Forum Book Club - Planning for Round 1...

[C clearly]

REVISED AGAIN 2021-03-24 - Round 1 of the book club is being completed. The next round is being planned here.

Here is what we did in Round 1:

We voted for the books to be featured in a Forum Book Club thread. The 10 options are listed in alphabetical order by author surname, and were selected from nominations in this thread. Any suggestions for additional books should go to that thread, not here on the poll thread.

Here is the schedule for starting threads on the most popular of these books. We'll allow some time to get and read the books. Once started, the threads will stay active so you can add to them any time:

1. Started Feb 5 on this thread - The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook, by David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson
2. Started Feb 17 - To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela, by Kevin A. Codd
3. Started March 3 - Walk in a Relaxed Manner, by Joyce Rupp
4. Started March 17 - The Great Westward Walk, by Antxon Gonzalex Gabarain

After these 4 books, let's reconsider how to proceed.

Below, I am copying the same list as shown on the voting thread, for your convenience - the links and the availability information might be helpful.

Let the polls open!

	AUTHOR	TITLE	PAPER	E-BK	AUDIO
1	Codd, Kevin A.	To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela	Yes	Yes
2	Downie, David	Paris to the Pyrenees	Yes	Yes	Yes
3	Gabarain, Antxon Gonzalex	The Great Westward Walk	Yes	Yes
4	Hitt, Jack	Off The Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down The Pilgrims Route Into Spain	Yes	Yes
5	Kevin, Tony	Walking the Camino (from Granada)	Yes	Yes	Yes
6	Piper, Ailsa	Sinning Across Spain: Walking the Camino	Yes	Yes	Yes
7	Rupp, Joyce	Walk in a Relaxed Manner	Yes	Yes
8	Simsion, Graeme, and Anne Buist	Two Steps Forward: A Novel	Yes	Yes	Yes
9	Sumption, Jonathan	Pilgrimage	Yes	Yes
10	Ward, Robert	All the Good Pilgrims: Tales of the Camino de Santiago	Yes	Yes

 

[Former member 91017]

Anticipation shall kill me!

 

[edandjoan]

I have read Jonathan Sumption's book several years ago. I have thought about rereading it and if you choose this book I may jump in. It might be interesting to have some discussions and delve deeper. I'm not into reading other's take on "their" pilgrimage. I like to learn about the history and culture of the places I travel.

 

[Deleted member 76633]

I have read Jonathan Sumption's book several years ago. I have thought about rereading it and if you choose this book I may jump in. It might be interesting to have some discussions and delve deeper. I'm not into reading other's take on "their" pilgrimage. I like to learn about the history and culture of the places I travel.

I'm currently about 2/3rds through it. As befits a Medieval scholar (his original calling) and latterly a Supreme Court judge, it is a very detailed, researched and pragmatic book. No mysticism involved.

I was also lucky to see him operate a Supreme Court judge when he was sitting with others on a case I was involved with. He tells it as it is - which has got him into a bit of bother recently.

It would be an ideal balance to Paul Cohelo's work.

 

[henrythedog]

I'm currently about 2/3rds through it. As befits a Medieval scholar (his original calling) and latterly a Supreme Court judge, it is a very detailed, researched and pragmatic book. No mysticism involved.

I was also lucky to see him operate a Supreme Court judge when he was sitting with others on a case I was involved with. He tells it as it is - which has got him into a bit of bother recently.

It would be an ideal balance to Paul Cohelo's work.

Much as I admire JS - his Reith Lectures are well worth a listen, available on BBC ‘sounds’ - I’d say that it is when he tells it how he thinks it is that he causes controversy. The fact that I may generally agree with him is by the by.

I too hope that we get to read his book as a group in due course.

 

[peregrina2000]

There are some subtle references to politics here, I think. Clever but please take it to a PM if you want to discuss further.

 

[C clearly]

Besides, let's not discuss the book before we discuss the book!

 

[C clearly]

The voting is proceeding and I've reserved 3 of the contenders from my library.

I have no idea what to do now. I have never belonged to a book club at all, let alone a book club on an internet forum, during a pandemic. So, I am playing this by ear. Of course we could just dump a bunch of book threads randomly onto the forum and all discuss as we wish. But I am trying (I'm not sure why) to organize a sort of structured entertainment for those of us who need a daily dose of the forum.

