Greek to Me

Part very personal memoir, part travelogue, part intellectual obsession--it's hard to know whom this audiobook is for. Mary Norris, former NEW YORKER copy editor, is here most interesting when discussing classical Greek language and literature, modern Greek, and the history of written languages. Norris's personal journey learning to speak Greek, and her passion for Greece the country, may be less universally fascinating. More problematic still is the TMI factor as Norris recounts her long-ago sensual adventures as an available single-woman traveler. She has done herself no favors by narrating, as it's hard to enjoy imagining the young woman she was, skinny-dipping and picking up strangers, while hearing the voice of a woman in late middle age, with its distancing strongly regional Midwestern accent. B.G. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine