Plakias Forums
Ostraco's Bar => Gossip => Topic started by: Tony and Sandra Smith on June 19, 2008, 10:30:59 PM
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I'm contemplating what books I will be taking to read when we go to Plakias in September. What is everyone else taking this year?
Tony
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Wife read "The Island" by Victoria Hislop 2 years ago now have to go to Spinalonga on a trip this year.
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I'm contemplating what books I will be taking to read when we go to Plakias in September. What is everyone else taking this year?
Tony
for a really good beach book, all action and huge b****ks, i'd recommend Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, all action, very easy and fun
a very different but ( to my mind..) enjoyable book was Sebastian Faulks 'Engleby ' but not recommended for anyone that's not used to his style
for a bit of cretan history (WW2) i picked up a greek printed copy of 'The Flowers of Rethymnon' in paleochora, the story of an aussie's escape, very good indeed, lots of mentions of the area around plakias, i didn't know so many british and commonwealth soldiers were hidden around there
i could go for a while here......
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I'm with T & S, 'The Island' is already packed!!
george g...
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I would recommend 'Tom Bedlam' by George Hagen, it's a modern writer but he writes in a manner that has the atmosphere of Dickens, superb!!!
Chris H.
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An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming by Nigel Lawson
At last some common sense on the subject of climate change.
Mike
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I will stick to my usual Chris Ryan and Andy McNab books then exchange them at Ali and Daves !
Barny.
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From Chris
for a bit of cretan history (WW2) i picked up a greek printed copy of 'The Flowers of Rethymnon' in paleochora, the story of an aussie's escape, very good indeed, lots of mentions of the area around plakias, i didn't know so many british and commonwealth soldiers were hidden around there
I suppose they must have passed by plakias if after crossing over the island and down the Imbros Gorge they made their way to Preveli
Tony
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An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming by Nigel Lawson
At last some common sense on the subject of climate change.
Mike
You may find "How to save the planet" by Mayer Hillman of interest then
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141016922 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141016922)
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Books? Don't have the time, takes me long enough to read the Mythos label and the Ouzo label.
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Wife read "The Island" by Victoria Hislop 2 years ago now have to go to Spinalonga on a trip this year.
Repeating what I posted in the 'Where to Go' forum - We would recommend driving to Plaka and getting the boat from there - a bit further than Agios Nikolais or Elounda but much quieter so it is easier to imagine what it was like 60 years ago. Also, we wanted more than an hour on the island - easy to tell the guy on the little boat from Plaka that you will be getting a later boat back. Not sure if you can do the same on the larger boats from Elounda or Agios Nikolais
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I shall be taking a Minette Walters book - I'm sure it will be a good read but the main thing is that it was only 20p at a boot sale so I won't feel guilty about turning the corners of the pages over and won't worry about what state it will be in after a few days' reading on the beach.
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I suppose they must have passed by plakias if after crossing over the island and down the Imbros Gorge they made their way to Preveli
Tony
this was well after the evacuation. the aussie's were basically left at Rethymnon and weren't informed of the retreat to Sphakia, they had contained and driven the original paratroopers into an olive oil factory but were overwhelmed by the main assault rolling up from the west. some surrendered some escaped
an interesting fact is that Plakias was being thought of as a possible evacuation port for the whole commonwealth forces
Lew Lind ( the author) escaped from a POW camp at Maleme, spent time in Selino area (sougia paleohora and many small villages around there) the crossed over to be finally taken off by submarine at prevelli. there were hundreds of british, Aussie and kiwi soldiers being hidden in Fratti, Myrthios, Sellia, Axomatos etc
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I would recommend 'Tom Bedlam' by George Hagen, it's a modern writer but he writes in a manner that has the atmosphere of Dickens, superb!!!
Chris H.
Ordered it from Amazon and it came yesterday.
Tony
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I would recommend 'Tom Bedlam' by George Hagen, it's a modern writer but he writes in a manner that has the atmosphere of Dickens, superb!!!
Chris H.
Ordered it from Amazon and it came yesterday.
Tony
Good for you!
I'm positive you will enjoy
Chris H.
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Anyone read 'McCarthy's Bar' by Pete McCarthy?
It's been recommended to me, sounds like an ideal read.
george g...
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I will stick to my usual Chris Ryan and Andy McNab books then exchange them at Ali and Daves !
Barny.
