Pilgrimage: Tales from the Open Road

There is no frigate like this book to take the reader away to distant lands. In Penang, in Athens, in rural Germany and in the Himalayas, these nonfiction narratives always involve people as well as landscapes; giving the reader a strong sense of place and customs as well as striking insights into human behavior. Always traveling on the cheap, Pfister uses a variety of conveyances—trains, bicycles, rickshaws. He visits Southeast Asia where he takes part in the Buddhist festival of "Hungry Ghosts"—spirit creatures reincarnated because of unholy greed whose unsettling presence forces sinners to face up to their own desires. In a farming village in rural Germany, he shares the painful, yet loving lives of a very special family. Pfister introduces us to a wide variety of interesting characters.