Summer is now in full swing!

The first vacationers are finding their temporary refuge outside the city, by the sea or in the cool mountain air, and are filling their suitcases with books that will keep them company amid the sweet idleness of their holidays.

With adventure, romance, and fantasy novels enjoying a resurgence in recent years, it’s clear that readers are thirsting for adventure, mystery, enchanting witches, and otherworldly knights who leap off the pages of both classic and modern literature.

Homer’s The Odyssey-The Way Back Home (Kaktos Publciations, p. 401)

The immortal work of Homer—whom Dante, in his Divine Comedy, likens to the poet who “soars above the others like an eagle”— returns along with the Iliad from Kaktos Publications in a contemporary translation by Panagiotis Giannakopoulos. In a summer that will remain etched in our memory for the discussions sparked by Christopher Nolan’s cinematic adaptation of the greatest Homeric epic, the discerning reader has the pleasure of reconnecting with Homer’s poetic world, filled with Laestrygonians, Cyclopes, gods, and the desires of the heroes (first and foremost Odysseus)—much like our own lives—while younger readers will delight in diving into the complete version of a work they studied in school. Inevitably, this first “satisfying” encounter with a work like this will lead them to a second, third, or even fourth reading of the epic and its core meanings.

Diana Wynne Jones- Howl’s Moving Castle (Psychogios Publications, p. 324)

Neil Gaiman described Wynne Jones as a leading author of fantasy. And quite rightly so, since her works—most notably Howl’s Moving Castle—sweep us into the whirlwind of a child’s imagination, exposing the malice of adults and those who seek to undermine life on our planet while cloaking themselves in a dazzling facade. Written with verve in twenty-one chapters that read in one sitting, Howl’s Moving Castle was fortunate enough to be adapted for the big screen by another great storyteller of our time, the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. And this is the book that started it all—and one that will keep you from taking quite a few dips in the sea, since you won’t want to put it down.

Michael Crichton-James Patterson – Eruption (Kedros Publications, p. 460)

What happens, from a literary perspective, when a writer of adventure novels (Crichton) and the creator of unforgettable moments of suspense (Patterson) come together? Well, of course, a true burst of imagination and a sense that—just like in a good Hollywood edit—one cuts and the other sews as the story comes together. Indeed, the wife of the late Crichton—from whose pen sprang Jurassic Park, one of the most exquisite modern stories of fantasy and horror—handed over the unfinished manuscript of Eruption to the most suitable person, Patterson. The result? A volcanic thriller that gradually reveals a world of conspiracies, adventure, and characters that bring to mind moments from cinematic history (such as Dante’s Peak-1997 and Volcano-1997.)

Paul Lynch- Beyond the Sea (Gutenberg Publications, p. 225)

Are you ready for yet another odyssey? Then the story of Bolívar, a fisherman drowning in debt, and his loyal assistant Héctor—with Homeric echoes at their peak—is definitely the book for you. Born in Ireland in 1977, Paul Lynch delivers a truly gripping book, as he succeeds in fully realizing every writer’s vision: on the one hand, he develops an external, realistic plot that places the reader in the eye of the storm that will torment the protagonists, while at the same time observing, with simplicity and without pretension or moralizing, their inner voices and the points where the two heroes converge or diverge. A gem for your library (translated fiction always comes out on top when the Greek translation is by Angelos Angelidis and Maria Angelidou)!

Jennifer Saint- Ariadne (Kaktos Publications, p. 388) 

A contemporary reinterpretation of the myth of Ariadne by British novelist Jennifer Saint. Focusing her entire body of work on female figures drawn from the realm of ancient Greek mythology—a world that has always fascinated her despite its distance from our own—Saint reimagines myths such as those of Electra, Hera, or Ariadne in a style that moves away from postmodernism to return once again to the core of the myth, which is the very charm of storytelling. A storytelling that is no longer based on the bard and his staff or the male gaze, but rather on the very words of these mythical female figures. Evi Gerokosta’s translation succeeds in conveying the bold spirit, the sense of adventure, and the light irony of the world that Saint recreates.

Agatha Christie (as Mary Westmacott)- Giant’s Bread (Psychogios Publications, p. 444)

Agatha Christie—the most popular author of all time—needs no introduction. The creator of the legendary detective Hercule Poirot and the brilliant Miss Marple, she wrote 66 detective novels, 14 short story collections, romantic novels, and autobiographies, while her play The Mousetrap is the longest-running show in London’s West End. Many of our summers are intertwined with the haze of fantasy and mystery that shrouds Agatha Christie’s dangerous world. But how many of us have enjoyed one of her bittersweet, romantic works? Among these (which she published under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott) is Giant’s Bread, a work that pulses with musicality and in no way falls short of the psychological depth of the characters in the rest of her body of work. Perhaps this is because, as Agatha Christie herself has stated, with Giant’s Bread she wrote a book that she had always “had crystal clear in my mind.”

Thomas Katakis- Odysseus and the Timeless Leaders (Kaktos Publications, p. 230)

Can the worlds of Homer, ancient history, and the modern business world coexist harmoniously? For the author of this English-language book, the answer is yes. By examining the Homeric archetypes (Odysseus, Achilles, Agamemnon) as well as figures such as Alexander the Great and Socrates through the lens of governance, he bridges the gap between the realms of myth and contemporary contexts of personality development, innovation, and entrepreneurship. And while all this may sound theoretical, in reality, with its rich illustrations and the thought-provoking questions posed at the end of each chapter, this book will prove to be one of the most unexpectedly engaging reads of this summer.