I have started a thread on the first book here, and next week will announce a new one from the voting. We will probably have some overlapping book threads but I'll try to space them out with some time for us to acquire and read the book before the discussion thread fades away.

Comments? Or, would you prefer just to have a free-for-all?

 

[dailycamino]

The voting is proceeding and I've reserved 3 of the contenders from my library.

I have no idea what to do now. I have never belonged to a book club at all, let alone a book club on an internet forum, during a pandemic. So, I am playing this by ear. Of course we could just dump a bunch of book threads randomly onto the forum and all discuss as we wish. But I am trying (I'm not sure why) to organize a sort of structured entertainment for those of us who need a daily dose of the forum.

I have started a thread on the first book here, and next week will announce a new one from the voting. We will probably have some overlapping book threads but I'll try to space them out with some time for us to acquire and read the book before the discussion thread fades away.

Comments? Or, would you prefer just to have a free-for-all?

I think the general idea is that we have some time to get our copies and read with an end date in mind. Then we can commence discussion. Excited!

 

[C clearly]

And the winner is....

To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela, by Kevin Codd.

Let's leave a week for people to find the book and get started with the reading. So, next Wednesday Feb 17, I will start a thread for discussion of this book.

Meanwhile go to this thread to comment or ask questions about, The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago by Gitlitz and Davidson.

 

[Deleted member 76633]

The ISBN (to make it simpler to find locally) is 9780802825926. Just put the number into your local Google

Other search engines are available.

 

[C clearly]

I have updated the first post on this thread to show the first 4 books, and the date that a thread will start for each. Here is the schedule:

1. New thread was started Feb 5 on this thread - The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook, by David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson
2. I'll create a thread on Feb 17 - To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela, by Kevin A. Codd
3. New thread will start Mar 3 Feb 24 - Walk in a Relaxed Manner, by Joyce Rupp
4. New thread will start March 17 3 - The Great Westward Walk, by Antxon Gonzalex Gabarain

Now everyone can plan their reading for a month!

[Edited to clarify that these will be forum threads, and not zoom calls.]

 

[Canche]

And the winner is....

To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela, by Kevin Codd.

Let's leave a week for people to find the book and get started with the reading. So, next Wednesday Feb 17, I will start a thread for discussion of this book.

Meanwhile go to this thread to comment or ask questions about, The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago by Gitlitz and Davidson.

Wednesdays are not good as the CSJ has a Zoom every Wed

 

[C clearly]

Wednesdays are not good as the CSJ has a Zoom every Wed

This is not a Zoom schedule. These dates are when I plan to start a new forum thread to discuss (in writing) the book.

[There is no reason threads couldn't be started anytime by anybody, but I volunteered to set up a series of threads so that those who want to, can read the same book at the same time and then write comments on it. I don't have plans to organize a zoom series.]

 

[Canche]

Sounds good

 

[Rozenn]

I received my book today.

 

[Rozenn]

I received my book today.

I am just in the middle of David Gitlitz guide ( that means for me a total review of the first leg of my Camino 2018 between Pamplona and Burgos ) I know now that I will
Buy the kindle version to have it handy anytime now ) and I will go on reading ithe rest step by step . I enjoy also following the links , going deeper in some details i
Like to stop about .. his interview on Sound cloud episode 23 about his first Camino in 1974 is great
Let s skip
To Kevin Todd then

 

[C clearly]

Let's skip

We could leave longer time between books, but we could also could also keep parallel threads active. That's what has started with the first 2 books, so let's try it.

 

[Canche]

I would like to leave a longer tome between books so as to have a chance to get them and read them

 

[C clearly]

I would like to leave a longer tome between books so as to have a chance to get them and read them

Let's see how it goes with the first couple. Of course we can keep multiple threads going indefinitely. The Gitlitz and Davidson book is not one I'd expect to read from cover to cover.

 

[David Tallan]

I would also vote for leaving a little longer between book threads, but I am willing to come in late to a thread if we don't.

 

[C clearly]

In response to popular demand above, which I happen to agree with, I am extending the schedule so we have 2 weeks between books. See the revised schedule in post #1.

 

[nycwalking]

I have the first book.

Are we discussing it in this thread or another?

 

[C clearly]

Are we discussing it in this thread or another?

Book 1 - Gitlitz and Davidson on this thread.

