After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
Like Pema Chodron, Kornfield has a gift for titles as much as stories, This is my favorite of his books as it connects his own journey to wider ideas about spirit/Buddhist life and the spirit journey.
The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
A consummate storyteller, this is the book for a long plane ride without interruption. Or swinging on a hammock on some lost island.
The Wild Braid: A Poet Reflects on a Century in the Garden
The loveliest image of Kunitz in his garden graces the cover of this book and his reminiscences of time spent in his garden, part poetry, part prose, are just as graceful and glorious.
Path Without Destination: The Long Walk of a Gentle Hero
One man’s walk across the world for peace – this is his journey in words and deed. I hope to join him with others on a short pilgrimage some day soon to meet the man and share conversations on the journey. In the meantime I subscribe to his journal, Resurgence, my most favorite magazine.
Obasan
The author accounts her own experience of her family’s internment as Canadian citiens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War. This terrible injustice is gracefully told.
From the Place of the Dead: The Epic Struggles of Bishop Belo of East Timor
I read this book after we learnt of the massacres in East Timor by Indonesian forces and when I was asking, like many people, ‘how could we let this happen?’ Kohen’s book captures the brave spirit of Bishop Belor in the fight for justice for East Timor and its people.
Road From Coorain True North: A Memoir
These books came at a critical point in my life in showing me both what is possible and how to make sense of one’s journey. I still hold Conway’s compass in my heart.
Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith Toward Asmara
I feel close to this book both because of the searing writing and also because my late friend Charles bought land that encompassed Jimmy’s mountain and he felt as close to the writing and invocation as I did. Keneally is a masterful writer and he has many other books that I could recommend, most memorably Toward Asmara. In this book four Westerners travel to Eritrea and experience the drought and despair in its capital, Asmara. As they witness the devastation and futility of war coupled with the Eritreans’ courage and humanity they themselves change as they are challenged in ways unexpected and unthinkable.
Taku Akatauira =: My dawning star: Poems
Eloquent, arresting poetry A posthumous collection of poems by Cook Island poet, Kauraka Kaurake who died in 1997.