The Birds by Aristophanes
A bit dated lol, written in 414 bc. I suppose aristophanes had no idea just how unsuitable a material clouds are for building his "cloud cuckoo land" city upon.
felix.gripe
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The Constant Gardener by John le Carré
My first le Carré. About the murder of a british diplomat's wife in nairobi, and the subsequent adventures of her husband in trying to find the culprit and the police/foreign office/mi6/big pharma villains trying to find him.
Athens Greeknotes 9 Aug
August is quiet in athens, so two new beaches, catching up with uk and greek friends in kypseli, and translating my first book from greek to english
The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper
Written in 1946 by a british intelligence officer tasked with finding out from captured germans that were present in the fuehrerbunker at the very end of WWII exactly how it unfolded. Historically interesting at least and good to see some of history's worst bastards get their comeuppance.
Ο κύριος Ιδιότροπος (Mr Fussy) by Roger Hargreaves
Our πολύτροπος protagonist, Ο κύριος Ιδιότροπος, tends serenely to his home and garden until a dangerous and unwelcome relation arrives unannounced, sewing discord and havoc upon his heretofore tranquil and orderly existence.
Athens Greeknotes 2 Aug
Grim greek news: deadly fires in greece, and a murder in Kypseli. Distracted myself by watching the odyssey, reading some books, a swim at the beach with friends and treating myself to a rotten head cold.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Beautifully written tragedy. A mid-western 20-something in long island amongst the new york elites. The palace next door belongs to Gatsby, a nouveau riche who's riches come from murky sources.
Ilium by Dan Simmons
Absolutely bananas sci-fi story split into three plotlines, each madder than the other. Sort of about the Iliad. I can't tell if I liked it or endured it, *being 750 pages long* it feels like taking the piss a bit. Still, Well written if insane.
The Odyssey (2026 film) at Cine Alsos
Tremendous fun! A big holywood blockbuster adaptation of homer's epic, where we follow Sad Damon around the aegean from woe to woe. The cicadas, hooting skops owls, warm night, greek subtitles, efficient and friendly bar, and a bright full moon overhead made the whole event even more enjoyable.
Athens Greeknotes 26 Jul
Wild heat and storms. Mosquito strife. New bald barber, new old clothes, new taverna, and excitingly – new pens.
Athens Greeknotes 19 Jul
Five tortoises, watching england lose at football, the end of both my greek class and my running shoe struggle, and reading the odyssey.
The Odyssey by Homer
Sex, drugs, booze and ultra-violence. Slavery, torture and murder. Monsters and gods.
Athens Greeknotes 12 Jul
A trip to Ψαθα beach, the Μουντιαλ, two fires, and a kitten rescue in sunny athens.
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
A dismal anticapitalist poet packs in his job as a copywriter and wallows in poverty and despair. The nadir of the story is so knuckle-bitingly awful I could only read a page or two per sitting from all the cringing.
Athens Greeknotes 5 Jul
What I did on me 'olidays: my first trip to the island of Syros. More books, cats, skinny dipping, and strawberry moons than usual.
Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger
Harrowing. The autobiographical story of a 19yo private who signs up on the first day of WWI and follows his journey as a german stormtrooper through pretty much every famous battle on the western front. The horror, death, gore, terror, is relentless.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
It sounds insane to criticise hemingway's writing but I found his stacatto sentences offputting
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Engrossing sort of sci fi in which a black 25yo woman in LA gets mysteriously called back in time to a plantation in the antebellum south whenever the slave owner’s life is threatened. Not a normal beach read but glad I picked it up.
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
A palate cleanser after the poor book I just finished. I thought to myself who is the best writer, and in my opinion it has to be graham greene, so I picked one of his I'd not read before. Extremely made me want to drink daiquiris in 50's cuba.
Athens Greeknotes 28 Jun
A successful trip to Marikes beach, a failed trip to the cinema, a failed prime minister, a failure of a book, and a lot more food and football than expected.
There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
I sent the photo above to my friend who recommended me this book with the message "This book is so poorly written that it made my vase sad and my flowers die" which pretty much sums up my review.
Athens Greeknotes 21 Jun
A sunny week of excess – a fantastic beach, a great cinema, a good book, football success, a load of tavernas and pie extortion.
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
A fantastical story against the backdrop of the real history of the partition of india/pakistan, following a generally unlucky guy and his unluckier still family.
