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To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela
“I am about to share here a story about stars that dance. . . . If the very thought of seeing stars dance piques your curiosity at some deep level of your soul, then pay attention to what follows, for the walk to the Field of Stars, to Santiago de Compostela, is a journey that has the power to change lives forever.”
-- from the introduction
“Pilgrimage” is a strange notion to our modern, practical minds. How many of us have walked to a distant holy place in order to draw nearer to God? Yet the pilgrimage experience is growing these days in various parts of the world.
Seeking to take stock of his life, Kevin Codd set out in July 2003 on a pilgrimage that would profoundly change his life. To the Field of Stars tells the fascinating story of his unusual spiritual and physical journey on foot across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater. Each brief chapter chronicling Codd's thirty-five-day trek is dedicated to one or two days on the road. Codd shares tales of other pilgrims, his own changes of perspective, and his challenges and triumphs along the way -- all told with a disarming candor.
Seen through the eyes of a Catholic priest who honors the religious worldview that originally gave rise to these medieval odysseys, “pilgrimage” comes to life and takes on new meaning in these pages.
-- from the introduction
“Pilgrimage” is a strange notion to our modern, practical minds. How many of us have walked to a distant holy place in order to draw nearer to God? Yet the pilgrimage experience is growing these days in various parts of the world.
Seeking to take stock of his life, Kevin Codd set out in July 2003 on a pilgrimage that would profoundly change his life. To the Field of Stars tells the fascinating story of his unusual spiritual and physical journey on foot across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the traditional burial place of the apostle James the Greater. Each brief chapter chronicling Codd's thirty-five-day trek is dedicated to one or two days on the road. Codd shares tales of other pilgrims, his own changes of perspective, and his challenges and triumphs along the way -- all told with a disarming candor.
Seen through the eyes of a Catholic priest who honors the religious worldview that originally gave rise to these medieval odysseys, “pilgrimage” comes to life and takes on new meaning in these pages.
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 30, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
December 31, 2012
My normal reaction, so far in life, to a book summarized as written by a priest describing his spiritual journey is to stick my fingers in my ears and sing "la-la-la-la-la" very loudly until the book went away. I've spent the majority of my life soundly rejecting religion and all things pious.
But the older I get, and the more I listen to other people with similar opinions, the more I think that most hardlined anti-religious people can be as dogmatic as hardlined religious people. The more I witness people shutting their ears the minute the word "God" is uttered, the more I feel the same disgust as when I witness people swaying in their belief that salvation can only be in the form of Jesus-loving.
Shutting down one's brain the instant of the suggestion that there is a god is as stupid as believing that non-believers are automatically going to hell.
The more I feel this way, the more I start listening to people. And the more I listen, the more I realize that people are essentially the same. Everyone believes something, and most people in something, and most people have a logic to their beliefs.
Anyway, since I'm no longer dogmatic myself, I am no longer terrified that the mere act of reading about a Catholic's spiritual journey is going going to convince me of anything, or taint my non-believer status, or make other people think that I believe in any particular canon.
So, I read this book.
Mostly because I want to walk the Camino, and I want to read about others' experiences.
It was a good book. I anticipate that this book has given me a sense of what I might experience when I walk the Camino, but also, I am suddenly not afraid of my Catholic heritage. Reading this gentle author's very first hand musings (no preachings), I am opened up to the possibility that priests are not the devil or should be automatically deemed blockheaded idiots. Actually, this priest's spiritual journey on the Camino reminded me that everyone is human, no one has to be perfect in their actions or beliefs, and, actually, I could use a little feeling-one-with-something myself.
I've been nurturing a nagging inkling lately that since I'm going on the Camino anyway, maybe I should try some of the Catholicism that is available on the walk. You know...since I'm going to be there anyway. Maybe I should use the trek as an experimental time - open my mind and heart wide open to Catholicism, just for a short time. And at the end of the walk I can go right back to my current state, if I want to.
