Do you want to read some great books about the Camino de Santiago? I just finished reading five of the most popular novels that take place on the Camino back to back and review them here! The Camino de Santiago is a big part of our lives. In the last 7 years, we have walked many different routes and written tons of content to help pilgrims plan and hike the Camino. See our Camino de Santiago Resource Page to easily find first-hand knowledge of whatever you want to know about the Camino.
PILGRIM by Carolyn Gillespie – An enjoyable, well-written pilgrimage story, that thousands can relate to, of a middle-aged woman who resigns from her demanding job and walks the Camino.
The Only Way is West by Bradley Chermside is a fun book about a younger pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago who sells his business, makes friends, and has a life-changing experience on The Way.
The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho is an inspirational tale about a man in a cult searching for a mystic sword with his master on the Camino de Santiago route.
The Camino, A Pilgrimage of Courage by Shirley MacLaine, a famous Hollywood actress walks the Camino Frances, the majority of the book is about her dreams and hallucinations while walking the Camino de Santiago.
I´m Off Then – Hape Kerkeling This is an entertaining pilgrimage story about a ´Couch Potato´ comedian with a stressful lifestyle and health problems who realizes he needs to change his life and walks the Camino de Santiago.
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PILGRIM: Finding a New Way on the Camino de Santiago – Carolyn Gillespie
“From here on it will be sleeping bags on bunk beds and sharing dorms with dozens of others. I am 46 and have never spent more than a couple of nights away from my family. I am not really cut out for this. I have never done anything brave or impressive. I have lived a safe life and taken no chances.” – Kari Gillespie
What is `PILGRIM ´ about? Carolyn´s (Kari) memoir about her experience walking the Camino Frances in Spain in 2016. An authentic, informative, enjoyable account of her pilgrimage, the physical demands, the emotional toll, and the spiritual experience that she had along the Way.
BUY – PILGRIM by Carolyn Gillespie on Amazon
Recommend PILGRIM to – those interested in the Camino de Santiago, Pilgrims who have done the Camino, or those who are preparing for it. I enjoyed the day-by-day account of the whole 40-day pilgrimage.
Many pilgrims can relate to this story of a woman with grown-up children living for her job, following her middle-aged survival instinct, resigning, and walking the Camino de Santiago.
Book Review – PILGRIM by Carolyn Gillespie
Kari is 46 years old, her children are leaving home and she decided to resign from her demanding job as a teacher and walk the Camino Frances, a 900 km walk to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Some friends and family members join her for different parts of the journey. You will like, love, and laugh at a lot of the characters on her journey. From her physiotherapist friend Ali strapping up pilgrims from St Jean to Santiago to the amazing friends she makes while walking and the characters, every pilgrim meets on the Way; the snorers, the love stories, the German pants man the exhibitionist, interesting hospitaleros, and many more that had me smiling. If you have walked the Camino you will recognize a lot of the scenery and beautiful towns on the Camino Frances she does a great job of describing. Surviving the first day from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles, climbing the mountains of the Pyrenees, walking through the beautiful cities and Winelands of Rioja, the monotonous Meseta, experiencing the rain and wind walking through Green Spain in the farmlands of Galicia, and the emotional experience of seeing the mythical Santiago de Compostella appear.
Having walked many Camino de Santiago routes, I know some of Kari´s experiences are shared by many other Pilgrims. The unique ordeals when sharing a bedroom with 20 strangers from bedbugs to singers, snorers, and exhibitionists. This is a physically demanding journey and many will relate to her tough struggle with tendinitis in her shin along the way, doubting at times if she is going to make it to Santiago. Like all pilgrims she sometimes asks herself ´Why am I doing this?´, but her positive attitude is uplifting.
The Camino de Santiago is a spiritual journey for many. This is also a story of Kari´s spiritual awakening along the Way. She did this without being preachy or judgmental.
This book will give you a good idea of what the Camino is like.
