Camino Book Review: One Woman’s Camino

Tracy Pawelski, author

Book Review by Stacey Wittig

My heart raced a bit as I tore open the package that contained this book and a ‘Welcome Home’ note from author Tracy Pawelski when I returned from my latest Camino. While I walked Camino del Norte this month, Tracy released her book, One Woman’s Camino.

Earlier this year, I was honored to preview Tracy’s manuscript and write a pre-publication review of this inspiring Camino book. I found her writing style to be engaging and that her story was similar to mine: successful business woman steps back from her all-encompassing career to find more on the Camino de Santiago.

After opening the package and admiring the cover, I turned the book over to see if the publisher had used a quote from my review on the outside back cover. Sure enough, there it was.

My full review is printed in the preface of the book:

This engaging narrative is not simply a mother-daughter story set on Camino de Santiago, but goes deep to reveal how that sometimes-complicated relationship can lead to transformation and mid-life self-discovery. One Woman’s Camino is an insightful, true story about a modern, corporate woman overcoming obstacles on the ancient pilgrimage route.
— Stacey Wittig, author Spiritual and Walking Guide: León to Santiago.

 

Trading high heels for hiking boots

Tracy trades her high heels for hiking boots and sets out for a Camino Frances adventure. Although she plans for a mother-daughter experience, the Camino author soon learns that this journey will be a “One-Woman” Camino that is all about self-discovery and self-actualization. Tracy’s authenticity is sure to inspire you to walk the ancient path.

The first step can be the hardest

Whether your next step is

• Rewiring your priorities,
• Resetting your course, or
• Reconnecting with your faith,

the first step can be the hardest, says Tracy on her author website. Yet in Tracy’s story, you’ll find the inspiration to “make each step a new beginning in this uncertain but glorious journey we call life.” You can see why Tracy Pawelski is one of the Camino authors that I enjoy reading.

Order the book now on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2JMN6oO

 

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Camino Book Review: Inspired Journeys

Inspired Journeys: Travel Writers in Search of the Muse

Brian Bouldrey, Editor

Book Review by Stacey Wittig

Inspired Journeys is a diverse collection of essays by real travelers who move the reader through both time and place. Much of travel writing is simply about place or what to do once you arrive. But as we pilgrims know, often the real stories lie within the journey rather than the destination. Editor Brian Bouldrey, a Santiago pilgrim himself, understands this well and has compiled seventeen stories of pilgrimage to places as divergent as Varanasi, India; Ross Island, Antarctica; El Centro, California, and Santiago, Spain. These tales are told by American writers and mirror both their inward and outward journeys, a theme that the editor describes as “telling the way within.”

The name Brian Bouldrey may be familiar to many American Pilgrims on Camino (APOC) members as he was the lauded keynote speaker at the APOC 2016 conference. The 2016 annual gathering was themed “Telling the Way Within,” and included a pre-conference travel writing workshop presented by the editor/writer who teaches creative writing at Northwestern University.

Bouldrey admits that he casts a wide net around his definition of pilgrimage by including stories of both spiritual and secular pilgrimages. While introducing us to the stories he explains that each author addresses what pilgrimage is and that he orders the anthology to give the definitions “encouragement, space and incrementally growing meaning.”

While some writers share journeys to religious shrines as in Sharman Apt Russell’s “Buen Camino” and Russell Scott Valentino’s “An Accidental Pilgrimage,” others move along Laura Ingalls Wilder’s prairie (Kimberly Meyer) or the Grimms’ fairy-tale road (Raphael Kadushin.) Though some stories read like raw, black-and-white documentary film footage of the writer’s experiences, others like my favorite essay “The Terriblest Poet” (Brian Bouldrey), and Kadushin’s “Driving the Fairy Tale Road” feel like they were shot for the big screen in panoramic Technicolor.

After reading these essays that are not just about place, but also about the inward journey and outward movement of getting to that place, you’re sure to find several that will move you as well. The engaging, 280-page book is available on Amazon at www.amazon.com .

Brian Bouldrey has written eight books, including Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica, and edited six anthologies, including Traveling Souls: Contemporary Pilgrimage Stories.

Stacey Wittig is author of three books including Spiritual and Walking Guide: Lourdes to San Jean Pied de Port, a guide for both the inward and outward journey.

This review originally appeared in La Concha, the quarterly publication of American Pilgrims on the Camino.

Camino Book Review: The Great Westward Walk

Antxon Gonzalez Gabarain, author

Book review by Stacey Wittig

I was propped up in bed next to my husband. Me with book in hand, he with computer games blinking on his tablet. I took a sharp breath in, a reaction to the sentence that I was reading.

“What? What?” he asked. I always hate it when he interrupts my reading with, “What are you reading?” or in this case, “What? What?” But this time I wanted to share what I read.

“Do you mind if I read a bit of this to you? Can you listen while you play Auralux?” I asked trying to sell him on allowing me to read the words that, to me, described the Camino pilgrimage experience so well. I had just cracked open the recently-released English version of The Great Westward Walk: From the Front Door to the End of the Earth by Antxon Gonzalez Gabarain. I was only in the introduction and already mesmerized.