These are the thoughts that this book generated for me. I'm glad I read it, and I'm looking forward to walking the Way.
=====
One of the scenes in the book that caught me off-guard was the author's notion that the cross is a symbol of God's wide-stretched, welcoming arms.
For me, the cross always symbolized martyrdon, and while my deepest disgust is directed toward hypocrites, my 2nd most hated segment of the human population are martyrs. I always felt that martyrs put un-asked for obligations on their devotees, and that a portion of their acts are done out of vanity.
Martyrs remind me of my cousin - This is a guy who bought a St Bernard puppy, then promptly abandoned it athis sister's house in order to traipse around the world. But his abandonment was ok because the reason he couldn't take care of the dog was that he was going to live on a (terrorist) ship to save the endangered sharks or sea cucmbers or some shit. Everybody oohed and aahed over how he was saving the world by jamming his ship into whaling ships. So the abandonment of the puppy was forgotten. Eventually he settled back on land. But, of courxse, by this time no one could really expect him to take the dog back. After all, the dog was emotionally attached to his sister.
Then, when his sister couldn't take care of the dog one minute longer (she never wanted the thing), and forces him to take it or she would drop it off at the pound, what else could he do but pick it up?
Not long after, the dog got very sick - as St Bernards are apt to do. But - here's the kicker - when the family tells the story of how the dog had to be put down, the story was all about how my cousin was there, stroking the dog's head every second as it died. POOR COUSIN!
When I heard the story, I wanted to punch my cousin. How is it that this poor dog had a crappy life at the hands of my cousin, yet when it died, IT'S STILL ALL ABOUT MY COUSIN???
This is what martyrdon has always been about, as far as I was concerned.
So it always pissed me off that I was expected to be GRATEFUL for Jesus dying for my soul. And it pissed me off even more to be manipulated into feeling this way by being subjected to images of awful, miserable suffering, and starvation on the cross, let alone the pain it must have inflicted to be nailed to one. Fuckin A, what kind of asshole would not spend his days dedicated toward witnessing the glory of someone who would do ALL THAT for YOU?
I guess what it comes down to, is I hate being manipulated.
But here's the thing: No one ever suggested that the cross might be a symbol of acceptance and welcome. I had never heard that the cross was ever anything but a scare and shame tactic. That it might be a "come with me" rather than a "give up your life thanking me".
And once I read that notion in this book.....wow. Suddenly everything else I so dogmatically took for granted as disgusting and manipulative in religion is open to inspection too. Maybe I just haven't been listening.
But the older I get, and the more I listen to other people with similar opinions, the more I think that most hardlined anti-religious people can be as dogmatic as hardlined religious people. The more I witness people shutting their ears the minute the word "God" is uttered, the more I feel the same disgust as when I witness people swaying in their belief that salvation can only be in the form of Jesus-loving.
Shutting down one's brain the instant of the suggestion that there is a god is as stupid as believing that non-believers are automatically going to hell.
The more I feel this way, the more I start listening to people. And the more I listen, the more I realize that people are essentially the same. Everyone believes something, and most people in something, and most people have a logic to their beliefs.
Anyway, since I'm no longer dogmatic myself, I am no longer terrified that the mere act of reading about a Catholic's spiritual journey is going going to convince me of anything, or taint my non-believer status, or make other people think that I believe in any particular canon.
So, I read this book.
Mostly because I want to walk the Camino, and I want to read about others' experiences.
It was a good book. I anticipate that this book has given me a sense of what I might experience when I walk the Camino, but also, I am suddenly not afraid of my Catholic heritage. Reading this gentle author's very first hand musings (no preachings), I am opened up to the possibility that priests are not the devil or should be automatically deemed blockheaded idiots. Actually, this priest's spiritual journey on the Camino reminded me that everyone is human, no one has to be perfect in their actions or beliefs, and, actually, I could use a little feeling-one-with-something myself.