Book 2 - Kevin Codd on this thread.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

FYI: Popular as it may be in the camino world, "The Great Westward Walk" was self-published. Which evidently means it's not up to standards and below our consideration.

 

[C clearly]

FYI: Popular as it may be in the camino world, "The Great Westward Walk" was self-published. Which evidently means it's not up to standards and below our consideration.

You have a misimpression. The Great Westward Walk is next on the list. I was the person who nominated it for the list, and it was voted as #4 (in order for discussion) for our book club.

I suggested the criteria

Generally not self-published memoirs, particularly by forum members (i.e. Book should be written and edited professionally, and we want to avoid both self-promotion and hurt feelings.)

It seemed to me to be a sensible approach.

That is not the same as being "not up to our standards and below our consideration."

 

[Rebekah Scott]

You have a misimpression. The Great Westward Walk is next on the list. I was the person who nominated it for the list, and it was voted as #4 (in order for discussion) for our book club.

I suggested the criteria

It seemed to me to be a sensible approach.

That is not the same as being "not up to our standards and below our consideration."

I will take this to PM.

 

[Kathy F.]

And I am delighted to see that Kevin Codd's book, Field of Stars, is on the list. I read it before my first and after my second CF. Wonderful book.

 

[David Tallan]

And I am delighted to see that Kevin Codd's book, Field of Stars, is on the list. I read it before my first and after my second CF. Wonderful book.

Feel free to contribute to that thread in the club.

 

[Grammy Kin]

Is there a schedule for the next few?

 

[Kathy F.]

I had been doing some research in prep for an ill-fated Camino podcast in 2020. Using the local univerity library - remember when we could do that? - I was able to find a surprising amount of literature on the history of the Camino (I live far away, I have yet to meet a single person who has walked even part of it, few have even heard about it). I was able to read several translated excerpts from the Codex Calixtinus. I know it's a deep dive, but I wouldn't mind reading that one more thoroughly, if I could find a good translation.

 

[Albertagirl]

@Kathy F.
I have a copy of the Codex Calixtinus, book five, which is the section that is known as the medieval pilgrim's guide. I have read bits of it, but to finish the project must continue my study of Spanish, as it is a Spanish translation. I purchased it in the bookstore of San Martin Pinario on a previous pilgrimage to Santiago. If you are looking for a good English translation, this is not it. But if your Spanish is adequate, this is the publication information:
Codice Calixtino: Libro V: Siglo XII: Guia del Peregrino Medieval. Traduccion y Notas de A. Moralejo, C. Torres y J. Feo. Edicion al Cuidado de Maria Jose Garcia Blanco. c. Alvarellos Editora, 2016.
There is an English translation by Teresa Moralejo Garate, which may be purchased on their English website:
https://alvarellos.info/english.asp which may be more useful for you. This is clearly an academic publisher, but I have not read the English translation. Good luck.

 

[Kathy F.]

Feel free to contribute to that thread in the club.

Thanks. I think I'm getting hang of it, LOL!

 

[David Tallan]

@Kathy F.
I have a copy of the Codex Calixtinus, book five, which is the section that is known as the medieval pilgrim's guide. I have read bits of it, but to finish the project must continue my study of Spanish, as it is a Spanish translation. I purchased it in the bookstore of San Martin Pinario on a previous pilgrimage to Santiago. If you are looking for a good English translation, this is not it. But if your Spanish is adequate, this is the publication information:
Codice Calixtino: Libro V: Siglo XII: Guia del Peregrino Medieval. Traduccion y Notas de A. Moralejo, C. Torres y J. Feo. Edicion al Cuidado de Maria Jose Garcia Blanco. c. Alvarellos Editora, 2016.
There is an English translation by Teresa Moralejo Garate, which may be purchased on their English website:
https://alvarellos.info/english.asp which may be more useful for you. This is clearly an academic publisher, but I have not read the English translation. Good luck.

William Melczer also did an English translation of Book V. If you do a Google search of the ISBN (978-0-934977-25-8) it should not be hard to find.

 

[Kathy F.]

