Microsoft word - reading list 2013.doc

Recommended Reading List for Greek Summer
In order to prepare for your adventure in Greece we have compiled this recommended reading list. Past GS
Participants, Counselors, Directors and Farm School Trustees have all contributed to it. The list is arranged by
interest and includes some of the very best works to date. If you read a couple of these books before you come and
bring a couple with you for the long plane ride and days at the beach, it will greatly enhance your understanding of
Greek culture and intensify your experience traveling around the country. This list is by no means exhaustive.
There are many other great titles about Greece out there. Look around and if you find one that you think is really
great, bring it along and recommend it to others. Enjoy!
Travel
Lonely Planet Greece (9th Edition) by Korina Miller et al. 2010 The best of the travel guidebooks about Greece. Frommer’s Greece by John Bowman et al. 2010 The best information about Thessaloniki. How to Eat Out in Greece by Desponia Afthonidou 1997 The definitive guide to Greek food and the customs surrounding meal time. A Dionysian Travelogue that explores Greece via its tavernas "with the utility of a travel guide and the tone of a novel," says publisher Elliott Mackey. A Literary Companion to Travel in Greece by Richard Stoneman 1994 Arranged topographically, the selections lead the reader from the Ionian Islands to Sparta and Attica, on to Northern Greece and the Aegean--conjuring up the history and wildness, the heat and beauty that have lured writers from Virgil to Henry Miller. Language
It is a good idea to start familiarizing yourself with the Greek language. You will learn a lot of Greek during your
summer, but whatever you learn beforehand will give you a head start and will further enhance your Greek
experience:
Language learning site: https://www.livemocha.com/ This is a site that offers you the opportunity to learn the basics of Greek (and other languages) through the help of your peers, as well as the opportunity to help others learn a language that you are familiar with. It provides help with reading, writing and pronunciation, and offers a set of different courses, depending on the language level you are in. It is free of charge - just give a valid e-mail and password. This site gives you the chance to learn the Greek language you will need to communicate on a basic level. The Berlitz Greek Phrase Book & Dictionary 1998 Pocket sized & an excellent quick reference. http://www.berlitz.com/scripts/language.asp for Berlitz Greek CD and/or Cassette packs. Modern Greece: A Short History by C. M. Woodhouse 2000 An excellent history of Greece, from Constantine to the present. Especially interesting is the story of national development in the post-Turkish period and the way it details 18th and 19th century attempts to develop a national Greek consciousness. The Life of Greece by Will Durant 1997 About Greek philosophy, government and culture as it has developed over the years. Art & Archeology
Use the complete urls listed for these sites in order to get the English versions:
Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki: http://www.amth.gr/ The Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki: http://www.mbp.gr/html/en/index.htm Archaeological Park of Dion: http://www.ancientdion.org/ The Acropolis (Athens) Museum: http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/default.php?pname=Home&la=2 National Archaeological Museum of Athens: http://www.namuseum.gr/index-en.html Benaki Museum, Athens: http://www.benaki.gr/index.asp?lang=en Ancient Greece: The Famous Monuments Past and Present by G. Behor 2000 Excellent pictures, drawings, cross sections, structural plans and descriptions of the most notable monuments in Greece. The Traveler’s Key to Ancient Greece by Richard G. Geldard 2000 Concise explanations of Greek art and design on display at the sites around the country. A valuable overview of Greek art, easy to read and informative. Great photos and descriptions!
Mythology
The ultimate catalogue of the stories told in ancient Greece. A tried and true authority, and very easy to read. Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece by W. H. D. Rouse 1957 Another excellent, lighthearted retelling of mythology’s great tales of valor and romance.
Drama & Poetry
Voices of Modern Greece byEdmund Keeley & Philip Sherrard 1982 A truly moving and absolutely wonderful collection of modern Greek Poetry. The Complete Greek Tragedies Series by Richmond Lattimore 1992 A set of books that includes all the great works by Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and many more. C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems by Edmund Keeley & Philip Sherrard 1992 Includes “Ithaka” and all his other great poems, brilliantly translated by two of the world’s leading experts of Greek language. Historical Fiction
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis De Bernieres 1995 A passionate love story between an Italian soldier and a young Greek woman on the island of Cephalonia during World War II. Gives great insight into the plight of Greeks during the Italian occupation and following the war. There are so many wonderful translations of these epic tales, pick any one. The story lives all around you as you travel through Greece. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield 1998 An epic novel of the battle of Thermopylae The King Must Die 1988 – About the life and trials of Theseus, including slaying the Minotaur Bull from the Sea 1975 – Theseus on his return from Crete The Mask of Apollo 1988 – Following the life of a tragic actor in ancient Greece The Last of the Wine 1981 – A young Athenian boy grows up at the end of the Peloponnesian War Fire From Heaven 1977 – Young Alexander the Great grows up and conquers the world The Nature of Alexander 1979 – Following the life of Alexander the Great from youth to death The Persian Boy 1988 – Alexander the Great through the eyes of his trusted servant Contemporary Literature
Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kasantzakis 1946 An absolute classic. Originally published in Greek, the unnamed narrator is a scholarly, introspective writer who opens a coal mine on the fertile island of Crete. He is gradually drawn out of his ascetic shell by an elderly employee named Zorba, an ebullient man who revels in the social pleasures of eating, drinking, and dancing. If you like Zorba, also check out Freedom or Death. In 1948, as civil war ravaged Greece, children were abducted and sent to communist "camps" behind the Iron Curtain. Eleni Gatzoyiannis, 41, defied the traditions of her small village and the terror of the communist insurgents to arrange for the escape of her three daughters and her son, Nicola. For that act, she was imprisoned, tortured, and executed in cold blood. Nicholas Gage joined his father in Massachusetts at the age of nine and grew up to be a top investigative reporter for the New York Times. Finally he returned to Greece to uncover the story he cared about most -- the story of his mother's heroic life and tragic death. My Family and other Animals by Gerald Malcolm Durrell 2000 A hysterically funny story about Durrell’s youth, growing up with his family on the island of Corfu. The Olive Grove: Travels in Greece by Katherine Kizilos 1997 The author tells the story of her travels from Athens to Chrysambela, the Peloponnesian village where her father lived until, at 17, he was put on a plane to Australia to escape the German occupation. Gives an intimate picture of Greece that is far different from the usual Acropolis-dominated postcard depictions. Roumeli: Travels in Northern Greece by Patrick Leigh Fermor 1966 Roumeli is not to be found on present-day maps. It is the name once given to northern Greece—stretching from the Bosporus to the Adriatic and from Macedonia to the Gulf of Corinth, a name that evokes a world where the present is inseparably bound up with the past.
Available for purchase through the American Farm School’s New York Office

