I’ve done some Camino Book Reviews over the last few years
so now I’ve decide to put the reviews all in one spot
Originally posted on the internet on Wednesday, March 26, 2025
And here goes with 6 more books:
The Way to Manresa, Brendan McManus SJ,
A Jesuit Priest from Ireland decides to hike the Camino Ignaciano
(Way of Ignatius.) That route goes from Basque Country all the way
over to Manresa, which is near Barcelona. It is the actual route the
Ignatius hiked in 1522 on his way to Rome and Jerusalem. A well written
tale which the key event happens just a couple days into the Camino. Brendan
falls into a pothole in the early morning darkness and hurts his knee.
He sees Doctors on a couple different occasions but none
of them take an X-ray. On each occasion they tell him to rest, then he
can continue his hike. The Camino Ignaciano coincides with the Camino
Frances for 8 miles between Navarrette and Logrono but goes in the
opposite direction. After reaching Logrono, Brendan decides to start
taking trains and buses more often and finally makes it to Monseratt
then Manresa. When he gets back to Ireland he finds out what really was
happening with his knee. 4 out of 5 stars
Furnace Full of God, Rebekah Scott,
A year in the life of a person who houses pilgrims on the Camino. This is
not just any year, it is a holy year. She is an American Journalist that
retired and moved to the tiny town of Moritanos on the Meseta. It’s
the town that I call “Mori turn left” because I missed the turn in the
early morning darkness. She with her husband name their house and
property the Peaceable Kingdom. We get to know the various animals
on the property including two Greyhounds found in a culvert. A vast
array of characters come into their lives as part of being the
only place in town, at that point, that housed pilgrims. We also get to
know the people in the town. The year is complete with
joys and heartbreaks. It is really well written, 5 out of 5 stars.
The Camino is Not Just For Walking, Danielle Aird
The adventures of “Grannie Dannie” on a couple different
Camino Adventures. She does stories from the current camino
she is walking, then does flashbacks to a previous camino.
The book is filled with small chapters, ranging from just a paragraph
to several pages. If you are bored about one subject, there will soon be
another subject to read about. The list of chapters is 6 pages long.
She describes in detail albergues, people, history and incidents that happened.
She includes plenty of Black and White photos dispersed in the book.
There is no detail too small to escape the eyes of Daneille. She
sees stuff that nobody else sees. 4 out of 5 stars.
Wisdom along the Way, Elaine Hopkins
“Twelve True-Life Camino Tales with an Inspiring Twist.” This is a smaller
book with 115 pages. As the subtitle says, there are twelve stories from the
camino. Each of the stories have some sort of conflict in them. For instance
a nun at an Albergue wouldn’t give a peregrina a blanket unless the peregrina
bought a religious cross for 10 euros. Of course there were other problems with
the nun leading up to that. Each lesson is based on a principle of NLP
(Neuro-Lingustic Programing) which is a “set of tools, techniques and principles
that guide people on how to operate in the world.” At the beginning of each
chapter Elaine mentions what principle of NLP is being applied and at
the end of the chapter there is a reflection paragraph. To me it was too
much like a class textbook where there are questions at the end of every
Chapter. At the end of the book she writes about the 12 principles of NLP coaching.
I didn’t feel that any of this was all that compelling, 2 out of 5 stars
The Pilgrimage, Paulo Coelho
First of all I need to point out that my young pilgrim friend Emily says that
this book was influential in her deciding to hike the Camino. If you go to this video
Emily’s section starts at the 39:50 mark and she said she read the book at the 43:20 mark.
About the book, Paulo decides to take on the challenge to learn the ways of the Order of RAM
and to find his sword. To do this he must hike the Camino de Santiago Frances
Route where early on he finds his guide Petrus. Along the way Paulo encounters
a series of tests, many of them with agents of the devil including a large black dog.
Previously, I wrote that Shirley Maclaine’s book “was bunch of new aged
metaphysical gobblygook.” This book does have a lot of mysticism but it feels
very real compared to Maclaine’s book. Coelho builds the story one
challenge at a time. 4 out of 5 stars.
It’s about Time, Johnnie Walker
Subtitled “A Call to the Camino de Santiago.” This is a short and colorful book which
main purpose appears to be to help people make the decision to hike the
camino. White pages are the main narrative, blue pages are profiles of different pilgrims
and the 4 yellow pages are a description of his Skihoku Trail (88 temples) hike in Japan.
The book is loaded with information and good stories. However, if you have done a camino
already, you know the information already, but still the stories are good. The book would
be great for giving to a person that has never hiked the camino and you are encouraging
to do so. For that purpose I would give it 4 stars. But for someone who has already
hiked a camino I would give it less than that. 3 out of 5 stars.
Notes:
It should be noted that Danielle Aird has a new book out called “Who’s on the Camino,
101 Pilgrim Experiences on the Way to Santiago.” Also, Brendan McManus has a
new book about his second hike of the Camino Ignaciano. It’s called “Brothers in Arms”
because he hikes the camino with another guy, a Dublin Taxi Driver. That should be an
interesting book because it’s a Catholic Priest hiking with a regular guy.
Originally posted on the internet on December 2, 2022
Since my previous post called 4 Camino Related Books was such a hit,
I decided to do another post like it.
