can't express how wonderful this book was. I may not be Greek by birth, but I am in my heart. While I go to Greece yearly, I long to be there year-round. This book has helped me connect to my favorite place when I have to be in the States. It is great to read some of the other women's experiences and see how they parallel my own. I highly recommend this book to any woman who loves Greece.



2. T his book was a birthday gift for a female friend soon traveling to Greece. She absolutely loves the book and is savoring every chapter. She says she doen't want to finish the book it is that good.

1 comments about Michelin Greece/Grece (Michelin).

1. This map was easy to read, gave us enough detail for driving to various locations throughout the country and was very practical. The only problem was when driving on the roads in Greece, none but the super-highways has any route markers. We drove for miles and miles on state highways and never once saw a route sign. You have to navigate by destinations toward a city or village. (So that's not a fault of the map.)

1 comments about Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece (New York Review Books Classics).

1. I first encountered Fermor in his riveting accounts of his walk across Europe as World War II began descending. I was fascinated by his encyclopedic and poetic narrative. He made you feel you were walking alongside him. Now, his travels take us to Roumeli, the old name for northern Greece and Macedonia. Again, Fermor takes us on a poetic and detailed odyssey through villages and rugged Greek countryside, meeting interesting people and telling their tales. He has an uncanny ear (and eye) for the temperament and culture of the Greeks and one can sense his affection for the people he helped defend while a British commando on Crete during WWII. This is a travelogue of the old sort: careful attention to detail, wanderings off the well-trod tourist paths, and vivid description of the sounds, smells and history of this fabled land.

5 comments about Colossus of Maroussi.

1. Henry Miller's books fall into many categories, the lover of humanity, the lover of nature and art, the hater of the treadmill of twentieth-century society and business, and the sexual fiend. This book touches mainly on the first two, some on the third, and none on the fourth. To me, that is Miller at his best, the lyrical wordsmith.
   
   Instead of talking of France (as in several books), or California (as in Big Sur), or the various parts of the US (as in Air-Conditioned Nightmare), here Miller tells of his trip to Greece immediately before World War II spread there. He loved Greece and the Greeks he met. His desriptions are full of color and life.



2. When he was not tackling sex and philosophy, Henry Miller traveled. The Colossus of Maroussi is a book of those later times, when he, an "American Savage", entered the world of peace, beauty, and most of all, simplicity he was longing for while living in America. Nothing could prepare him for what he encountered in Greece, not the streets of New York, nor the streets of Paris. Although enamored with France, Miller's passion for Europe goes way further in this book, which at times reads more like L. D. novel than Miller's own. Yet, at the same time he manages to wrap himself in the beauty he encounters, dive in it without holding a breath and resourface a new, more complete being, spellbound by his experience. If only there were more writers like him -- ahh, wishful thinking. Most of all, this book shows Miller in a different light, not limited by his fame for writing about sex (actually, most of his books are not) he explores a new land, unknown to him until then. His ability to take the reader's hand and walk throughout the countryside, observe the people, customs and scenery, is combined with philosophy and his personal views (What else would you expect from Miller?). I have shared this book with many people who did not like Miller and their minds were changed forever. What more can be said? Nothing -- read the book and find out for yourself.



3. I don't think anyone, but Miller, could have painted the splendor of the poverty, beauty and surrealness during 1930's Greece; Miller's Greece and his alone. He saw things like no other person saw them; {"A Greek is alive to the finger-tips; he oozes vitality, he's effervescent, he's ubiquitous in spirit"} to us it's a blade of grass or a branch or a rock, to him it was a testimonial to the times of the people of Greece, and I have never wanted to go anywhere in the world than to Miller's Greece, after reading this journey of cleansing, healing and metaphysical bliss. This is indeed an Epic adventure. An epic indeed: an endless surprise of wonderous expeditions, dangers, wine and friends in a style that is all Miller.
   