Metamorphosis: Why Do I Love Greece? by Bruce Lansdale
Bruce Lansdale, a Director of the Farm School for 40 years and founder of Greek Summer, writes a moving poem outlining the various reasons for loving Greece. Beautiful pictures of the places you will visit and people you will meet while on Greek Summer accompany his poetry. My Metamorphosis: A Tapestry of People, Places and Events by Elizabeth “Tad” Lansdale From the Forward by Dimitri Zannas: My Metamorphosis by Tad Lansdale is about a love affair. In this highly personal and refreshing autobiographical account, Tad expresses her love for people, places and events that transformed her life as the wife of Bruce Lansdale, the Director of the American Farm School in Thessaloniki, Greece during a period that spans the second half of the twentieth century and carries the reader into the twenty-first”. The American Farm School, which was founded in 1904, has a fascinating history that has been chronicled masterfully by the School’s official historian, Brenda Marder. The book was published in 2004, the School’s centennial year. From the School’s founding by Protestant missionaries, through wars and civil upheavals, to becoming the center for culture and international collaboration that it is today, Marder has given us an exciting and comprehensive history. It will provide you with the remarkable background of the institution that founded and maintains the incredible program that your child will experience this summer.
Greek Football
Use the urls to find out about the football teams of Greece:
AEK Athens - Athens, founded in 1924 -- http://www.aekfc.gr Aris - Thessaloniki, founded in 1914 -- http://www.arisfc.gr Iraklis - Thessaloniki, founded in 1908 -- http://www.iraklis-fc.gr Olympiacos - Piraeus, founded in 1925 -- http://www.olympiacos.org Panathinaikos - Athens, founded in 1908 -- http://www.pao.gr PAOK - Thessaloniki, founded in 1926 -- http://www.paokfc.gr
Popular singers of Greece
Click on the urls to find out more about some of the popular singers of Greece. If you want to hear what their music
is like, visit www.youtube.com and type in their names as seen in the list below
Michalis Hatzigiannis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michalis_Hatzigiannis
Sakis Rouvas - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakis_Rouvas
Anna Vissi - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Vissi
Elena Paparizou - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Paparizou
Antonis Remos - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonis_Remos
Peggy Zina - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Zina
Giannis Ploutarhos - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giannis_Ploutarhos
Haris Alexiou - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haris_Alexiou
George Dalaras - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dalaras
Mt. Olympus
Click on the url to find out more about the home of the Ancient Greek Gods
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Olympus

Source: http://www.afs.edu.gr/files/02_pdf/Reading%20List%202013.pdf