Su Camino, doing the Camino Frances in 20 days by Brien Crothers
Nice book with good resources such as key phrases in Spanish, Packing list, etc. But the actual account of the trip is fairly plain. At one point he says they spend an enjoyable evening listening to the stories of an English Pilgrim named Eddy. That’s nice, how about relaying one of those stories. Also, the writer was an adventure racer earlier in his life and is in shape much better than a normal person. In other words, what he is doing is pretty much unrealistic to an average pilgrim. I didn’t find anything offensive about the book but I didn’t find anything that overly inspired me, either. The resources at the end of the book are good, but you can find the same stuff in almost every guidebook. 2 out of 5 stars
The Way of the Wind by John Pearson
John Pearson must have had some sort of score card to keep track of all the people he met on the camino. At one point in Santiago he recognizes and congratulates a pilgrim he met one time 30 days earlier on a train going to St Jean Pied de Port. Nice story with lots of details. In the middle of the book, right when the account gets to be a little redundant, he wakes us up with a personal story from his past. Many photos but I wish he would put captions on them. 4 out of 5 stars
I’ll Push You by Patrick Gray and Justin Skeesuck
Generally considered one of the best books about hiking the camino. A guy with a debilitating disease wonders whether the Camino could be done in a wheel chair and his best friend says “I’ll push you.” A special wheelchair is made and a few people decide to join in the quest, such as Ted, the guy they refer to as “Team Ted” for is great abilities to pull the wheelchair with a harness. Patrick and Justin take turns writing the book. At the end it starts reading like the bible where they each start saying how much better they can be as men. Sounds like they are pretty good already to me. I liked watching the movie after reading the book. I like the movie because they have interviews with many more people than just Patrick and Justin. 4 out of 5 stars
On the Ignation Way, by Jose Luis Iriberri and Chris Lowney
A series of essays by different authors on different subjects relating to the Way of Ignatius. The Way of Ignatius is a Camino that basically goes the opposite direction than the Camino Frances. The Camino retraces the actual route that Ignatius did in 1522. It starts in Basque Country at the boyhood home of Ignatius. It goes south to Navarette, where Ignatius received some money owed to him by the Duke of Navarre, then he goes east through Logrono, Zaragoza, Frago, Llieda to Monserat. Then he finally settles in Manressa. The 6 miles between Navarette and Logrono coincide with the Camino Frances except going the opposite way. The book has a series of essays related to either Ignatius or being a pilgrim, but there is very little actual accounts of hiking the actual camino. Chapter titles (essays) include “Ignatius of Loyola, the History of a Pilgrim,” “A Way of Healing, My Ignation Way,” “Pilgrimage as an Instrument of Personal Transformation and Growth,” and many more. The second half of the book contains the daily prayers using the Spiritual Exercises written by Ignatius. This book contains fairly dry writing and may not be what the average pilgrim is looking for. Plus this is a seldom-walked Camino. But if you really like St Ignatius, it’s good. 3 out of 5 stars
Finding Myself on the Way, by Micheal Burnett
It should be noted that I bought this book directly from Micheal Burnett when we were both at a Camino Event here in Wisconsin. The book has a really good description of him meeting people and hiking the Camino Frances in the early parts of the book. Then the 50 year old author meets a 25 year old lady who was volunteering at an albergue. She sets him off by indicating that she is interested in him. The only problem is that she bused backward to volunteer at the albergue and now she is busing forward to continue her Camino. Micheal starts hiking the camino like a madman with very long days and big miles to catch up to her. He finally catches up to her and their camino grinds down to a snail’s pace as he has sex with her every night. In the First Edition of this Book the sex was so graphic that Micheal had to re-edit the book due to complaints. 3 out of 5 stars
Note:
Micheal Burnett went on a pilgrimage this last spring and may be writing another book.
Originally published on the internet on January 29, 2022
Hi, I have recently read 4 camino related books and I though I would
relay my opinions about them.
The Camino by Shirley Maclaine:
The Book starts out good enough but she starts having
dreams and in the later part of the book the dreams take over. It’s a bunch of new aged
metaphysical gobblygook about Atlantis. One out of five stars
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway:
Not a book about the Camino, but it involves
several locations on the Camino Frances. The novel follows former Soldier Jake Barnes
from nightlife in Paris to fishing in Burgette but mostly captures the San Fermin Festival
(Running of the Bulls) in Pamplona. Four out of five Stars
Off the Road by Jack Hitt:
The book follows Jack’s Pilgrimage from St Jean Pied de Port
to Santiago. Jack does meet up with an interesting bunch of people hiking the Camino.
Unfortunately, Jack veers off the Camino and spends some chapters on stuff that is only
barely related. Some of it is fairly gross. Jack should have learned from Hemingway
not to mention some things. For instance, Jake Barnes is a former soldier who was
injured in World War 1, but Hemingway never mentions what the injury is. I bought the
Jack Hitt book because the movie The Way is based on part of it. But I could only
find one or two scenes in the movie that may have been attributed to Hitt. Two out of Five Stars
Finding Santiago By Don Thomas:
An amazing collection of stories about hiking caminos and also
volunteering at the Pilgrim’s Office. There are 56 chapters and each one has a different story. Some
of the stories are funny, some are sad and others are inspirational. It’s an easy book just to pick up
if you have ten minutes to spare and you want to do something. Most of the stories are just a few
pages long and the longest story is about 10 pages long. Five out of Five Stars.
Notes:
Some people may like the Shirley Maclaine book more than I did. But, starting at about
Chapter 15 of thebook she goes full bore into the new age dreams, and when she isn’t
writing about the dreams she is writing about avoiding the press.
That’s all for now, Todd