‘The Great Westward Walk’ is a true story.

My husband listened while I read from the beginning of the introduction and ended at the sentence that had caused me to gasp in recognition:

“The Walk to the End of the World” is a true story. It celebrates the fundamentally irrational nature of pilgrimage, as it plays out against the banal rationality of our times.

Yes, the dichotomy of pilgrimage in these times when rationalism is often valued over spirituality struck a chord with me. I finished reading out loud the introduction, written by Izaskun Gonzalez Gabarain, and then resumed my silent reading. Another gasp. Another “What? What?” and I began reading the Prologue written by another of the author’s friends to my husband. This time without hubby’s permission.

He told me he was dying.

He was finishing the book using a special computerized device that allowed him to type by tracing the movement and blinking of his eyes. A terrible, consuming disease had taken away use of his hands, arms and legs…Antxon was running out of time.

Finishing this book was his final desire, he said, his last wish.

Three days after completing the manuscript, the writer died

The writer completed the manuscript, a captivating memoir of his Camino journey from the doorstep of his home in Zumaia, in the Basque Country, to Santiago, three days before ALS took his life at age 41.

Gabarain lives on in this Camino book

Yet Gabarain lives on in this book that gives me insight into his Basque ponderings and connections with his countrymen that I, as a foreigner, could never have. His words, almost poetic at times, roll back the curtain on slices of Spanish life that I would not otherwise have known. His insight and description are probably reasons that the Spanish version is a best-seller in Spain.

Three cheers to Rebekah Scott, American Pilgrims on Camino (APOC) member and speaker at the 2017 APOC gathering in Atlanta, for her fine work of translating this amazing Camino narrative.

Available on Amazon in print or Kindle at http://amzn.to/2twub8R

This review originally appeared in the September 2017 edition of La Concha, the quarterly publication of American Pilgrims on the Camino.

‘You’ll love this yarn – it’s honest and it’s revealing’ says Australian Talk Show Host

‘You’ll love this yarn – it’s honest and it’s revealing’ says Dan Mullins, Australian Talk Show Host about the interview he conducted with me last week. “Stacey and I talk about her journey, both spiritually and physically – in our hearts and on our feet.”

Click here to listen in on the conversation: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode/?id=106114

Dan Mullins, a Sydney radio broadcaster, producer, and host of ‘My Camino – The Podcast,’ asks probing questions that have me revealing my innermost thoughts on pilgrimage and on my own spiritual experiences. He asks:

• Why do people walk? What is it about walking?
• You mentioned earlier the immense history of the Camino. When you walk, how conscious are you of Christ’s involvement and the Christian involvement in that history?
• You talk in the guide about pilgrims carrying too much in their packs, and you say, ‘Generally we as humans carry too much stuff.’ How can a faith-based life ease that load?
• So you are inviting pilgrims, Stacey, to explore themselves, to learn more about themselves and to find themselves. Is that a fair assessment?
• You write about forgiveness and you say the Camino provides an opportunity for forgiveness. Can I ask you to elaborate on that just a little bit?

Click here to listen in on the conversation: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode/?id=106114

Dan Mullins, “My Camino-The Podcast” Talk Show Host

Camino books, Spiritual Camino, Camino guide, Camino devotional

 

Lourdes guide book ‘inviting and comforting’ declares GoodReads review

In a recent GoodReads book review of Spiritual and Walking Guides: Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port, Adrienne Morrison wrote, “I found the daily guidance and sacred quotations both inviting and comforting.”

“I was moved to go further; set fears aside; reach higher. Whether we plan a Pilgrimage on our own two feet, or take those steps within our hearts, we will find guidance here,” Morrison continued. The Lourdes guide book directs Camino pilgrims along the physical terrain from Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port, France, helps them reflect on their inner journey, and supplies tools to heighten their spiritual journey.

The spiritual guide that contains daily devotions for the Camino pilgrim is available on Amazon at http://bit.ly/LourdesCamino

Read the full book review by Adrienne Morrison below, or link to the GoodReads review by clicking here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1922841478?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

When I started reading Stacey Wittig’s Spiritual and Walking Guide I had no idea what was about to unfold. Soon, I became gracefully swept along a path of Pilgrimage. I have never contemplated, nor ever imagined such a journey. Do people today really do this today? Indeed. I wasn’t even sure where this journey takes place, or why one would consider going there. But, now I understand. And, I learned you can go with grace, knowing, and beautiful guidance from one who has actually walked the pathways from “Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port.”

Stacey Wittig shares herself in these pages. She helped me see that, once we set our modern life aside long enough to seek another path, our lives can change. Once we go outdoors and walk, hike, or even sit quietly to read—once we consider the spiritual meditations offered in this guide—we can find new understanding. And, to those who literally make this journey, I know you will appreciate having a trusted friend like Stacey along to guide your steps and your thoughts.

Yes, this guide is meant for the actual Pilgrim, with specific recommendations for food, shelter, and camaraderie along your way, but it also leads the reader to a greater closeness to God. The passages and scripture create an opening for us to experience God’s wisdom and love more deeply. I found the daily guidance and sacred quotations both inviting and comforting. I was moved to go further; set fears aside; reach higher. Whether we plan a Pilgrimage on our own two feet, or take those steps within our hearts, we will find guidance here—an invitation and pages upon which we can journal our progress along life’s path.