I've been nurturing a nagging inkling lately that since I'm going on the Camino anyway, maybe I should try some of the Catholicism that is available on the walk. You know...since I'm going to be there anyway. Maybe I should use the trek as an experimental time - open my mind and heart wide open to Catholicism, just for a short time. And at the end of the walk I can go right back to my current state, if I want to.
These are the thoughts that this book generated for me. I'm glad I read it, and I'm looking forward to walking the Way.
=====
One of the scenes in the book that caught me off-guard was the author's notion that the cross is a symbol of God's wide-stretched, welcoming arms.
For me, the cross always symbolized martyrdon, and while my deepest disgust is directed toward hypocrites, my 2nd most hated segment of the human population are martyrs. I always felt that martyrs put un-asked for obligations on their devotees, and that a portion of their acts are done out of vanity.
Martyrs remind me of my cousin - This is a guy who bought a St Bernard puppy, then promptly abandoned it athis sister's house in order to traipse around the world. But his abandonment was ok because the reason he couldn't take care of the dog was that he was going to live on a (terrorist) ship to save the endangered sharks or sea cucmbers or some shit. Everybody oohed and aahed over how he was saving the world by jamming his ship into whaling ships. So the abandonment of the puppy was forgotten. Eventually he settled back on land. But, of courxse, by this time no one could really expect him to take the dog back. After all, the dog was emotionally attached to his sister.
Then, when his sister couldn't take care of the dog one minute longer (she never wanted the thing), and forces him to take it or she would drop it off at the pound, what else could he do but pick it up?
Not long after, the dog got very sick - as St Bernards are apt to do. But - here's the kicker - when the family tells the story of how the dog had to be put down, the story was all about how my cousin was there, stroking the dog's head every second as it died. POOR COUSIN!
When I heard the story, I wanted to punch my cousin. How is it that this poor dog had a crappy life at the hands of my cousin, yet when it died, IT'S STILL ALL ABOUT MY COUSIN???
This is what martyrdon has always been about, as far as I was concerned.
So it always pissed me off that I was expected to be GRATEFUL for Jesus dying for my soul. And it pissed me off even more to be manipulated into feeling this way by being subjected to images of awful, miserable suffering, and starvation on the cross, let alone the pain it must have inflicted to be nailed to one. Fuckin A, what kind of asshole would not spend his days dedicated toward witnessing the glory of someone who would do ALL THAT for YOU?
I guess what it comes down to, is I hate being manipulated.
But here's the thing: No one ever suggested that the cross might be a symbol of acceptance and welcome. I had never heard that the cross was ever anything but a scare and shame tactic. That it might be a "come with me" rather than a "give up your life thanking me".
And once I read that notion in this book.....wow. Suddenly everything else I so dogmatically took for granted as disgusting and manipulative in religion is open to inspection too. Maybe I just haven't been listening.
September 20, 2014
The maps can tell you how far it is from town to town. The guidebooks can tell you how much to pack. But what is the Camino de Santiago really like? What does it feel like for a specific person to sleep in a bunkbed in a crowded dorm, or to walk dozens of miles every day? Codd offers a delightfully honest and yet thoughtful memoir--one of the best I've read (and I've been skimming or reading Camino books for a couple of years now).
He admits his petty annoyances and failures, as well as the moments of personal insight and spectacular accomplishments along the way, but there's no sense that he's playing anything up for the reader's benefit. This is simply how he, a Catholic priest and a scholar, experienced his Camino. These are the people he met: some of them friendly, some of them not.These are the days he walked; some of them he was in good spirits, and sometimes he was not. There's plenty of practical information for the aspiring pilgrim like myself, without it ever getting boring.
Buen camino.
He admits his petty annoyances and failures, as well as the moments of personal insight and spectacular accomplishments along the way, but there's no sense that he's playing anything up for the reader's benefit. This is simply how he, a Catholic priest and a scholar, experienced his Camino. These are the people he met: some of them friendly, some of them not.These are the days he walked; some of them he was in good spirits, and sometimes he was not. There's plenty of practical information for the aspiring pilgrim like myself, without it ever getting boring.