   I was 14 when I found this book in my 94 year old grandmothers bookcase in the back den. The intriguing cover pulled me in, and I opened it to a random page, and to this day, nearly 15 years later or so, I come back to it again and again, for guidance, for awakening, for a smile. It is the one book I bring with me on long flights, and the one book I have shared with friends more than any other. It is not so much a view of the places and people of Greece, but more a testimonial to an era, and Miller sure shows he is more Greek than American. This book isn't just about Greece and its magnificent towns, it's about seeing things like no other sees them, and then throwing it up again for us to read and indulge in. The passage:
   
   ['No man can really say what joy is until he has experienced peace. And without joy there is no life, even if you have a dozen cars, six butlers, a castle, a private chapel, and a bomb-proof vault. Our diseases are our attachments, be they habits, ideologies, ideals, principles, possessions, phobias, gods, cults, relegions, what you please. Good wages can be a disease just as much as bad wages. Leisure can be just as great a disease as work...surrenderis absolute: if you cling to even the tiniest crumb you nourish the germ which will devour you. As for clinging to God, God long ago abandoned us in order that me might realize the joy of attaining godhood through our own efforts.']
   
   Delecious eh? I remember not being able to sleep that night; being so young, but wanting to understand so much.
   
   The Great Starfish is someone in whom I would have loved to have romped with on the island of Poros. For if I ever go to Greece, if I ever attain this nirvana in which the Buddhist speak of, that in which Miller speaks of when entering Poros for the first time-{"...when suddenly I realized that we were sailing through the streets. If there is one dream which I like above all others it is that of sailing on land. Coming into Poros gives the illusion of the deep dream."} I hope it is, even nearly 80 years later, somewhat the same. I want to smell the lemon groves. I want to sail on the streets coming into Poros. I want to feel like that gentle idiot swaying on the mast, like he says, as if I am 'en route for a shave'. I want to see the bearded men, and ladies hanging their wash out right above my head. I want to sit and have Turkish Coffee with the natives on Hydra and be led around as If I was a spectacle from a native world.
   
   Lawrence Durrell, George Seferiades and Katsimbalis and Miller all indulging in abundant foods, endless wine, and conversation in which I would have loved to have partaken in, must have been intoxicating, rewarding, and full of gusto and history, that I envy. At college I had an advanced fiction class with Stratis Havarias, the founding editor of the Harvard Review, who's father was killed in the concentration camps, and who teaches writing in Greece in the winter, when not doing his only course in summers at the college. He told me he knew George well and had been friends with relatives of Ghika the painter. When he asked the class what their favorite book was, and I told him Colossus, he just beemed, "OHHHHHhhhhh." He said, "Miller's Greece can be yours Ken, if you want it to be. If one thing hasn't changed for your image of Greece once you get there, it's the light. Piercing, unfathomable."
   
   On the last page of my grandmothers copy, which is now part of my collection of novels, because this is most certainly a non-fiction epic, she says, "It's so mystical here, the light, oh my, oh...oh...the light, it's like nothing I have seen anywhrere in my travels. The light is pouring in everywhere, on everything on every surface, and making it all come alive."
   
   {"Light acquires a transcendental quality: it is not the light of the Mediterranean alone, it is something more, something unfathomable, something holy."} *cool, eh*
   
   Miller's light, my grandmothers light, that epic beauty that has made the Colossus my favorite book of all time. I would have liked to have been Miller's friend, yes, I would have liked that very much.
   
   I implore you, lover of books, to read this and take some of the passages and prose with you for eternity, it is that type of writing that sets Miller apart from all the rest.
   
   Thank you.
   
   ken



4. What a writer Miller is in this book. It is an autobiographical account of a trip he took to Greece in the late thirties. He had been living in Paris for a couple of years, and makes a lot of denigrating remarks about the rational, limited French in comparison to the adventurous open- minded Greeks. Miller is opinionated, often wrong- headed, narrowly and stupidly anti- American, mistaken completely in his analysis of the poltiical conditions of the world in his time, egoistically lost in his own way of seeing things. But he is also linguistically brilliant, visionary, inspiring and tremendously alive. His accounts of the characters he meets including the Durrells, Seferis and above all the major figure the storyteller, Katzambis are electifying . His love of and appreciation of the Greek landscape and civilization are strong and convincing. At times the feelings he presents seem to be close to being religious visions.
   So despite all the carping and the ranting, the slights and mistaken judgments the book thrills by its beauty of language and its celebration of life.



5. I have read many of Miller's books and though I understand that people do have different tastes, I like him so much that it's almost impossible to believe that someone may actually not like him.
   
   Having said this my impression on this book may be suspicious but it's my favorite Miller book. If usually the occasional sex scenes and hard language distract you form evaluating Miller's writing qualities, you have here a great opportunity.
   
