books

[majse]

I have read statements from people who have walked the camino, and most seem to say that books are excess weight.
Normally I always have a novel or some other interesting reading around me, so the idea to be without is a little scary!

I am bringing one book though: "A pilgrims guide to the Camino de Santiago" by John Briarly.

It seems a very wonderful book with lots of good and sensible advice.

I have bought the pilgrimage book by paolo coelho too , but haven´t read it yet.

Are there any other guide books or other kinds that are recommended?

 

[leslie]

by all means take a paperback, they weigh next to nothing after all, tho even a compulsive reader like myself finds little time to read on the camino

the pillars of the earth (ken follett) seemed to be a popular choice when i was walking

as for guidebooks: my first camino i walked with one, the second without
the waymarks, the hospitaleros, and the pamphlets handed out by the local tourist authority have all the information you need
plus the baristas, chat up the baristas, they know everything that's going on
and should the albergue be full and you need a cheap bed for the night, stop any random old lady on the street, i guarantee you she'll know una vieja viuda necesitosa who rents rooms on the sly

good grief! i just checked amazon: they have 375 listings for camino de santiago. i remember when it was just the jack hitt book (how i drank and partied my way across spain) and then the lee hoinacki book (how i pissed and moaned my way across spain)

anyway, check out roads to santiago by cees nooteboom-not a guidebook, more of a cultural history

 

[majse]

Yes I did see there where lots of books thats why I ask which are good.

Thanks for the info - only I dont know what baristas are?

Maj

 

[WolverineDG]

I have 3 that I have seen recommended here. The Confraternity (csj.org) sells booklets on each of the different paths. Also recommended are the books by Bethan Davies & Brierly. The Confraternity puts out a new booklet each year, based on what they hear back from the previous year's pilgrims & both the Davies & the Brierly books are recent editions. I just got these 2 from Amazon, so they should be on the search string that you put in.

Buen Camino!
dg

 

[Dawn of a new Day]

reading book

my suggestion, don't take one, by the time you get settled in a albergue, do laundry, eat , site see and visit, i found no time to read. i am glad i didn't have the extra weight. i took a magazine on the plane. i left it in st.j-p-d=port.
dawn