This book starts its journey with Book Crossing from Delphi, Greece
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"Jane Shaw was working as a volunteer in Chelsea's famous Physic Garden when she earned a placement to work for a year on a very special organic garden in Greece. But this was to be no easy-going break in the Mediterranean. The five-acre plot, which Jane swiftly named 'Alcatraz', was devoid of creature comforts, perched on a steep, remote hillside that was blindingly hot in summer and freezing in winter, and overseen by a 74-year-old, passionate, mercurial eccentric English lady called Joy.
On arrival, Jane is immediately drawn into the intrigue of village life, such as the ongoing feud with the nouveau richeex-pat neighbour with a sports car, whom Joy suspects has dug an illegal bore hole to water his terraced lawns. But most of all she is beguiled by the vibrant energy of the landscape, the folklore, the food and the numerous engaging characters who flock to Joy as the wise matriarch of the locale.
The story arcs through a year of seasons in the garden as Jane learns to love its wild beauty and to relish the hard work and care it needs. This is a charming, wildly entertaining and joyful portrait of a very special place, and will appeal to anyone who loves gardening, or who has enjoyed books such as Driving Over Lemons."


~~~~~~To the person who found this book:~~~~~~

Welcome to BookCrossing.com, where we are trying to make the whole world a library!

If you have not already done so, please make a journal entry so we know this book has found a new home. Drop a few lines on where and how you found this book and what you thought of it. You don't need to join BookCrossing and you can remain completely anonymous. However, I encourage you to join so that you can follow this book's future travels. It's fun and free, and your personal information will never be shared or sold.

This book is now yours, and you can keep it if you choose, although I would love you to read and then share it. You can pass it on someone you know or release it once again in the wild, leaving it on a park bench, a phone booth, a hostel lobby...wherever you think it's suitable for the book to continue it's journey. If you pass it along, please make a release note to let others know where you left it.

I hope you enjoy the book!

"Talking to Zeus" starts its Book Crossing life from Delphi, but I actually bought it from the amazing Zoom store on Naxos Town some years ago. (Naxos is a great island by the way, I was living/working there for a summer season and I know what I'm talking about lol)


I've read the book a couple of times since then, but not very recently. In general I enjoy travel memoirs and/or books involving traveling or relocating on a foreign setting, but while this was an ok read to kill a few hours, it didn't have an "wow" factor on my opinion.

The main premise was a bit weak and the characters not very likeable, although I think I enjoyed some of the characters more than others and I liked the descriptions of the area and the gardening taking place.

I don't remember this book in detail, but as a Greek my self, I remember that my main pet-peeve was this: The Greek phrases used in the book were obviously writen from someone who doesn't speak proper Greek, maybe after consulting a dictionary. Many words were completely wrong.
For example there was a whole supposed misunderstanding about olive oil and oil (as in fuel) which in reality would never happen. Greeks use the word "ladi" as in (cooking) oil, but they use a different word "petrelaeo" for (petrol/fuel) oil. Some food names etc were very wrong too and those were supposed to come from native citizents of the area or one main character, Joy, who was living in Greece for ages and was supposed to speak almost fluent Greek. The above detail is annoying enough, but given the fact that this book is supposed to be a memoir of real experiences, it made me question furthermore how valid narrator Jane Shaw is?

I guess a non-Greek speaker may not note this issue though. And negative things always stay with us longer than the possitive ones, so maybe I'm not doing this book justice.

I think this one stayed on my book shelves for far too long, so it's time to set if off traveling again. I would love to see future readers' opinions.

This book is now heading north on a RABCK in order to fulfill a wish : )

And then...who knows?

Good Luck my book and don't forget to write home from time to time...

Oh thank you so much - a wishlist book! I so look forward reading this, as I really love Greece! And I am sure I will find another reader for it after I've read it!

Oh I enjoyed the book! It brought back memories from the hot weather, the scents, the food (from my several holidays to Crete and some other islands) and made me want to travel again. I liked the charcters, they were not too "good" but quite real with good days and bad days.
Thank you so much for this - now lending it to a friend (who is not bookcrosser yet, but will be) and then offer it to Finnish bookcrossers :)

My friend took this home to USA.