Buen camino.
August 14, 2017
So I'm booked to walk the Camino in September and although I want to be prepared for what is coming along 'The Way', I also want to reserve the unknown, and keep as much unprepared experience as possible to really jerk me out of my spiritual lethargy. And after abandoning paulo coelho's 'The Pilgrimage' in which I have already forgotten, I decided to give 'The Field of Stars' a go. And it hit the spot. Gave me enough to chew on, capturing the sense of enduring the rhythm of step by step by step experiences that I hope to enjoy. Within the rhythm, Codd adds his own insights and occasional pleas for a better humanity with a focus on building a family with the pilgrims of life. We help each other and we multiply the joy of life for each other just by being there, and being ourselves.
There was nothing magical, at least on the surface.. but within the rhythm of walking, Codd draws out the subtlety of appreciation for our work and our brother and sister pilgrims.
Very easy to read with a lightness that avoided being a preachy book but still provoked some deeper thoughts.
There was nothing magical, at least on the surface.. but within the rhythm of walking, Codd draws out the subtlety of appreciation for our work and our brother and sister pilgrims.
Very easy to read with a lightness that avoided being a preachy book but still provoked some deeper thoughts.
February 28, 2009
I have wanted to make this pilgrimage for about 30 years, so I occasionally read a book about it to keep my hopes up. This book is the one I related to the best so far even though he is a Catholic priest- the author is honest & funny & it really gives a person a feeling for what walking 500 or so miles & living with strangers in an ever-changing milieu feels like both physically & spiritually. He shows how he dealt with both his need for solitude & companionship & what the process of walking the Camino entails. Worth reading for anyone who yearns to make a pilgrimage to anywhere.
November 16, 2022
I read this book after returning from my Camino hike to Santiago de Compostela. I hiked the last 100km in order to receive my Certificate verifying my hike. Codd's description of his experience was very interesting to me because of my experience. I appreciated his descriptions of what he experienced. As he is a Catholic priest, much of his experience was couched in religious terms. My experience was more spiritual in a secular sense. A few quotes I found meaningful based on my personal experience: "Our predecessors in the faith held firmly to 3 simple beliefs: One: God cares infinitely about us( The Universe is my God); two: the saints know what we are up against and direct the Universe's kin attention our way; and three: miracles happen". "After five or six days on the road, what we care about is care. Hospitality counts for everything; appearances for nothing. I hope I can hold onto this obvious life lesson once I return to the big world where shine and newness so often trump humility and kindness." These are his words but I remind myself of this each day since my return. The beauty of this hike is difficult to capture in words but Codd does a good job of doing this. If you are thinking about this experience, this book is worth reading.
May 23, 2023
This book is definitely in my all time top 5 favorite books! This book has so much charm and depth and I felt like I was right alongside him walking the Camino. So much so that I made myself a paella for dinner after all of his mentions of it!! I loved the stories he shares about each day walking the pilgrimage. Some of them being hilarious, some being some really interesting conversations with other pilgrims. I learned so much from this book and I think it will be an annual read for me!
December 23, 2024
¡Buen Camino!
July 30, 2016
I enjoyed every word of this gorgeous, honest, life-giving journey with Fr. Kevin Codd as he made his pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago De Compostela. Fr. Codd not only recounts the physical aspects of his journey, but--more signifcantly--he lets us in on the psychological and spiritual journey he went through as he trekked over 500 miles on foot.
To the Field of Stars is a concrete example of how to do theological reflection; that is, Fr. Codd looks back on his trip and reflects on it in the light of faith, Scripture and culture in order to grow closer to God and into the person God created him to be.
Yes, after reading this I have a desire to walk the camino myself, but what it really awoke in me was the desire to reflect on my own life the way Fr. Codd has reflected on his.
