June, Crete, and my Five Star reads

A week in Crete was a good excuse to read three novels I probably would not otherwise have read.

I have seen the restaurants, but not the film of  Zorba the Greek and was not quite sure what to expect from Nikos Kazantsakis's novel. The narrator is bewitched by the almost mystical Zorba, and brings him to work in a lignite mine, set not far from where we were staying.

Patouchas, by Ioannis Kondylakis, is set a little earlier, in a Crete that has just freed itself from oppressive Turkish rule. Again, I was unaware how complicated the island's history was.

The Dark Labyrinth of Lawrence Durrell's 1947 novel was also located nearby. Durrell's star has faded rapidly and for the first few chapters I found it hard to engage with a succession of characters who would slide effortlessly into Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, but it is a superbly constructed novel that rewarded perseverance.

The resort we stayed at was interesting in that it catered almost exclusively for Scandinavian tourists, and I heard English voices only once in a week.  Poolside reading included Camilla Läckberg, Leif GW Persson and Mari Jungstedt,  but the most popular author seemed to be Nesbø, and the most popular title Lars Kepler's Hypnotist.

I read Jussi Adler-Olsson's Mercy and found it as good as the rest of the crime blog community did, and Tom Rob Smith's Agent 6 which was better than the Secret Speech but not as good as Child 44.

I enjoyed Ernesto Sabato's The Tunnel, but my best read in June - and probably in 2011 so date, was Karel Čapek's War With the Newts.

Six months in, I have read ten books towards the 2011 Global Challenge, two towards the Eastern Europe Challenge, and one towards the Argentina Challenge.  

My five star reads have been:

In the Country of Men, by Hashim Matar

Red April, by Santiago Roncagliolo

War With the Newts, by Karel Čapek

The Yacoubian Building, by Alaa Al-Aswany

Night Train to Lisbon, by Pascal Mercier

 

Comments

[Dorte H]

Oh, those pesky challenges. I think I´ve read eight for the global challenge, but this week I have struggled to get into my first Fred Vargas - again. Two days ago I put her down and decided it was time to pick a British thriller I knew I´d actually enjoy :)

[Philip]

Three of my five five-star reads have come from challenges, so I am delighted!