When I came up with the idea of reading the world in a year back at the end of 2011, I could never have predicted where the project would lead. I certainly never dreamed it would help Steve and me arrange our honeymoon. But that’s the latest twist in this extraordinary adventure.
Shortly after I wrote my article for BBC Culture, I received an email from Lea at Combadi, a travel agent with the strapline ‘Come back different’. She and her husband Yannis were interested in writing a piece about this blog for their newsletter.
At the time, Steve and I were in the process of planning our wedding. We’d been wondering about Greece as a honeymoon destination, but weren’t really sure where to look, so when we found out Combadi is based in Athens, it seemed like a perfect fit. With just a few emails back and forth, Lea and Yannis organised us a fabulous break in Crete, tracking down some wonderful places we would never have found for ourselves.
If that wasn’t enough, imagine my delight when we arrived at the beautiful hotel in a remote village in eastern Crete three weeks ago to find a special Year of Reading the World surprise waiting for me. Lea and Yannis had arranged for a copy of Freedom and Death by Crete’s most famous writer Nikos Kazantzakis (the author of Zorba the Greek) to be in our room.
Proclaimed as a modern Iliad in its blurb, the 1950 novel (first translated into English in 1956) follows the fortunes of the fearsome Cretan resistance fighter Captain Michales as he tries to lead the residents of the village of Megalokastro in a bloody fight for independence from the Ottoman Empire and union with Greece.
It is a mighty book, full of gripping and terrible events. From the bitter mountain duel between the Turk Nuri Bey and his arch-enemy Michales’s cousin to the cruel machinations of the Pacha and the Bacchanalian blowouts the protagonist uses to try to escape his own thoughts, the novel throbs with dark energy.
For me, reading about the brutal events of more than a century before amid the picturesque landscape where they took place was an education. Not only did it open my eyes to a new chapter of history, but it also unlocked numerous local mores and customs. Following a comment from Steve about the large number of middle-aged Cretan men sporting moustaches, I was intrigued to discover a dialogue in the book that implied facial hair was a key gender marker in 19th-century Crete – an attitude that perhaps still lingers in some places today. Similarly, after reading about a hearty meal of Cretan sausage, I ordered it for dinner, confident that we would have a delicious meal (we did).
I finished the dramatic last page (don’t worry, no spoilers here) with a sense of awe. Once again, books were taking me places and opening up experiences I could never have accessed on my own.
Freedom and Death (Captain Michalis) by Nikos Kazantzakis, translated from the Greek by Jonathan Griffin (Faber & Faber, 1966)
Reading the world was a great idea! I wrote about it in my blog and planning to do the same in 2014. I just wonder what do you call a person who has read the world… Is there a term in dictionaries? If not, there should be one 🙂
Thanks – hmmn. An interesting question. A biblioglobe? A lexiplanet? Think I like biblioglobe best…
orbilogist (from Latin orbis, world + logos, word)
mundophone (from Greek mundi, world + phōnḗ, voice)
Ooh, like them. Thanks. Although, isn’t mundi Latin and logos Greek?
Clearly I would advocate for use of the term biblioglobe!
I like to think of myself as a ‘literary nomad’ 🙂 http://www.readingtheworld.co.uk
Interesting, thanks John. Although doesn’t nomad suggest you have no home or starting off point?
Ah, you’re right; hm, that doesn’t work very well, Borges advised against mixing Latin with Greek.
Well, I don’t know. A bit of mixing can lead to some surprising results…
Sounds like a great book read in a fantastic location! I’ll try read it too
Thanks – it was. I hope you like it!
He also wrote The Last Temptation, which I loved. I’ll have to look this book up.
Great stuff – yes, will definitely have to get into some more Kazantzakis!
Reblogged this on andromar's Blog.
Congratulations on your marriage, all the best for your future and reading and writing
Thanks Carol. I hope all’s well with you.
I really love your idea of reading the world! I hope one day I can do that too. I recommend you to read Amor de Invierno (Winter Love) by Mario Halley Mora, it’s a love story and he’s an paraguayan writer. I don’t know if there’s an english version though!
And by the way, congratulations!
Thanks very much. Winter Love sounds intriguing! I hope it is available in English, although not much Paraguayan literature seems to be – we need more!
Sounds absolutely gripping, thank you for the wonderful post!
Thanks Luca. Glad you liked it.
I recommend Mario Levi and Yasar Kemal from Turkey
Thanks – I’ll have to look them up.
I advice you another book from Turkey http://thelitbitch.com/2013/12/30/review-the-time-regulation-institute-by-ahmet-hamdi-tanpinar/