The Only Way is West – Bradley Chermside
“Striding into the Santiago Cathedral plaza like a warrior who´d just seized power and declared himself king, I simultaneously ejaculated happiness, ecstasy, satisfaction, and pride. I´d done it! Fifty-three kilometers in twelve hours, fighting off the pain of my shin splints. Eight hundred and four kilometers in twenty-six days. I´d gone and bloody done it!”
What is ´The Only Way is West´ about? It is a humorous pilgrimage story of a 20-something archetypal British guy walking the Camino Frances and Camino Finisterre around 2018. While walking there is a mysterious girl he hopes will be waiting for him on the way. Bradley´s memoir tells his Camino story; his decision to walk the Camino, selling his business, the walking, the blisters, and the people he meets on the way.
Buy The Only Way is West by Bradley Chermside on Amazon
Recommend the book to – pilgrims that have walked the Camino de Santiago and to aspiring peregrinos. Brad will surely have some fellow pilgrims reminiscing and smiling while reading about his journey. People interested in the Camino or planning to walk will get a good idea about what happens on the Camino from this memoir. Some pilgrims will find Brad a bit condescending. Most of the books I read about the Camino de Santiago were written by older writers, it was refreshing to read a book about the Camino written by a young adult walking to find love.
Book Review – The Only Way is West by Bradley Chermside
Brad is a young British musician with a soccer coaching business. He is unhappy with his career prospects, partying lifestyle, and haphazard love life. Ever since hearing about the Camino de Santiago from a friend he has constantly been thinking about making this pilgrimage. Deciding the simplicity of just walking for a month and getting away from the daily pressures sounded wonderful and he committed to take some time off and walk to Santiago. Two years before walking the Camino Bradley found a bank note with an email address written on it in a bar. He was curious and sent an email to the address, finding a young lady who lives in Spain near Santiago. He walks to Santiago de Compostela planning to meet her and hoping he will find the love of his life. There are many typical things of the Camino de Santiago that those who have walked will recognize. Deciding what to pack, using the Brierly Guide Book to plan, working through famous Camino content like The Way and The Pilgrimage, making packing mistakes, meeting amazing people, having a hard time walking, and amazing acts of kindness from strangers experienced on this pilgrimage. A fun story of a thousand `Buen Camino!´s, sharing a room with 125 roommates, grumpy hospitaleros, and the best hopitaleros in the world. Brad continues to walk from Santiago to Finisterre. Following the Camino he had serious post-Camino blues and a hard time adapting to normal life again. It is nice that the story continues after the Camino showing what happened to Bradley and the big impact the Camino de Santiago had on his life.
Brad is not your typical pilgrim, but It was a fun and informative read on the Camino. He does a good job of describing walking stages, situations, and emotions seen and experienced on the Camino de Santiago.
Don’t make packing mistakes! Read our Camino de Santiago Packing Guide!
The Pilgrimage – Paulo Coelho
“’You can only learn when you are teaching. Together we have walked the Strange Way to Santiago, but while you learned the ways, I learned the meaning of them. By explaining them to you, I really learned them myself. By becoming a guide I found my own way.”
What is ´The Pilgrimage´ about? It is a memoir full of mysticism and ancient magic telling the story of the author following his guide on the road to Santiago de Compostela to attain the next rank in his religious order. The Pilgrimage accounts for the famous Brazilian author, Paulo Coelho’s journey and spiritual awakening on the Camino de Santiago. There are a lot of paranormal happenings and New Age mysticism in the story. It is an inspirational tale with many philosophical lessons.
Buy The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho on Amazon
I recommend reading this book to – people who enjoy stories about the meaning of life and New Age mysticism. A very different book than ´The Alchemist´ his most famous work, but I think most Coelho fans will enjoy the book. The Pilgrimage has several self-empowerment lessons and exercises that could be helpful. This is not a book related to the modern Camino de Santiago pilgrimage at all but is a mystic quest to Santiago on which Coelho does things like physically fighting a demon in the form of a dog and taking part in ancient ceremonies. Very few pilgrims would be able to relate to his journey or learn anything about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage from this book.
