As copy editor for The New Yorker, Mary Norris loved language (the “Comma Queen”) and fell in love with one in particular, Greek. The language was her gateway to everything else—the literature and mythology (she especially admires Athena, a feminist among goddesses), the food and the people, the land (and islands) itself. Written entertainingly, albeit with many easy-to-skim digressions, Greek to Me is a travelogue, Mythology 101 course, lesson in linguistics and memoir on how a Catholic girl from Cleveland shed her timid skin and found meaning in another culture.
