Shirley Maclaine's book-And a question

Fri Feb 8 11:57:59 PST 2002

Preston,

I just read the part where she was ambushed by the reporters.  I think she
really WAS remorseful about making the woman cry.  But I also think she
really felt attacked, which to me it sounded like she was.  Not being a
famous person myself I can only imagine how infuriating it is to be hounded
by the press.  Maybe she could have been more gracious about it, but maybe
she just wanted to be left alone. Maybe the reporters could have been more
gracious.  I can't imagine having people follow me around like that,
invading my privacy, and what about the time when she was in the shower and
they pulled open the shower curtain and started taking pictures?  It looks
to me that her anger was justified and it was the woman reporter was the one
who couldn't handle the responsibility of her job.  Just because one is
famous does not mean they have to accept being harassed.

Also I don't think she says she is a gypsy, or she clarifies later that her
mother is jewish and that she is darkskinned, her father having been a Moor.
I really don't know anything about the history of that time period so I
can't say more on that.

I think one can just enjoy the story sometimes, which I do.  I also enjoy
arguing about it.
I can see that you are well read and I appreciate your input.  I am
definitely going to read "Following the Milky Way: a Pilgrimage on the
Camino de Santiago".

Andrea
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Preston Pittman
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 2:10 PM
> To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
> Subject: Re: Shirley Maclaine's book-And a question
>
>
> Mac - Lois mentions what I thought to be a most wonderiful book
> by not only
> a "regular" person, but a regular contributor to this list - Elyn Aviva
> "Following the Milky Way: a Pilgrimage on the Camino de
> Santiago".  I think
> that may have been one of the first "non-scholarly" books on the Camino I
> read.  By non-scholarly I don't mean anything except the focus is
> not on the
> history or architecture (for university types) but on personal and
> transformative experiences.  Also - Lois is right about Linda Davidson's
> book which is one of the very best factual resources.  James
> Michener has a
> very long and interesting section on the Camino in his book
> "Iberia", which
> again although he gives a lot of history, its also kind of
> "impressionistic"
> if you know what I mean.
>
> -Lois, you might try photocopying some of the important pages you want to
> take with you and then discard them as you progress along the
> Pilgrim Path.
>
> Andrea - sorry if I appeared to come on strong - but I *really*
> did not like
> the book and really got a bad impression of Shirley Maclaine from it.  Its
> not so much the concept of past lives that bothered me though -
> it was more
> about her attitude and her very strong belief that her "dreams" while
> exhausted and fevered just had to be true visions of her past lives.  It
> struck me as very arrogant.  Her attitude towards the one female reporter
> whom she made cry I thought was very cruel and she felt not only
> no remorse
> afterwards but proud of what she had done.  Shirley wanted to be a rich
> famous movie star and now she doesn't want to take responsibility for the
> notoriety that goes with it.  (The one thing that annoyed me
> about her past
> lives though was that she insisted she was a gypsy riding by
> horseback along
> the Camino when she met and became Charlemagne's lover.
> Charlemagne was in
> the later part of the 700s and early 800s.  The gypsies did not come to
> Spain until the 1200s.  Also horses were not in common ownership
> - ever - in
> the middle ages.  The nobles owned horses not young gypsy maidens.)
>
> Howard - its funny because even as I was reading Coehlo's book and *not*
> minding it so much, I had the feeling that a lot of people would
> really find
> him annoying.  I can't explain why I didn't find it more annoying
> - maybe if
> only that he did seem to be a little more factual about his pilgrimage and
> he did give those "spiritual exercises" which made it a little
> interactive.
>
>
> >From: Mac Quart <macsquartaYAHOO.COM>
> >Reply-To: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
> >To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
> >Subject: Re: Shirley Maclaine's book-And a question
> >Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 10:21:00 -0800
> >
> >I have not read the book.  I must say though that I heard of the camino
> >because
> >of the People magazine article about Maclaine's book.  I do thank her for
> >that.
> >  I personally don't like Maclaine due to many interviews I have seen
> >(except
> >for her role in The Trouble with Harry) so I wasn't going to
> read the book.
> >  I
> >do wonder though... Can anyone recommend a good book about the camino,
> >written
> >by someone who is just a regular person (not rich or famous)and describes
> >the
> >trials and triumphs he or she experienced on the Camino without
> any new age
> >spirituality?  The book stores where I live really lack in this type of
> >subject.
> >
> >Mac
> >
> >=====
> >Knowing is not enough; we must apply.  Willing is not enough; we must do.
> >-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
> >
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