A book that has profoundly affected the way I look at life. Funny, honest, intelligent, meditative, and uplifting. A spiritual must-read.
To the Field of Stars is a concrete example of how to do theological reflection; that is, Fr. Codd looks back on his trip and reflects on it in the light of faith, Scripture and culture in order to grow closer to God and into the person God created him to be.
Yes, after reading this I have a desire to walk the camino myself, but what it really awoke in me was the desire to reflect on my own life the way Fr. Codd has reflected on his.
A book that has profoundly affected the way I look at life. Funny, honest, intelligent, meditative, and uplifting. A spiritual must-read.
December 29, 2013
After seeing the movie, The Way, I have become a bit obsessed with the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. This is the second book I have read about an actual pilgrim on The Way. To the Field of Stars really touched my heart as it was written by a Catholic priest who walked The Way in 35 days. (500 miles) He gives an account of his walk as a spiritual quest that really changed him in many ways. Father Kevin relates a lot about the Catholic faith, its teachings and its history as he walks a road that pilgrims have traveled for centuries.
August 3, 2019
A good honest narrative of the author's Camino walk. Codd is a priest and his narrative shows it, not preachy but his was a spiritual walk. For the most part he tried to keep that part of his life to himself, like I said 'not preachy'. I enjoyed his straight forward telling of his sore tendons, blisters, annoying people and of course the many friends he made on his pilgrimage. I found useful info on the various refugio's he stayed in and got a pretty good idea of his daily routines. It's worth reading.
August 2, 2016
Wonderful, deep, humorous, vulnerable account of one person's very personal journey on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I am grateful to have read this AFTER my Camino. If you already know you want to walk the Camino, save this until later. If you think you cannot imagine why anyone would ever want to do such a thing, this may provide inspiration for you to consider what I have found to be one of the best and most life-changing, life-giving experiences I've been privileged to receive.
October 22, 2014
I'm fascinated by the Camino de Santiago and I enjoyed this man's story. What I couldn't get past what the author's often judgmental thoughts about some of the others he met on the road. It seemed like there was an air of superiority in his writing and it troubled me the whole time. That's just my opinion though and many others may be able to look past it.
March 5, 2018
Without a doubt, one of the best Camino books I have read since I've begun my literary pilgrimage a year ago. Kevin A. Codd invites us to walk along with him on the 1,000-year-old pilgrimage that is the Camino de Santiago, more specifically, the Camino Frances route which begins its 500-mile trek from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port at the foot of the Pyrenees in southeastern France and stretches across northwestern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
What I loved most about this travelogue was Codd's personal reflection from the beginning of his journey to its epiphany. We revel in his joys, we shed tears in his sorrows, we agonize in his aches and pains, but most of all, we celebrate the camaraderie he shared with his fellow peregrinos, the special bonds he created with each of them along the way. Eventually, his Camino family of seven make their way to the Field of Stars and we rejoice with all of them as they walk into the Plaza del Obradoiro, the Cathedral of Santiago's main square.
If you're planning a pilgrimage of your own someday, or walk the way vicariously as I have done recently, then this book is a must-read addition to your literary Camino collection!
Bravo Kevin and Buen Camino!
What I loved most about this travelogue was Codd's personal reflection from the beginning of his journey to its epiphany. We revel in his joys, we shed tears in his sorrows, we agonize in his aches and pains, but most of all, we celebrate the camaraderie he shared with his fellow peregrinos, the special bonds he created with each of them along the way. Eventually, his Camino family of seven make their way to the Field of Stars and we rejoice with all of them as they walk into the Plaza del Obradoiro, the Cathedral of Santiago's main square.
If you're planning a pilgrimage of your own someday, or walk the way vicariously as I have done recently, then this book is a must-read addition to your literary Camino collection!
Bravo Kevin and Buen Camino!
