Bedtime Reading

[Tony and Sandra Smith]

Last year read "The Island" by Ian Hislop's wife about the leper colony on Spinalonga near Ag Nic on the North coast of Crete. Very moving.

Yep me too, last year on the beach saw this book polished off. Got mixed reviews but I enjoyed it.

 I read that too last year in Plakias  - but I did not realise it was by Ian Hislop's wife
 roger

I read it this year & loved it, now I'm reading A Taste of Honey by Bryon ? ( will post surname later ), he's a canadian guy but from greek roots he was a chef and now is planning to retire on Crete, all set around the Plakias area. Really good so far. I borrowed it from Andy, at the Library so if you want to read it i'll be taking it back in October.

Rowena

Shamelessly copied from Wikipedia

Victoria Hislop is a British author. Educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she worked in publishing and as a journalist before becoming an author.

Her first novel The Island, which the Sunday Express hailed as the new Captain Corelli's Mandolin, was a Number 1 Bestseller in the UK, its success in part the result of having been selected by the Richard and Judy Book Club for their 2006 Summer Reads. She married journalist and Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop on 16th April 1988. They have two children and live in Kent.

Now who will be reading the seveth Harry Potter on the beach tommorrow?

[Tony and Sandra Smith]

Last year read "The Island" by Ian Hislop's wife about the leper colony on Spinalonga near Ag Nic on the North coast of Crete. Very moving.

Yep me too, last year on the beach saw this book polished off. Got mixed reviews but I enjoyed it.

 I read that too last year in Plakias  - but I did not realise it was by Ian Hislop's wife
 roger

I read it this year & loved it, now I'm reading A Taste of Honey by Bryon ? ( will post surname later ), he's a canadian guy but from greek roots he was a chef and now is planning to retire on Crete, all set around the Plakias area. Really good so far. I borrowed it from Andy, at the Library so if you want to read it i'll be taking it back in October.

Rowena

Shamelessly copied from Wikipedia

Victoria Hislop is a British author. Educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford, she worked in publishing and as a journalist before becoming an author.

Her first novel The Island, which the Sunday Express hailed as the new Captain Corelli's Mandolin, was a Number 1 Bestseller in the UK, its success in part the result of having been selected by the Richard and Judy Book Club for their 2006 Summer Reads. She married journalist and Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop on 16th April 1988. They have two children and live in Kent.

Now who will be reading the seveth Harry Potter on the beach tommorrow?

At first I was a bit confused as the characters live in a village called Plaka and I kept thinking it was our beloved Plakias but I dont think we have too many lepers in Plakias (do we)?
Tony

[Greecemad]

Whilst in Plakias last month, I finished reading the two books I had taken with me and had to find something else to read. Of course, the selection of books in English in Plakias is limited, so I bought a book about the battle of Crete, and I am still reading it. It is more interesting because I know where a lot of the places are, especially as I passed Maleme and the Tavronitis bridge on my way to Paleochora - I had heard of these places on the board, courtesy of Harribobs discussions.

It sounds as though the allies shouldn't have lost the battle at all, had they been more organised and had some communication.

Greecemad

[Chas]

Whilst in Plakias last month, I finished reading the two books I had taken with me and had to find something else to read.  ...

Check out the shelves on the left in Ali & Dave's - there's a good selection of "previously enjoyed books" ... plus five more, after our visit. (Assuming Ali's read them  )

[harribobs]

if you're interested in the battle of crete, and what went on after in the resistance movement, aided by the british, no sorry allied forces, I would recommend these

Crete, the Battle and Resistance Alan Beevor ( anything he writes is worth reading)

Ill met by Moonlight, W Stanley Moss. the journal of the abduction of Gen Kreipe, absolutely  Boy's Own stuff




The Cretan Runner George Pysoundakais, probably the only written history of the period by a cretan. George died recently, i sad to say. The book was translated by Paddy Leigh Fermor, who was the other main conspirator in the Kreipe abduction


Paddy roamed europe before and after the war and his books are well worth reading, we know he has a book about the raid and abduction, but he's never published it, probably never wanting to take the gloss off his partners book ( and film)

[Greecemad]

Crete, the Battle and Resistance Alan Beevor ( anything he writes is worth reading)

That's the book I bought

[Chas]

Off at a slight tangent, harribobs's mention of PLF reminded me of a thread on another board, a few months back ...

Battle of Kalamata WW2

... there are a couple of posts with details of the commemoration, another with documentary links and a report (with link to pictures) of the event.

[cornucopia]

Can't believe nobody's mentioned Nikos Kazantzakis yet - Crete's greatest writer, at least of the last couple of hundred years or so, and he's got a football stadium and, if my memory serves, an airport named after him. You can generally buy English translations of Zorba the Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ in larger British bookshops and you can order Freedom and Death (which is the absolute dog's and unremittingly Cretan) or Report to Greco on the interweb thingy. Not necessarilly the easiest of reads - something like a cross between Hemingway and Joseph Conrad - but if you're lying on a beach you can always feed the pages you've already read to the nearest passing goat...

[harribobs]

Off at a slight tangent, harribobs's mention of PLF reminded me of a thread on another board, a few months back ...

Battle of Kalamata WW2

... there are a couple of posts with details of the commemoration, another with documentary links and a report (with link to pictures) of the event.

ah!  Mani, (never been, but) PLF has ( had) a house there i believe

[Chas]

Off at a slight tangent, harribobs's mention of PLF reminded me of a thread on another board, a few months back ...

Battle of Kalamata WW2

... there are a couple of posts with details of the commemoration, another with documentary links and a report (with link to pictures) of the event.

ah!  Mani, (never been, but) PLF has ( had) a house there i believe

Going by the tail-end post in that thread, from John M, PLF is still alive, well and living in/on the Mani - he looks remarkably well, too, judging by the pic that John M uploaded.

[harribobs]

Going by the tail-end post in that thread, from John M, PLF is still alive, well and living in/on the Mani - he looks remarkably well, too, judging by the pic that John M uploaded.

oh yes he's still alive and kicking, i just didn't know if he had the house at Mani still

[harribobs]

if anyone is seriously interested in the Battle of Crete, I have recently discovered that the The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945, the battle for Crete is available on line

NZ BOC history

although this was written with no knowledge of Ultra, it's an amazing detailed account  ( i have a hard back edition btw)

cvhris

[Tony and Sandra Smith]

What are people reading this year whilst on the beach?

Tony

[spottttttt]

What are people reading this year whilst on the beach?

Tony

I read Shiprocked its about the off shore pirate radio station Caroline, fantastic reading!

[Davos]

What are people reading this year whilst on the beach?

Tony

I read Shiprocked its about the off shore pirate radio station Caroline, fantastic reading!

Hi
I read the Da Da De Da Da Code by Robert Rankin, and a book of Anais Nin's short stories.