The Camino
Known as the Camino, the Santiago de Compostela Camino is a famous  pilgrimage that has been undertaken by people for centuries across northern Spain. It is said  that this 500-mile path lies directly under the Milky Way and that it reflects  the energy of the star systems above it. Facing her sixth decade of life on  earth, writer and actor Shirley MacLaine decided to go on this trek. She wasn't  sure why, she only knew that the Camino had been traveled for thousands of years  by "saints, sinners, generals, misfits, kings and queens. It is done by the  intent to find one's deepest spiritual meaning and resolutions regarding  conflicts in Self."Typical of MacLaine, this is a personal story with enormous adventure, a  smattering of flashbacks, and a hefty serving of cosmic revelations. Like a true  pilgrim, MacLaine travels solo, willing to strip herself down to the backpacking  essentials and find deeper meaning in all the bizarre, frightening, and  coincidental events she encounters along the way. It is no small feat that this  sixtysomething woman walked the grueling path in 30 days. Readers can expect  vivid stories of stalking paparazzi, icy showers, bouts of hunger, lost paths, a  worshipping young man, a deranged woman screaming in a roadside shelter, saintly  truck drivers, a fellow pilgrim in a wheelchair, bouts of constipation and  diarrhea, and a cosmic crescendo that will knock the socks of MacLaine's fans.--Gail Hudson