Book Review – The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho
Paulo is a member of a Christian cult The Order of the RAM. He tried to attain ” The tradition, ” a new higher-level rank in this society. He fails and does not get the sword earned at this level. His fraternity master orders him to follow his guide on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage to earn the sword. During the pilgrimage, his guide, Petrus, teaches Paulo several spiritual exercises that are explained and the reader can also do. On the way, he experiences several forms of love, fights a dog with several demons more than once, and climbs a dangerous waterfall. During his journey, he realizes the secret of his sword. This story is non-fiction, which is hard to believe since it is closer to a Dan Brown novel than a story about walking the Camino de Santiago.
I enjoyed the book, a nice story, not related to the modern Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.
The Camino – A Pilgrimage of Courage – Shirley MacLaine
“the absence of evidence does not mean the evidence of absence”
What is ´The Camino´ About? – Famous Holywood personality Shirley MacLaine feels compelled to walk the Camino de Santiago. She recorded her thoughts and experiences along the way with a small tape recorder. This book is mostly about her strange spiritual journey on The Way and her experiences with out-of-body travel, her past lives, and extraterrestrial beings.
The majority of the book tells about her dreams or visions. I am not always sure if in reality, she is lying in bed sleeping or walking while she is dreaming. Shirley explains many things that have been revealed to her in the dream world, from the creation story to evolution and what happened to the dinosaurs. She walked the Camino at a different time, with fewer pilgrims and fewer resources available on the journey. The parts of the book dealing with blisters, sore feet, her avoiding the press and the journey were interesting.
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I will recommend this book to – people who enjoy books with metaphysical explanations of existence, nature, and reality. This is not a book for people who want to learn more about the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. It was written more than 20 years ago. The Camino was not so commercial, with less facilities and a lot less people. She even uses a different vocabulary, calling albergues ‘refugios’ and her credential a ‘carnet’. When she is not dreaming she is hiding and running from the press, which is sometimes mildly interesting.
Book Review – The Camino – A Pilgrimage of Courage by Shirley MacLaine
While in Brazil Shirley MacLaine receives two letters encouraging her to go and walk the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage in Spain. Many people have intense spiritual experiences walking the Way. Shirley explains that the path lies directly under the Milky Way and it reflects the energy of the stars above. This energy emanates at a high frequency and influences human consciousness in various ways. MacLaine visits her friend dying of cancer, Kathleen Tynan, in London before starting the journey. They keep in touch on the way. She walks the first part of her Camino with Ann Strong, a friend and spiritual leader who encouraged her to walk the Camino. Early on in her journey, she dreams about a past life as a dark-skinned Moorish girl living on the Camino path. While walking she feels the energy of the path talking to her and sometimes feels that she ´becomes´ this gypsy girl during the time of Charlemagne. From here on the book is more about the dreams of Shirley MacLaine while walking the Camino de Santiago and for me, it was a tough read to get to the end.
She meets a man named John the Scot in her hallucinations, she was his mistress in a past life. John is her guide for the rest of the book in this dream world. In her visions, John explains questions she must have regarding existence, nature, and reality. The creation of souls, evolution, the Adamic race, the first sin, and many other apparent historical events are explained. Shirley had some interesting explanations of life and as a scientist, I found them amusing. John the Scot showed her that evolution also happened in other galaxies, but the extraterrestrials developed faster with better technology. The aliens contributed to Earth´s evolution through genetic engineering and apparently, that is why we have a missing link in the evolutionary line on Earth. There are a lot of explanations about androgynous soulmates, that end up mating and giving birth. In the last chapters of the book, John the Scot teaches MacLaine about the Lemurian and Atlantean civilizations. MacLaine relives a past life in Lemuria.
A weird book.
