The Book of Wanderings, Kimberly Meyer
The Book of Wanderings, Kimberly Meyer
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The Book of Wanderings
A Mother-Daughter Pilgrimage

Author: Kimberly Meyer

Narrator: Kimberly Meyer

Unabridged: 13 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/24/2015


Synopsis

To a mother and daughter on an illuminating pilgrimage, this is what the desert said: Carry only what you need. Burn what can't be saved. Leave the remnants as an offering.

When Kimberly Meyer gave birth to her first daughter, Ellie, during her senior year of college, the bohemian life of exploration she had once imagined for herself was lost in the responsibilities of single motherhood. For years, both mother and daughter were haunted by how Ellie came into being-Kimberly through a restless ache for the world beyond, Ellie through a fear of abandonment.

Longing to bond with Ellie, now a college student, and longing, too, to rediscover herself, Kimberly sets off with her daughter on a quest for meaning across the globe. Leaving behind the rhythms of ordinary life in Houston, Texas, they dedicate a summer to retracing the footsteps of Felix Fabri, a medieval Dominican friar whose written account of his travels resonates with Kimberly. Their mother-daughter pilgrimage takes them to exotic destinations infused with mystery, spirituality, and rich history -- from Venice to the Mediterranean through Greece and partitioned Cyprus, to Israel and across the Sinai Desert with Bedouin guides, to the Palestinian territories and to Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt.

In spare and gorgeous prose, The Book of Wanderings tells the story of Kimberly and Ellie's journey, and of the intimate, lasting bond they forge along the way. A meditation on stripping away the distractions, on simplicity, on how to live, this vibrant memoir will appeal to anyone who has contemplated the road not taken, who has experienced the gnawing feeling that there is something more, who has faced the void-of offspring leaving, of mortality looming, of searching for someplace that feels, finally, like home.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Marcie on September 02, 2015

I really wanted to like this book. It started out strong, but it turns out that we learn all we need to know about Kimberly Meyer before she leaves on her "pilgrimage." There is so much beautiful writing in this book and so much that's boring and redundant. The story that inspired Meyer is intertwin......more

Goodreads review by Patty on March 10, 2019

Interesting but a bit hard to fully relate to the authors feelings and discoveries. The intro to the book was very good.......more

Goodreads review by Pam on June 06, 2015

I loved the premise of this book and that mother and daughter clearly were able to get what they wanted from the journey. For myself, as the reader, these feelings did not come through to me in the text. I felt lost most of the time as we jumped from history to religion to illness through different......more

Goodreads review by Lauren on March 16, 2015

One of the other reviews likened this book to The Gilmore Girls television show. I couldn't agree more. It's so similar in humor and banter. I think the fact that I'm rewatching that show currently helped me find the similarities between the two. This book is well written, enjoyable and an excellent......more

Goodreads review by Karen on April 06, 2024

I was skeptical in the beginning of the The Book of Wanderings. But as I continued to read I became entranced with Kimberly and her desire to live the bohemian lifestyle she had desired when she was in college. A single mother and an unexpected pregnancy changed her plans. The book of wanderings tel......more


Quotes

"The Book of Wanderings is about both the intrinsically private and the universally enduring need for pilgrimage: to the sites that restore and reward, to the experience of wondering and wandering and connecting, whether with family or the whole human race. Meyer brings this insatiable urge to pursue enlightenment of the journey home to the reader. Home to the ordinary suburban American in the very chaotic 21st century. There's no one who won't recognize some aspect of herself in these pages. They offer insights both mystical and practical. It is a book to cherish."—Antonya Nelson, author of Bound and Funny Once