Put the book on your Amazon “Wish List” or purchase it now in paperback or Kindle at http://bit.ly/LourdesCamino

Lourdes pilgrim ‘thrilled’ about guidebook

“I walked the Piemont route from Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port in September 2015 with only a French guide book, and I don’t speak or understand French!  Needless to say, it made the journey at bit more challenging.  So I am thrilled about your book and hope to walk the route again this year with your guide book in hand.  And what an incredible, beautiful route it is!” said Fred Bovenkamp, on Camino de Santiago.me forum today.

Learn more about the Lourdes, France, to St Jean Pied de Port  route by viewing the Camino book, Spiritual and Walking Guide: Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port, on Amazon at http://bit.ly/LourdesCamino. By Stacey Wittig, Camino pilgrim.

The only English version spiritual devotional and walking guide for this part of the La voie du piémont pyrénéen. Available now in paperback or Kindle.

‘The author is a trustworthy guide,’ says Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition review

“The author is a trustworthy guide,” announced the review of Spiritual and Walking Guide: Leon to Santiago on the El Camino by Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition released this month. Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition included ‘Spiritual & Walking Guide’ on page seventeen of their annual spring book review publication. The book recommendations and reviews are compiled by Roy W. Howard, Outlook book editor.

“The author has walked the Camino de Santiago several times and provides a devotional guide for pilgrims walking the portion from Leon, Spain, to Santiago de Compostela,” states Howard.

Link to Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition

To learn more about the Camino devotional written by Stacey Wittig, go to Amazon.com. The Camino guide includes scriptures for The Way, recommendations for places to sleep, questions for reflection and pages to journal thoughts.

The Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition review reads:

Spiritual and Walking Guide:

Leon to Santiago on the El Camino

Stacey Wittig

Spiritual Walking Guides, 104 pages

The author has walked the Camino de Santiago several times and provides a devotional guide for pilgrims walking the portion from Leon, Spain, to Santiago de Compostela. The guide includes daily Scripture readings, mediations and questions for personal reflection. There are details about where to sleep and how to navigate your way without maps. The author is a trustworthy guide.

‘Spiritual & Walking Guide’ to be included in Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition

Spiritual & Walking Guide: Leon to Santiago is to be included in Presbyterian Outlook’s Spring Books Edition. We received that news today from their book editor. Look for the review next month at http://pres-outlook.org/category/faith-culture/reviews/book-reviews. The spiritual and walking guide book for people walking the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through northern Spain is available in paperback and e-book at Amazon.com.

The daily devotional and walking guide helps Camino pilgrims to:

• prepare their hearts for the pilgrimage,
• meditate on Bible scriptures appropriate for the terrain,
• find their way, and
• debrief after the walk and assimilate what they’ve found on The Way into their lives back home.

To learn more about the Camino devotional written by Stacey Wittig, go to Amazon.com. The Camino guide includes scriptures for The Way, recommendations for places to sleep, questions for reflection and pages to journal thoughts.

From the Presbyterian Outlook website:

The Presbyterian Outlook is an independent biweekly magazine on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Our mission is to equip, nurture and inspire church leaders within the Reformed tradition to be faithful servants in a dynamic, changing and challenging time. For nearly 200 years we have been a trusted source of news, commentary and resources.

Book Review: Spiritual and Walking Guide: León to Santiago

Spiritual & Walking Guide reviewed on popular Camino blog "The Camino Provides." Thanks for the kind words, Laurie Ferris! Thanks for adding my book to the Camino books on your Camino Book list.

The Camino Provides

Travel writer Stacey Wittig thought of everything with this guidebook for the last major section of the Camino Francés. It not only includes daily prayers to reflect on, but also details about where to sleep and daily walking distances. Even though I’ll be walking different routes before my Camino Francés in 2018, I enjoyed reading this book cover to cover for the practical tips on lodging and pilgrim etiquette.  For example, when she talks about waking up early to be alone and meditate, she advises to respect the sleeping pilgrims and abide by the earliest arise time set by the individual refugios. She also shares tales of interesting people she met along the way.

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Praise for ‘Spiritual and Walking Guide’

Anne Childs, writer

Author Stacey Wittig was blessed to receive this email from reader, Anne Childs:

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Good morning Stacey,

I wanted to write a quick note to thank you for the copy of your wonderful book. I’m reading it right now and am moved by the scripture meditations and thoughtfulness of the book.

I also love the personal experiences and insights you’ve shared from your own journey. I think the fact that the book speaks even to someone who is not even doing the pilgrimage speaks volumes. It’s obviously very versatile and you can see the fingerprints of the Lord on it!

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Thank you, Anne! Good to hear that the book speaks to those who have not done El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. The Camino devotional contains scriptures selected to reflect the changing environment through which the Camino pilgrim passes each day. Order the book directly from Amazon by clicking on the link below:

Spiritual and Walking Guide: Leon to Santiago on El Camino (Spiritual and Walking Guides) (Volume 1)