Just read (and I had bought it ready to take away in the summer but dipped in and then finished it!) "Sniper One" about an army unit based in Iraq (covering the episode where Pvt Beharry gained his VC). I would strongly recommend it as a great read and on a sombre political note why we should support our troops in Iraq irrespective of whether we feel the war was justified or not.
Tony
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This year I was reading The Broken Kings by Robert Holdstock, a somewhat bizarre fantasy novel that contrives to take the wizard Merlin back to ancient Crete where he encounters Daedalos (sp?). Also, whenever I'm in Greece I like to read some Homer, this year it was the Odyssey in Robert Fagles' translation (Penguin Classics).
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Goody! We both now have Kindles and so our suitcases when we visit Plakias in September will have loads of potential space as we wont be taking the usual library of books (usually about 10 paperbacks). The down side is that space will probably be filled with more shoes for Sandra.
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Goody! We both now have Kindles and so our suitcases when we visit Plakias in September will have loads of potential space as we wont be taking the usual library of books (usually about 10 paperbacks). The down side is that space will probably be filled with more shoes for Sandra.
Hello,
Just sorting out my final book list. On my Kindle I have :- Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Mentefiore. Life by Keith Richards . Smut by Alan Bennett.
A few paperbacks namely Gore Vidal , Palimpsest , a memoir.
Victor Pritchett, Collected stories.
Lord Denning , The Discipline of Law. Some chiklit . In addition of course is the excellent Plakias library. Will be there for a month this time so plenty of time for a good read.
Hope Jann enjoyed her trip this time and Kerstin and Peter likewise. Staying again at Rowena and Carl's great apartment at Panorama.
Heather.
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Goody! We both now have Kindles and so our suitcases when we visit Plakias in September will have loads of potential space as we wont be taking the usual library of books (usually about 10 paperbacks). The down side is that space will probably be filled with more shoes for Sandra.
Hello,
Just sorting out my final book list. On my Kindle I have :- Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Mentefiore. Life by Keith Richards . Smut by Alan Bennett.
A few paperbacks namely Gore Vidal , Palimpsest , a memoir.
Victor Pritchett, Collected stories.
Lord Denning , The Discipline of Law. Some chiklit . In addition of course is the excellent Plakias library. Will be there for a month this time so plenty of time for a good read.
Hope Jann enjoyed her trip this time and Kerstin and Peter likewise. Staying again at Rowena and Carl's great apartment at Panorama.
Heather.
Lord Denning "The Discipline of Law". That sounds a bit heavy going!
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Time to read a book? Not for us this year! Due to the extremely high prices being charged by Olympic for this year, our normal 2 week holiday to Kostas has been cut to 1 week, but we will attempt to fit 2 weeks worth of eating, drinking and sun bathing into 1 week, so time to relax with a good book is definately out of the question! We may need another holiday to recover from rushing around to all the tavernas and bars in Plakias, Myrthios and Lefkogeia.
See you all in June (don't blink or you'll miss us)
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Goody! We both now have Kindles and so our suitcases when we visit Plakias in September will have loads of potential space as we wont be taking the usual library of books (usually about 10 paperbacks). The down side is that space will probably be filled with more shoes for Sandra.
Hello,
Just sorting out my final book list. On my Kindle I have :- Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Mentefiore. Life by Keith Richards . Smut by Alan Bennett.
A few paperbacks namely Gore Vidal , Palimpsest , a memoir.
Victor Pritchett, Collected stories.
Lord Denning , The Discipline of Law. Some chiklit . In addition of course is the excellent Plakias library. Will be there for a month this time so plenty of time for a good read.
Hope Jann enjoyed her trip this time and Kerstin and Peter likewise. Staying again at Rowena and Carl's great apartment at Panorama.
Heather.
Lord Denning "The Discipline of Law". That sounds a bit heavy going!
Tony,
It is rather . Should keep me quiet and well out of mischief though !!
Heather.
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Sadly we won't be in Plakias this summer, having switched loyalty to holidays in our campervan, but the must-read that I enjoyed last year was Christopher Somerville's excellent 'The Golden Step', which recounts his walk east to west across Crete.
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Just read "Sniper One" about an army unit based in Iraq (covering the episode where Pvt Beharry gained his VC). I would strongly recommend it as a great read and on a sombre political note why we should support our troops in Iraq irrespective of whether we feel the war was justified or not.
Tony
superb book heartily recommend it
the must-read that I enjoyed last year was Christopher Somerville's excellent 'The Golden Step', which recounts his walk east to west across Crete.
i have been looking for this book
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If all else fails then try Abe Books. Usually find they have the most obscure or out of print tomes.