February 25, 2024
As I prepare for my Camino, I picked up one book and was given this one. There were many things I appreciated about this book. The chapters were laid out, replicating the journey Kevin, the priest, took each day. At one point along the way, he noticed that each day was its own Camino, as he experienced the full range of human emotions - joy, love, sadness, annoyance, guilt, shame, gratitude - within his steps each day. He gave words to what I experience on so many days, but do not often reflect upon it. As I read his book, I felt as though I was on the emotional and spiritual journey of the Camino itself, and I feel a little bit better prepared to leave.
What others have mentioned is that this book is raw. The author shares a peek into his own heart — the dark places and well as the light — and reflects what it means to be human. Priests, clergy, pastors, ministers are not on a pedestal, nor are they protected from the refining fires of life.
I’m thankful for this book, and I am glad I read it.
What others have mentioned is that this book is raw. The author shares a peek into his own heart — the dark places and well as the light — and reflects what it means to be human. Priests, clergy, pastors, ministers are not on a pedestal, nor are they protected from the refining fires of life.
I’m thankful for this book, and I am glad I read it.
August 27, 2017
I read "To The Field of Stars" after my first Camino in 2015. Prior to this book I had read Paulo Coelho's, "The Pilgrimage" and since have read another 10 or so Camino books. I now have over 200 days on the Camino and plans for more. I mention this because it gives me a bit of qualification to review books about the Camino.
I strongly recommend this book. That the author is a priest is irrelevant. I was raised Catholic but am no longer religious. Of all the books I've read his was and is still my favorite. It is well written and gives one a true sense of the Camino experience. For me it stands out because of the author's goodness and humility. His writing is straight forward and from the heart.
I strongly recommend this book. That the author is a priest is irrelevant. I was raised Catholic but am no longer religious. Of all the books I've read his was and is still my favorite. It is well written and gives one a true sense of the Camino experience. For me it stands out because of the author's goodness and humility. His writing is straight forward and from the heart.
November 25, 2018
This is a good one. I was concerned that it might be tedious based on the way it is divided into 35 plus chapters--essentially one for every day on the Camino. But not so, I enjoyed every minute of this adventure of an age 50 something priest on this path of experience, suffering, joy, friendship and connection to the divine. this is an encouraging, inspiring and realistic view of the Camino.
the only bone I would pick with Fr. Kevin Codd is toward the end he puts down those who are not walking with full pack and gear for all 500-ish miles. I did 100 miles of the Camino and carried a day pack in 90-degree weather and it was a real experience. I hope he has come to understand that each person's Camino is individual.
Nevertheless, I would never pass up this lovely Pilgrimage story.
the only bone I would pick with Fr. Kevin Codd is toward the end he puts down those who are not walking with full pack and gear for all 500-ish miles. I did 100 miles of the Camino and carried a day pack in 90-degree weather and it was a real experience. I hope he has come to understand that each person's Camino is individual.
Nevertheless, I would never pass up this lovely Pilgrimage story.
July 2, 2025
Such a beautiful soul and gorgeous style of writing about the Camino, his own moral struggles, Latin, Catholicism, blisters, goats, anything really.
Highlights include:
“If you leave home to see these stars cavort for yourself it will surely change you. You will come to see that which was previously unseen. You will witness miracles. You will, in the end, find yourself coming to know what is most true about these brief lives we have been given to live out on this tender earth.”
“Boredom of course is an interior matter. It has little to do with what actually exists in the world outside of us. The world is just fine; it is full of beauty and miracles abound even in the most desolate of deserts.”
Highlights include:
“If you leave home to see these stars cavort for yourself it will surely change you. You will come to see that which was previously unseen. You will witness miracles. You will, in the end, find yourself coming to know what is most true about these brief lives we have been given to live out on this tender earth.”
“Boredom of course is an interior matter. It has little to do with what actually exists in the world outside of us. The world is just fine; it is full of beauty and miracles abound even in the most desolate of deserts.”