   Excellent descriptions (of inner moods and outer landscapes), passionate tone and people oriented. Also a good option for someone who likes travel diaries and an excellent chance to meet Miller's essence: a wanderer.
   
   On this one there's only two options either you find it a drag (and don't even finish it) or you love it. This means that whether you like it or not, it's a good book!

2 comments about Greece: A Traveler's Literary Companion.

1. Artemis Leontis deserves a lot of credit for compiling these twenty-four short pieces of prose transaltion. Among them we find selections by Elytis, Seferis, and Kazantzakis, but also some stunningly attractive pieces by other less well-known names. The editor says in her introduction that collections of contemporary Greek prose in English translation are scarce. If that is true, it's a real pity, because most of these selections are gems of the short story form and those that are not fiction are laden with ideas and forms of expression that dazzle one with their originality, grasp of history, and understanding of life. Elli Alexiou takes us back to the unfortunate exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and shows us people of both ethnicities who were neighbors and friends and loved and respected one another. They say good bye at the dock knowing they will never see each other again, and they promise to write. The narrator's mother promises to take good care of the grave in which the Turkish family has buried their little son. She writes every now and then to tell them how the flowers around the grave blossom each year in due season. When the Turkish cemetery is bulldozed to make way for an apartment complex, she doesn't have the heart to tell them so, and keeps on writing year after year that the grave is still beautiful. Eugenia Fakinou looks at the City of Athens and the first day in a big city school through the eyes of a little girl who has been transplanted from the Island of Symi. Supposing, correctly, that the reader can interpret the experience for himself, the writer limits herself to recording the child's impressions and perceptions. Beautifully done. Dimitris Hatzis tells us about a tanner in Yioannina who slowly and painfully comes to realize that he himself is not necessarily a failure, but that the times have changed along with technologies and viewpoints and he has no choice but to make necessary adjustments. In the offerings by the three well known writers mentioned above, there are quite a few quotable sentences that make the reader stop and consider why and in what sense they express deep truth. All these selections are beautiful. They explore various apects of modern Greek life, urban and rural, and they examine, poetically, what most readers will acknowledge to be universal human values. For future editions, the editor might consider changing the books's title. As it is now, it gives the impression of being a guide book, while in fact it is something much more important, namely, a literary treasure trove.



2. This book is exactly what it says it is, a traveler's literary companion. It is filled with wonderfully written short stories which take place in various regions of Greece. I read this book as I was traveling in Greece and it enriched my visit there. The stories reveal a lot about the Greek people, their history, and their culture. The quality of the writing is excellent. The introduction to the book says it better than I could. "Good stories reveal as much, or more, about a locale as any map or guidebook...Books from Whereabouts Press are essential companions for the curious traveler, and for the person who appreciates how fine writing enhances one's experience in the world.

5 comments about Dinner with Persephone: Travels in Greece.

1. This book is an interesting juxtaposition of travelogue and mythology. As a child, Storace was fascinated with the stories and characters of Greek mythology. This led to a life-long fascination with Greece and Greeks, not only of the ancient culture, but as they are today. In this book, Storace takes us on a journey to her Greece, a land that is inseparable from its mythic past. She narrates to us stories of people she met in Greece, repeating the stories they told her, all the while relating the stories to the ancient tales from Greek mythology. As a travel journal, the book is a little heavy on allusions and symbolism and a little light on realistic imagery. But direct descriptions of events is not what this book is about-instead it is the personal story of how Storace finds meaning in Greek culture through her own integration of history, mythology and observation of contemporary society.



2. In the spirit of fairness I have attempted to read this book twice now and have put it down with a sick feeling in my gut. It's the same feeling I get whenever I find myself in the company of someone extraordinarily pretentious and self-absorbed. I just wanted to read something intersesting about Greece. Instead, this book tells me a lot more about the peculiar psychology of the author more than anything else. I hate knowing I wasted my money of this drivel. I've yet to find a better example of mental mastrubation in my Amazon purchases.



3. Storace, a Greek speaking writer goes to Athens to work for a year. She visits various islands and tourst sites describing these in interesting detail. Storace also recounts her personal contacts with oversolicitous men who make it very clear that women are meant to get married and stay home. Women are objects for men and infrequently taken seriously. The writer has ambiguous feelings about the Greeks. She does make lots of friends, but doesn't seem anxious to go back.



