Spring
is almost over, but today (Friday – May 24’19) I was glad to meet at a public library with a group of friends for our seasonal book club.
This time we began our evening together with light refreshments and small talks
while listening to soft classical music with a spring theme. Indeed, delightful
and peaceful moments of togetherness, camaraderie and settling cheer.
After that we continued with focused conversations and the novel discussed this time
was “The Camino“, by Shirley MacLaine, unanimously voted by the entire group during
the past season.
In essence, THE CAMINO is a book about a famous pilgrimage that has been taken
by people for centuries called the Santiago de Compostela Camino, across
northern Spain.
“The Santiago Camino has been traversed for thousands of years by saints,
sinners, generals, misfits, kings and queens. It is done with the intent to
find one's deepest spiritual meaning and resolutions regarding conflicts in
Self - from the Introduction Shirley MacLaine is far more than a Hollywood
legend - for the last three decades she has continued with her brave and public
commitment to chronicling her personal quest for spiritual understanding. A
truly inspirational woman, Shirley was prompted to take part in the annual
pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain after receiving
two anonymous letters imploring her to take the difficult trip. In her
mid-sixties, Shirley managed to finish the nearly 500-mile trek in only thirty
days - a phenomenal achievement. Throughout history, many illustrious pilgrims
from all over Europe have taken up the trail, from St Francis of Assisi to
Dante and Chaucer. Now it is Shirley's turn. With rich insight, humility and
her trademark grace, Shirley MacLaine gently leads us through the range of
astonishing and liberating visions and revelations that are revealed to her as
she walked the pilgrimage.“
For your convenience, in the comments section below I’m including the brief
summary that has been circulated by few publishing houses.
Without
any doubt, this book presented us an interesting conversational theme, based on
which lots of personal perspectives emerged during our evening talks.
At
the end, the thought we each were left with was that life is a precious gift and constantly we need to analyze ourselves, while adjusting as needed.
As usual, the time we spent together flew by very fast, and once again the commitment to continue
with our gatherings was reinforced by the entire group.
Also, while at this page, I would like to extend my most sincere appreciation
to these dear friends, who planned well ahead of time their agenda of the day,
efficiently rescheduling a number of last minute changes and marched through several unexpected life situations so we all could meet for a few hours in
order to have a pleasant time amongst books, while discussing interesting concepts.
Kudos to each of them for their determination!
Until we meet again, I’m wishing you a wonderful rest of spring!
Warm regards,
Alice
“The journey of a
lifetime starts with the turning of a page. “