September 17, 2019
Read this more than a year after my own pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. I walked the exact path that he did in 2003, and many places he stopped to rest for a night similar to mine, and this made the reading so easy. And most importantly the memories of the places and friends that I had met came flooding back to me. I understand how it like for pilgrims longing for solitude on certain days, but at the end of the journey how hard it was to say goodbye to our camino buddies, I remembered crying my heart out in my private room on the last day in Santiago when all my friends had left. This book reminded me of all those.
February 6, 2024
I loved this. I've wanted to walk the Camino for 20+ years so I've been reading and watching it through other people's eyes for awhile. But Kevin Codd's book is the one that pushed me off the couch and down to the travel agent to book my flights to Spain for September this year. Codd's writing is by turns earnest and delightful. He's a middle aged Catholic priest whose reactions to what he encounters are just what I hope mine will be. He's religious enough to be authentic to who he is but not too religious so as to be cloying or preaching. A wonderful journey told by someone who I suspect is a down deep good man.
November 1, 2017
This was a nice, leisurely narrative. The author is an American priest who makes the 500 mile pilgrimage from France into the northern part of Spain. It is a day by day journal, so we get not only a description of the countryside, weather, fellow pilgrims, the refugios, but also of the inevitable blisters and tendonitis. At times I started to feel sympathetic pains! The film The Way gives a fictional account, but captures the essence of the journey with a bit of plot. Both are good taken together to give a picture of what this undertaking is like.
May 21, 2022
I loved this book. It is a day by day a count of a catholic priest’s Camino. This priest is a regular human - with emotions that I can emulate. He can get impatient, grumpy and upset that other people take away from his Camino, and yet at other times he embraces these people as his friends who walk with him. Kevin Codd is a very good writer, his walk and his insights come alive in his book, and I would love to walk the Camino even more so after reading the account of his experience.
February 12, 2019
This lovely travelogue has me wishing I were planning to set out on the Camino tomorrow, not 15 months from now. The writing is heartfelt and at times beautiful. I laughed several times and cried at the end. I feel like I have a much better idea of what it will be like to walk to the field of stars.
June 2, 2020
I have read a number of Camino and long distance hike books. This one was my favorite. Codd is a Catholic priest who has a lovely balance of hike and spirit. He captures the feeling of family that is created along a trail and the loss that comes when a journey comes to an end. If you like a spiritual journey at the same time as a physical one, I recommend it highly.
June 3, 2020
Interesting and pleasantly detailed book by a Catholic priest about walking the Camino de Santiago. If you are considering the walk, this book provides a lot of practical details. If you are not planning to walk the Spanish Camino, the book is a nice travel story. I would definitely read this book again.
May 21, 2017
I found this book to be honest and inspiring. The problem is that I can't seem to get the idea of embarking on my own pilgrimage out of my head. Ultimately, it inspired me to dream of taking my own journey to the field of stars.
July 8, 2017
As someone seriously planning the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Father Kevin Codd's account of his journey was inspiring and informative. I loved the honesty of his writing, interjected with humor, and his search for purpose. I look forward to writing about my own journey someday.
August 19, 2017
Enjoyed reading Father Kevin' s progress on the Camino and his thoughts and defections on God, his life and the history of the Camino. I enjoyed reading his day to journal and then re-reading my own blog from that particular section of the Camino.
June 28, 2020
I enjoyed the story of the walk and particularly the people Kevin Codd met on his journey but I found him a bit tedious. Then I thought, if I had the courage to undertake that journey, wouldn't I be a bit tedious too!
February 15, 2021
A worthy read of an incredible adventure. Revealing and honest with a number of edifying life lessons shared across the pages. Throughly enjoyed this read. It surprised me that a daily narration over a thirty five day trip could be so interesting. A very pleasant surprise. Highly recommend.
March 17, 2022
I found this repetitive, but interesting. And really, since he's doing the same thing every day, how could it not be? I did enjoy his insights into human nature and life. A little too Catholic for me, but again, since he is Catholic, I didn't expect otherwise.
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