4. Storace's book is a vivid illustration of how even a richly educated individual can be vastly ignorant. She completely misses the mark on the true benevolence behind much of Greek hospitality, and her pitiable retellings of the overtures of Greek men reveal nothing but her own egotism. Despite a solid understanding of Greek language and history, Storace has extremely limited understanding of Greeks themselves, in large part because her own ethnocentrism -- which reveals itself repeatedly in the book -- prevents her from regarding Greeks as equal to Americans. To read her ridiculous "observations" regarding Greeks (All Greeks look alike, Greeks don't smile) is to know the real meaning of The Ugly American.
   Her year in Athens was clearly too brief a period for her to understand Greeks.
   If you want to know Greeks, spend time with Greeks. Or visit Greece. Do not read this book.



5. I'm amused at reviews that splutter "This isn't like Greece at all! She doesn't get it!" Because such a viewpoint presupposes there is, in fact, an objective 'Greece' that we can all agree on, and she simply failed to notice it.
   
   No, no, everybody's Greece (or Hawaii or Houston or anyplace else) is different, and it's very refreshing to find a book that sees things so differently from the Air Hellene party line. People who think this is a book about Greece are missing the point; it isn't. It's about Patricia Storace, and her reaction to being plunked down in a Balkan nation after growing up somewhere very, very different. If nothing else, she sees the nation with very fresh eyes.
   
   Her writing is lovely, too, rich and slightly bitter-burnt like good chocolate. And to strain this metaphor even further, a little bit every night is better than trying to choke down the whole thing at once.
   
   Lay aside your pride, Philhellenes, and see this book for what it is -- a trip into the mind of a smart, observant and fascinating young woman.

5 comments about Frommer's Greek Islands (Frommer's Complete).

1. I went traveling in Greece 2 years ago and found other travel books to lack info on the Greek Islands and had to struggle my way through the islands. As I am planning to return this summer, I have found this book to be a good reference to prepare, and one that I will bring with me. When most of us think of Greece, the Greek Isles are the place most of us invision. This book gave me a good reference as to where to go, where to stay and what there was to do. I would reccommend this book to others.



2. Unfortunately this book lacks much of the detail and thoroughness that some other guides to the Greek Islands offer (such as the Eyewitness travel guide). Although the major islands are covered in some detail, this book almost entirely ignores a lot of other islands, even some that are quite large. This is a real disappointment because the true wonder of the Greek Island experience is that you can travel to all kinds of places, some very small but no less significant. A good travel guide for the Greek Islands therefore needs to include just as much detail about these less-visited islands as it does about the more well-traveled ones. This book also lacks a lot of the photograps that other books include, which I think is important because the Greek Islands are so diverse. It really does help to see pictures of the islands to help you decide which ones to visit. If you're planning a trip to the Greek Islands you can do much better than this book for a travel guide.



3. The principal difference between this book and "Frommer's Greece" is that this one covers the option of selecting a cruise of the islands, and that section is very good. So, if a major concern is choosing a cruise line (or ship) for your Greek vacation, take a look at this guide. Otherwise, "Frommer's Greece" covers all the mainland (and all the islands) for the same price. Frommer's stands out for clear writing, logical indexing, and especially for running the gamut from budget tourism to the more affluent. His starred system with comments for value or attractiveness to family is understandable with good common sense. Studying Frommer's helps me make the decisions I personally want to make. It will save you many times the price of the book and make your stay much more enjoyable.
   
   Reviewed by David Lundberg, author of Olympic Wandering: Time Travel Through Greece



4. I thought this book would give me additional info about the Greek Islands but it only repeated what was in the Frommer's Greece book,with a few extra inconsequential chapters. You really only need one or the other.



5. Frommer's Greek Islands is just what I was looking for! The section I found most helpful was the appendix in the back of the book that gives info on Greece in depth which briefly lists the Gods & Goddesses, language, useful words & phrases, as well as some menu terms. Even though the book is very light weight I plan on cutting out that section out of the book and keeping it in my pocket for shore excursions on the Islands. I have used Frommer's books in the past with the most recent being Rome. I live in New York and keep a copy of Frommer's New York for foreign travelers who visit me and want to head out on their own. I also found alot of info. in Eyewitness Travel Guides "The Greek Islands" it has glossy color photos, and is a good guide but way too heavy to pack let alone carry on a tour!