A different reality, beautifully evoked
Good books: A Journey in Ladakh by Andrew Harvey
I am sometimes asked by readers if I can recommend other authors who write in the same genre as me.
While many non-fiction Buddhist books are published every month, I am not aware of another author whose main focus is communicating the Dharma through storytelling. If I am missing someone, dear readers, please let me know. I’d be very happy to investigate!
As a voracious reader myself, over the years I have discovered several books - memoirs for the most part - that I find so intriguing, inspiring or beautifully written, that they could pass for novels. They have that same quality of giving you permission to suspend your disbelief for a while as you explore a completely different take on reality.
These are the books that I usually suggest to readers. And if you like, I am happy to tell you more about them in this newsletter.
Given that many subscribers like to listen as well as read, I thought it might be a pleasure for us both if, along with a few paragraphs about why I like these books, I read some excerpts, illustrating what I find so enchanting about them.
And so onto today’s recommended reading.
I can’t remember where I bought my very faded, second-hand copy of A Journey in Ladakh by Andrew Harvey, but I was rivetted within just a few paragraphs.
Andrew was a recent Oxford graduate when he visited Ladakh in the early 1980s. While not specifically a Buddhist, he can perhaps be described as a seeker in the broadest sense. As well as being highly intelligent, articulate, and sensitive to what he observed, I was especially struck by his spiritual imagination. He writes about his journey in Ladakh - as opposed to to Ladakh - with a beauty and immediacy that’s quite captivating.