April 2001

The NWK Rotating Library van brought a copy of Shirley MacLaine's book The Camino with them and I borrowed it. Halfway through it I felt disappointed. The book had an unfinished hurried quality to it.* I read one of her other books before and found it well written and interesting, so I was surprised by this. A good book is like diving into a deep lake, you become immersed in the words. This one was more like sitting in a shallow pool. You get a little wet but that's all. The part that did grab me was her description of touching the marble pillar with the statue of St. James standing on the top of it. All pilgrims touch this column after entering Santiago Cathedral at the end of their walk. So many people have done this over the centuries that there are finger marks deep in the marble. I thought that I wouldn't mind adding my fingerprints to all the others.


*After waking the Camino and re-reading the book I have revised my opinion. It is hard to share your walk with other people. When asked about it I don't really give out much information because I feel everyone's walk is personal. Your experience will not and cannot be the same experience as mine. You can say that you want to do the walk but you can not say I want to do the walk the same way as so-and-so did.