Looking forward to receiving a copy of Κώστας Καρυωτάκης. Το εγκώμιο της φυγής by Σπύρος Βρεττός. Er, how to translate? How about: Kostas Karyotakis: The Eulogy of Escape by Spyros Vrettos.

I ordered this from the Greek online store Protoporia, along with some Ellroy and Markaris for Panos, and some school books for the kids. (I’m […]

Dear Andrew Dalby,
b priestley would like to know if you have “written anywhere in detail about the editing of Homer by Zenodotus.” If you haven’t he’d like to know if you would tell him “where to find the latest scholarship on this.”
Meanwhile, he mentions how he enjoyed your book Empire of Pleasures, pictured below.

Yes, a […]

Meanwhile, in a previous issue of Odyssey magazine, I’ve a brief article that introduces some books one might like to read if one is keen on getting to know Greece/Greeks through fiction.
Click on the magazine cover to get the PDF:

Decided to snip the tops of my not-so-good-looking basil plant only to be freaked out by appearance of praying mantis, below. Did I snip any part of him/her while snipping basil? Nope. All parts are intact. See:

I was suddenly happier. I felt happy to know that Mr or Ms Mantis calls my basil plant home.
I […]

My article on Maria Spiropulu is in the current issue of Odyssey magazine. Read it.

All summer I’ve been drinking frappe, the instant cold coffee that modern Greeks love to mix and drink, though truth be told they are more likely to drink freddo (made from espresso, not instant Nescafe) than frappe these days. The other day, to mark the official end of summer, I made a Greek coffee. [Turkish, […]

The Mundobasket final. Watching it, because I’m in Greece and Greece is playing. Focusing and not focusing on it. And then, the adverts. And a voice. A deep voice, strong. A voice not too familiar, but heard sometime before… Then the lyrics become clear…
I hurt myself today
to see if I still feel
I focus on the […]

The lovely Jai Clare has tagged me, so here goes:
One book that changed your life.
Obviously, there is no one book that changed my life. How can that be? My life is in constant change and many books have contributed to this. Overall though I can say that Thomas Hardy’s novels have been major catalysts. Especially, […]

Seems as if hardly any time has passed since I wrote that note about my summers, at the very beginning of this summer, on June 6. I remember that evening. It was a slow evening. I had time to think, and write. I had time to do all the things I like to do. For […]