Heather.
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I will be trying out my 'kindle' on the beach. (ooh err)
Barny.
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Two Anne Zouroudis, a biography of Dickens, Terry Pratchett's Dodger, Murder on the Orient Express & From Russia With Love.
:)
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The Kindle has revolutionized my holiday reading. I no longer agonize over filling half the suitcase with books. My only disappointment was the initial unreliability of the machine having had to return a total of four of them to Amazon before I've got one that seems to be fully functional and stable
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Have you used yours in the bright sunlight yet? (whatever that is) and would it be too hot on the beach to use it?
Barny.
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Have you used yours in the bright sunlight yet? (whatever that is) and would it be too hot on the beach to use it?
Barny.
Hi Barny,
I had a Kindle for the first time in Plakias last year. It was fine.
The e-ink it uses is not like a traditional display, it works great in bright sunlight.
It takes a bit of getting used to but i'm more than happy.
Temperature shouldn't be a problem, though I wouldn't leave it lying around in the baking sun for hours if you weren't using it.
Cheers,
Paul
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My Kindle is 17 months old now and performs flawlessly. Just filled it with the current US & UK best seller lists ;-). Have also put a few audio books and the odd novel I have been meaning to read for some time. I have also got a waterproof/ sand proof clear cover for reading it by the pool or on the beach. Loads of weight and space saved in my luggage. The only problem is what to read first.
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I have used my Kindle in bright sunshine and agree that it's absolutely fine to read but I also agreed that I would leave it deliberately exposed to high temperatures on a beach.
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This is a good website for Kindle owners, I am not condoning it and what you do there is up to you
http://forum.mobilism.org/viewforum.php?f=121Hope I am not breaking any rules by posting the link. Good site for people that love to read.
Kindle owners need .MOBI Format, .PDF will also work but not as well.
There is an excellent Freeware Program for all Ebook users called Calibre, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Install it on your Windows PC, Mac or Linux and load, backup, manage and convert your ebook collection and device. Info here http://calibre-ebook.com/
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Not sure if this book has been mentioned before but having missed out on visiting this last two years I have been reading some of my old books, the first is In Sfakia, passing time in the wilds of crete by Peter Trudgill published by lycabettus press
it is a wonderful story of his journeys to and around Sfakia from 1963 (IIRC) until the present day, it is full of lovely stories of the people and their history , which peter , as a greek speaker has been able to correlate exceedingly well
I found i was able to relate to many of his stories and enjoyed the book immensely
there is a much fuller review on Erno's Sfakiia site here books about sfakia (http://www.sfakia-crete.com/sfakia-crete/sfakia-crete-books.html)
chris
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So what is everyone going to be reading this year?
Tony
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Kalimera Pefki (A look inside Crete)
A book that we brought back from Crete last year, not just for reading on holiday but a lovely addition to the coffee table and to refresh Cretan memories during our long winter.
Beautiful photographs by Henk van der Walle and superb stories by Corinne Falagari who has lived on the Island since 1996.
Let me quote from the book
“Kalimera Pefki is a fascinating journey through a valley on the magical Island of Crete. Touching, hilarious and above all surprising photos and narratives open doors which otherwise would have remained closed to the reader.
Meet the wise mayor, the caring widow, five little girls splashing about in a baptismal font and the wistful bus driver. And follow the moving story of an eagle and the birth of an angel. Read, watch and taste the Cretan life. It will stay with you forever.
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For me, it is the serendipity of whatever is in the Plakias library. I take one book with me to read, likely to be an Anna Zaroudi this year, and donate it to the library. I also download a few library books to my tablet, as a back up, but I've never needed to fall back on them, except for the journey home. As there are so many books in the Plakias library, donated by so many varied visitors, there is always something interesting to read, including some of those mentioned earlier in this thread.
Arnaki
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I agree...I like being able to choose from the collection at Costas Chrysoulas too...and I leave copies there. Found Sepulchre by Kate Mosse a few years ago and have since taken Labyrinth and Citadel as holiday reads. Not sure what choice it will be this year but I often take old favourites such as Sharpe, Poldark or Jane Eyre...something easy to read.
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I load up my kindle with anything about Crete and the Greek Islands. OH does as everyone else does, takes books to swap.
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In line with various other posts on here - I recommend "The Island" by Victoria Heslop; it is a wonderful story about Spinalonga and the effect of leprosy on the life of a young girl growing up on Crete. Very emotional, but also uplifting and hard to believe it is true.
A great read!
:)