@Kathy F.
I have a copy of the Codex Calixtinus, book five, which is the section that is known as the medieval pilgrim's guide. I have read bits of it, but to finish the project must continue my study of Spanish, as it is a Spanish translation. I purchased it in the bookstore of San Martin Pinario on a previous pilgrimage to Santiago. If you are looking for a good English translation, this is not it. But if your Spanish is adequate, this is the publication information:
Codice Calixtino: Libro V: Siglo XII: Guia del Peregrino Medieval. Traduccion y Notas de A. Moralejo, C. Torres y J. Feo. Edicion al Cuidado de Maria Jose Garcia Blanco. c. Alvarellos Editora, 2016.
There is an English translation by Teresa Moralejo Garate, which may be purchased on their English website:
https://alvarellos.info/english.asp which may be more useful for you. This is clearly an academic publisher, but I have not read the English translation. Good luck.

Thanks so much for this information. I "rushed" to that website and found the book, available in English. It cost an arm and a leg to get it shipped here, but I was OK with that. However, the payment part is in Spanish and I couldn't figure out how/where to put in my credit card info. I found their FB page and posted the question to them. I hope they can get back with me soon so I can finish my purchase of the book.

 

[Albertagirl]

@Kathy F.
I couldn't figure out the payment part, either. Is it two separate charges, for the book and for the shipping? And I couldn't see where you fill it in, although I wasn't really looking for that, as I am working towards being able to read the Spanish text more fluently. If I had wanted to read the original text, I would be buying the text in the original Latin and trying to recover my Latin grammar and vocabulary. I think that I saw a Latin copy in the San Martin Pinario bookstore, when I bought the Spanish copy. But it used Latin abbreviations and, if I remember correctly, some letters were coloured, the lines ran together, and the whole structure of the Latin document followed conventions with which I am not at all familiar, rather than being printed in a modern style. Anyway, my intellectual energy is barely enough to try to acquire a useful amount of Spanish. If you cannot figure it out, I am sure that @peregrina2000 , or another of our fluent Spanish speakers would be happy to have a look at it. I hope that you will be successful in ordering a copy.
Edit: It looks to me like most of the information on the website, except on the page where English texts are for sale, is in gallego, which is the specialty of this publisher. I can generally follow the flow of the gallego, but I don't know about making purchases in it, as I don't have a dictionary that I can use to confirm whether I am correct in my ideas of the meaning of the gallego words. I hope that you can find someone to assist you with this.

 

[David Tallan]

Thanks so much for this information. I "rushed" to that website and found the book, available in English. It cost an arm and a leg to get it shipped here, but I was OK with that. However, the payment part is in Spanish and I couldn't figure out how/where to put in my credit card info. I found their FB page and posted the question to them. I hope they can get back with me soon so I can finish my purchase of the book.

You may find the Melczer translation easier to come by. It's available on Amazon for under $25US. Shipping to Canada was under $7CDN, and I expect it would be less to the states. Or it is available in the Kindle edition for $8. In addition to the translation, there are extensive notes and commentaries. Melczer was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Syracuse University and led the Syracuse University Travelling Seminar" The Medieval Pilgrimage Routes from Southern France to Santiago de Compostela: Romanesque Art in the Making".

 

[Albertagirl]

You may find the Melczer translation easier to come by. It's available on Amazon for under $25US. Shipping to Canada was under $7CDN, and I expect it would be less to the states. Or it is available in the Kindle edition for $8. In addition to the translation, there are extensive notes and commentaries. Melczer was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Syracuse University and led the Syracuse University Travelling Seminar" The Medieval Pilgrimage Routes from Southern France to Santiago de Compostela: Romanesque Art in the Making".

That sound's great. I may buy the Kindle edition to have on my phone when I'm on camino. Thanks for looking into it.

 

[Kathy F.]

You may find the Melczer translation easier to come by. It's available on Amazon for under $25US. Shipping to Canada was under $7CDN, and I expect it would be less to the states. Or it is available in the Kindle edition for $8. In addition to the translation, there are extensive notes and commentaries. Melczer was Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Syracuse University and led the Syracuse University Travelling Seminar" The Medieval Pilgrimage Routes from Southern France to Santiago de Compostela: Romanesque Art in the Making".

LOL, I went to Syracuse!!
Music major, undergrad

 

[Canche]

Is there a schedule for the next few?

Yes. I am confused what books are when?

 

[C clearly]

Yes. I am confused what books are when?

We are finishing the first round of 4 books, with the last one being The Great Westward Walk on this thread.

I've edited the first post in this thread for clarity, and this thread will be locked since it isn't needed anymore. Go to this thread to read about book selection and planning for Round 2. @David Tallan is taking the lead for it.