I´m Off Then – Hape Kerkeling
“Insight of the day: It was good to hike alone, but enough´s enough.” – Hape Kerkeling
What is `I´M OFF THEN´ about? A famous German comedian has some serious health issues due to a stressful lifestyle and decides to walk the 790 km/490 mi pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Not in shape and looking for meaning in life ´I´m off Then´ is his daily journal. In an interview that I watched, Hape says that he did not plan to write a book when he wrote the journal, it was just an honest account of his experience. The book is an entertaining, easy read, but not laugh-out-loud funny. Lonely and searching for meaning Hape meets some interesting characters on the way. After Astorga, he forms a merry Camino band with 2 ladies and they become an inseparable fun walking group. He does a good job describing all 40 stops along his journey to Santiago.
´I´m Off Then´ is one of the most popular stories written about the Camino de Santiago having sold more than three million copies and being translated into eleven languages. The author’s celebrity status in Germany obviously contributed to the popularity of the book in his home country.
Buy I´m Off Then – Hape Kerkeling on Amazon
I will recommend this book to – Fans of Hape Kerkeling that has walked the Camino will love this book. More than 20 years old the book is a bit dated. I still think modern pilgrims or anyone interested in the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage will enjoy this account of Hape Kerkeling´s journey.
Book Review – I´m Off Then – Hape Kerkeling
Well-known German comedian and television personality Hans Peter (Hape) Kerkeling ends up in hospital due to a stressful, high-paced lifestyle. He realizes he has to make some behavior changes and decides to walk the Camino de Santiago from St.Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Hape´s memoir is about his experience walking the Camino Frances in Spain in 2001. He is drawn to the idea of the pilgrimage hoping it will bring him closer to God and thus himself. An overweight, unfit, smoker, so it is not strange that the Camino is a massive physical challenge for Hans Peter. Like many pilgrims, he often contemplates quitting the journey, but he perseveres. He often takes buses and even hitchhikes on the way. Hape likes privacy and hot baths, and he stays in hotels all the way, avoiding the `dreary bunk-packed dorms´ in Albergues on the Camino.
This is an enjoyable, honest day-by-day account of his pilgrimage, each chapter is named after the stops on the road in this part of the book and you can follow the story on the map. Reminiscing about his life and how his career as a stage and television comedian started by entering a talent show was interesting.
Not as strange as Paulo Coelho or Shirley MacLaine´s journeys, Hape also has a supernatural experience along the way. He visits a hypnotherapist and experiences a previous life in which he was a Polish monk who was executed by the Nazis.
Hape walked about 20 years ago, so it is a different Camino today. Current Pilgrims will however still appreciate his journey and recognize many places along the way; the steep climbs at Roncesvalles and O Cebreiro, the wet forests in Galicia, and the fantastic entrance to Plaza do Obradoiro in Santiago de Compostela. He meets many entertaining characters along the way. The best part of the book is the last third after he has found his 2 Camino buddies, Sheelagh from New Zeeland and Anne from England. The three just have a lot of fun while walking to Santiago every day. I thought the book was well written, an easy read, not hilariously funny, but entertaining. Originally written in German the translation is good, but some of the humor might have been lost in translation. On the cover of the book, it says that the number of pilgrims on the Camino has increased by 20% since the book was published. This might be true, but I do not think that Hans Peter Kerkeling can take credit for this.
Guide Books for the Camino de Santiago
These are all novels about the Camino. Before we walked all the popular Camino routes and wrote walking guides for these pilgrimages we used the John Brierly Guide Books for planning.
Buy the John Brierley Camino Guide Books on Amazon
The strong half of Stingy Nomads, a nomadic aquaman that would be happy to spend all his life in the water diving, surfing and spearfishing but often has to compromise with Alya and go hiking instead. Campbell is responsible for all our marine adventures and following them with write-ups. He loves traveling, braai (BBQ in South Africa), red wine and spending the day in a wetsuit.
