Spain and Greece

Good reading... 

Chris Stewart.. 

Once the drummer for the band Genesis

Fired from the band in the 70's (for poor technique says Google) he moved to a farm in Spain and began writing books and farming sheep.

'Driving Over Lemons' was published in 1999, describing his life on the small Andalusian farm.

It's a really good read and became a best seller.

It seems he's still on the farm in Spain and has written a lot more books, including the one above.

My niece Katy read the yachting book, Three Ways to Capsize a Boat,  and recommended it to me. 

Haven't read it yet. 

But I will

 

I wish I still had Driving Over Lemons to re-read.  Years ago I devoured books like this, starting with Peter Mayle and 'A Year in Provence'.  I bought books written by expats buying and doing up old houses in Italy, Spain and France.  Second hand books were cheap to buy 

 online back then and I could choose what I wanted to read.

I have a shelf of books written by expats living in Greece.  Some are excruciatingly patronising, badly written. So many think, after a year here, they know  the culture and traditions of the country and get it terribly wrong. However there are others that are a delight to read, especially when they have a little history and interaction with Greeks and not just other beer quaffing expats.

If you ever come across Chris Stewart, give him a read.  

The Greek classics are by Patrick Lee Fermor, Eric Newby, Gerald and Lawrence Durrell, Collin Thubron, Peter Levi, Eleni Gage.

Welsh broadcaster John Humphreys wrote a book about building a house on the mainland, not far from us.  His son was married to a Greek.  Still he got a lot of things wrong and over dramatised it all.  I read it a long time ago and then gave the book away.