Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[lillypond]

Sitting in the top ten Travel books this week here in Australia are two Camino titles -

*The Year We Seized the Day*
http://www.theyearweseizedtheday.net

This is the first book on subject that I read and it fired my enthusiasm. It is written in daily dairy form - about friendship, fury and sore feet.

*Walking the Camino* by Tony Kevin.
http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/conver ... queensland

He wanted the journey to be difficult. "I chose the longest route I could find... I guess I wanted to work out my issues and I wanted a really challenging walk to do that."

These books might start an stampede of Australians who actually get there before I do


lillypond.

*Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God*.
(Kurt Vonnegut)

[KiwiNomad06]

Lilly,
I saw "The year we seized the day" at Sydney Airport as I was returning home just over a week ago. It made easy and fascinating reading (blister by blister!) and I had read most of it by the time I had flown to Wellington and then sat in a train for two hours to get home. I enjoyed the book myself, but hesitated to list it here as I did think some of the language was coloufully Australian in nature!
KiwiNomad06

[Janeh]

I agree with Kiwinomad - I really enjoyed reading the book but not sure if it's a title I would recommend to non-australians.
Yes, the language is colorful and there are some comments in there that aren't too kind to other pilgrim nationalities. However, I really enjoyed the warts and all account and found it an easy read. Some I've read are just plain boring - I do like to read a person's daily account, but not a point by point blow like some of them. I don't know if the book will create an aussie rush for the camino.....perhaps, but hopefully not too many.

[lillypond]

Hi Janeh,

Colin's ##colourful## language was in keeping with his sense of hopelessness and his soulful/sorrowful disposition. It was an honest portrayal of how he felt - "in the moment life sure as ##hell## pissing me off". So it was truthful.
Is this what the Camino is about ?? Obviously it is also about respect for fellow pilgrims

I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where I am in the world, the question is what am I bringing with me? Our bodies may occupy the same Camino but our minds can be worlds apart.

Lp

[Cyd]

here's another Australian book about the Camino

http://www.abbeys.com.au/items.asp?productcode=1920731458

Pray for Me in Santiago
Author : THERESA BURKHARDT FELDER
Format : Paperback
ISBN : 1920731458
Publisher : Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Publication Date (AUS) : August 2005
Pages : 288

has anyone read it?

[lillypond]

*Walking the Camino* by Tony Kevin.
http://www.abc.net.au/queensland/conver ... queensland

He wanted the journey to be difficult. "I chose the longest route I could find... I guess I wanted to work out my issues and I wanted a really challenging walk to do that."

Hola,

The above Australian author Tony Kevin is currently in Sydney and is guest speaker at the Breakfast Club held at Adyar Bookshop, Clarence Street. Sydney. Wednesday. 19th Sept. 7.30 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. Bookings. essential.

In May 2006 Tony Kevin - an overweight 63 yr old former diplomat, set off on an 8 week pilgrimage from Granada to Santiago de Compostela. He explores what drives thousands of people of all nationalities and creeds to make long walks across the cold mountains and hot tablelands of Spain. He describes his experience as a profound meditation on the nature of modern life.

lillypond.
Yoga is not just about reaching your toes, it's about what happens on the way down

[MaryS]

I finished reading "The Year we seized the Day" and just yesterday Shirley Maclaine's "The Camino".
i didn't think I liked "The Year.." but having completed The Camino book, I decided I did!
I didn't like Ms Maclaines book at all only because reincarnation etc is not my thing and I thought the book took up too much time about her vision/dreams (and that go a bit boring for me) and not enough about the Camino itself and the ending I didn't like the way she hurridely scurried out of Santiago. That is just my personal opinion.

I did go to Tony Kevin's breakfast meeting last week and it was very interesting, naturally I brought the book and will be starting that later today and we let you know what I think.

[Artemisofephesus]

I really liked The Year we Seized the Day, and I had the pleasure of meeting the authors at last year's Byron Bay Writer's Festival, where they were talking about writing it. It was what inspired me to go, originally, though I didn't actually decide to plan for it until a few months ago. I found that the stories were funny and touching, but not overly dramatic.

Funny, Carpe Diem has been haunting me ever since I decided to go. Everywhere I see it: on park benches, on books, in pictures, etc. It's creepy!

[oursonpolaire]

An Australian friend has sent me both of the books and I found them quite enjoyable, and the prose better-written than much which is out there. In both volumes, the writers were carrying a lot of anger with them, and neither downplayed the emotional impact of the overwhelming exhaustion of the physical effort of the Camino. At the same time, they were honest about the positive results of their trek, as they puzzled out how and why that happened. Tony Kevin engaged in a bit more state-of-the-world analysis than I liked but I was able to skip through those passages without much trouble.

I didn't notice the rude language too much, perhaps as it seems to be infiltrating itself into the respectable press, but it does add some colour.

[NaKwendaSafari]

For some reason, love it or hate it, the book "The Year We Seized The Day" has a long waiting list at New Zealand libraries. One has to put one's name on the list to loan it, it must be popular. I am glad I loaned it as I simply enjoyed reading it, as well as Shirley's book, perhaps I did not try to dissect the stories which many enjoyed.