Disclosure Day at Cine Alsos
A fine film, not really memorable, kind of like a feature length x-file. Incredible cinema though!!
Athens Greeknotes 14 Jun
Two tavernas, two kafeneios, Plato's academy, a carnival of fiscal excess, sunshine, and a free tortoise. Greece!
Athens Greeknotes 9 Jun
A nice hot quiet boring week. Finished a very long book and started running again.
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Thought I'd try book no.1 in The Guardian's top 100 best novels of all time. I wouldn't put it as my no.1, but I can see why so many people did. Funny, sad, tense, depressing, exciting, and satisfying. Also v long.
Athens Greeknotes 1 Jun
Final batch of visitors arrive and depart! Showing my wee scottish niece around athens, aegina, marathon, and all the greek tavernas and bars we had time for
Athens Greeknotes 24 May
A lot of eating with a visitor, my first attempt at tzaktiki, and finishing a book and a bot.
Embassytown by China Miéville
Πολύ ωραίο. Set on a planet on the far end of the universe, the interactions between the human ambassadors engineered to be able to speak the double language of the curious but benign (and extremely strange) native aliens.
Athens Greeknotes 19 May
Another visitor! My art teacher from my schooldays arrived in athens so we do all the sights and eat all the foods
Athens Greeknotes 10 May
Greece's best sandwich, a poor man's Metallica gig, a good book, a great gig, jasmine and a hoopoe. Burning the candle at one end.
Ditz @ Arch Club, Athens
Schlepped my way across all of athens to catch Ditz – one of brighton's finest bands – and they did not disappoint.
My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
I very much enjoyed this 1956 autobiographical story by Gerald Durrell, who aged 10 moved to Corfu from england in the 1930's with his eccentric family. Beautiful descriptions of the idyllic greek island, and his relentless collecting of all the fauna thereon as pets.
Athens Greeknotes 3 May
A friend visits from Rhodes for the May Day holiday, thus bars, foods, sights and a welcome night out dancing at An Club in Exarcheia
Athens Greeknotes 26 Apr
A week of temples, tavernas, musuems, and beaches with my visiting parents. Also eating an astonishing amount of greek food.
Athens Greeknotes Apr 19
Double greeknotes due to double-easter slackness last week. Big easter celebrations, a great book, a viral post, exploding trousers, and my parents arrive!
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
A towering work of sci-fi. Written in 1930, it charts the history of humanity from the inter-war period to 5,000,000,000,000 AD. The premise is the cycle of human evolution and extinction in 18 civilisations, from current earth to the last men.
Athens Greeknotes Apr 05
Another deadly storm (Erminio) lashes athens. Printed Athens ART Weekend in kypseli, meze at a friend's taverna, and dog sitting one of the biggest dogs I've ever met.
Athens Greeknotes Mar 29
Failing to take advantage of Greek Independence Day, The First Cemetery of Athens, and a piss up in a brewery.
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Like a moth returning to a slightly boring and plotless flame, I couldn't resist picking up another one of her books after noticing it had entered the public domain.
Athens Greeknotes Mar 22
A cold and grey week in athens, improved by taverna food, cats, dogs and I suppose, by a half marathon. Although my legs disagree.
Athens Greeknotes Mar 16
One good day in Petralona, but mostly laid up with a cold in sunny greece.
The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks
I saw discourse on bluesky about a radio 4 adaption which prompted me to realise I'd not read this one. What a joy it is to discover an un-read banks, king of sci-fi.
Athens Greeknotes Mar 08
Athens in spring. Three bars, two greek classes, and one trip to the beach.
Athens Greeknotes Mar 01
A short sunny but cold week in athens – school, books, an incredible art gallery and hanging out in pangrati.
The Goulandris Museum of Modern Art
Exceptional. A piece or two by pretty much every master artist you have heard of, cezanne, pissaro, miro, matisse, monet, picasso, rodin, latrec, degas, pollack, hepworth, lichtenstein etc.
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
Absolute cuck festival. Pretty depressing tale of uk/us aristo's behaving poorly with one another.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Deeply affecting, I read it all in one evening. I can see why it won the Nebula and Hugo awards.
Athens Greeknotes Feb 23
My first trip to a Saronic island – Aegina. Temples, food, deserted beaches, mountains, friends, sunshine, and an impressive amount of pistachio produce.