GO Books

GO Books: Tell me a story

By on June 22, 2012 in GO Books

Story telling, travel writing, blogging and the Arabian Nights

Still from The Thief of Baghdad

Travel writing and the 1,001 Arabian Nights

During the flowering of Arabic culture about 1,200 years ago, one King Shahryar’s wife betrayed him. In bitterness and revenge, he swore he would marry a new bride every evening and have her put to death the next day. After this barbarism had gone on for some time, the people were desperate to end the killings and Scheherazade, a talented story teller, volunteered to wed the king. On her wedding night, she told the king a spell-binding story of magic and intrigue, and stopped half-way through. Continue reading to find out what being a travel writer has to do with thousand-year-old stories. Continue Reading →

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Chasing India’s Monsoon

By on May 28, 2012 in GO Books, India, News/Events
Photograph of Mira Nair film Monsoon Wedding, India

Still from the film Monsoon Wedding, directed by Mira Nair

GO Books: Chasing The Monsoon

India’s monsoon expected to hit landfall in the southern state of Kerala on June 1

When I was first planning to travel to India, back in 2005, I watched a lot of documentaries. My favourite was called Chasing India’s Monsoon (based on a book called Chasing The Monsoon), and my favourite scene showed award-winning British travel journalist / narrator Alexander Frater sitting in a cafe on the coast of Kerala, near Trivandrum, with a bunch of locals waiting for the annual monsoon to make landfall. As they were embroiled in a heated discussion about when the monsoon would arrive, it started raining outside — but only Frater noticed. Continue Reading →

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GO Books: In search of the elusive
snow leopard

By on April 10, 2012 in Destinations, GO Books
Photograph of the view from Shey Monastery, Nepal

The view from Shey Monastery, Nepal

The Snow Leopard: A quest in the Himalayas

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen is an adventure travel masterpiece. It is about the author’s adventures hiking deep into one of the most remote regions of Nepal, on the border with Tibet, to accompany biologist George Schaller on a field expedition to study blue sheep. But the book is about much more than that. Matthiessen, a devoted student of Buddhism and a sensitive, gifted writer, had just lost his wife to cancer, and his book is an exploration of both the outer world of soaring, pristine mountains and his own inner journey through grief and awe.

I love this book for so many reasons. To start, I love Quest stories, and The Snow Leopard is a Quest in every sense of the word. First, is the physical quest itself, to Shey and the Crystal Mountain in a very remote corner of Nepal, back in the early 1970s when hiking in Nepal was not as popular as it is today. Mathiessesn and Schaller — and a changing assortment of sherpas and porters — walked 35 days through almost uninhabited regions, over snow-bound, high mountain passes, to get there. This journey is what makes the book a great adventure story. Continue Reading →

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Celebrate Read an e-Book Week and buy Song of India

By on March 4, 2012 in GO Books, India, News/Events

Read an e-book…buy Song of India: Tales of Travel and Transformation!

Author Mariellen Ward

Author Mariellen Ward

March 4 – 10, 2012 is Read an e-Book Week. I am celebrating by discounting Song of India on Smashwords by 50% — the e-book version is only $0.99 this week. To buy, visit the Breathedreamgo page on Smashwords. Or visit the Song of India page for more reviews and purchasing options.

Song of India is a collection of 10 stories I wrote about my travels in India, following the deaths of both my parents, to recover, heal and learn to live again. It was published in December 2010 to rave reviews:

Reviews of Song of India

“You capture and give depth to an unfathomable place and I would surely recommend it to any one who wants to know more of India.” Jasmine D’Costa

“Your intimate passion for these magical places has taken me by flying carpet into the heart and soul of India – to the mystical city of Benares, the lush tea-fields of Darjeeling, the glowing deserts of Rajasthan.” Sylvia Fraser Continue Reading →

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10 books about India that are better than Shantaram

By on January 19, 2012 in GO Books, India

Mahatma Gandhi, India, partition, Shantaram and Eat, Pray, Love are not the only books about India: Here are 10 of my favourites

There are two types of people in the world: those who think Shantaram is a great book; and those who think it is a spew of virulent air, driven by the criminal mind and maniacal ego of its Australian pseudo-writer. I guess you can tell which type of person I am. This post is 10 suggestions for books about India that are better than Shantaram.

I tried to read Shantaram when I was living in Delhi, but ended up literally throwing it across the room. I thought it was poorly written and more about the fevered imagination of its writer than about India. In fact, it offers very little insight into India, if you ask me; and the longer I spend in India getting to know it, the more true this statement becomes.

Since that time, however, I’ve read lots and lots of book about India, by Indians and foreigners, and almost all of them are much, much better. Except Eat, Pray, Love. If you actually want to know something about India — rather than about an ego-driven writer — I suggest the following 10 books, in no particular order. Continue Reading →

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Celebrating Indian writing and writers

By on January 18, 2012 in GO Books, India
evening perfomrance from Jaipur Literature Festival 2011 in Jaipur India

Evening performance from Jaipur Literature Festival 2011, Jaipur ,India

Indian writing is vibrant at home and abroad

In honour of the Jaipur Literature Festival, which kicks off on January 24 in Jaipur, India, I am publishing an article I wrote for the Maple Tree Literary supplement about my afternoon with four delightful Indo-Canadian writers.

Defining Indo-Canadian writing

Jasmine D’Costa sat solidly in her chair, looked at me with clear, wide-open eyes and talked with a sense of authority in her voice about her past as a banker in Mumbai and her present as a writer and editor in Toronto. Across from her, Mayank Bhatt talked about establishing himself as a writer in Canada, with an amiable mix of gentleness and conviction. Author Farzana Doctor listened more than she talked, but when she added something to the conversation, it was carefully considered and spoken in articulate tones, tinged with the formality of academia. Writer and book reviewer Niranjana Iyer, soft-spoken and well-bred, looked like an Indian Audrey Hepburn, and she drew me in with her huge, expressive eyes and the obvious intelligence in her voice. Each of these people is just that, people – unique in their background, outlook and experience. Continue Reading →

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Deepa Mehta directs Midnight’s Children

By on November 30, 2011 in GO Books, India, News/Events
Deepa Mehta at the University of Toronto, photo by Katie Billo

Deepa Mehta at the University of Toronto, photo by Katie Billo

Deepa Mehta talks about making the film version of Midnight’s Children

There was a moment during acclaimed Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta’s talk recently at the University of Toronto — about the making of her new film Midnight’s Children — when I felt the jolt of inspiration. It came near the end. Someone asked if “it’s easier to break into film today, or when you got started.” Deepa replied very thoughtfully in a deeply felt, lyrical voice: “I think it’s really difficult making films. The challenge has not diminished or increased. Whenever you want to write a book, whenever you want to make a film, whenever you want to make a painting — whenever you do something that isn’t about going to an office, whenever your future is not secured by a paycheque, it’s a risky thing. Whenever you take a risk it’s going to be tough.” Continue Reading →

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GO Books: Going Full Tilt with Dervla Murphy

By on November 2, 2011 in GO Books, Ireland
Dervla Murphy author of Full Tilt on her bicycle

Dervla Murphy and her trusty steed, Roz

Launching GO Books

Full Tilt: From Ireland to India

This book review of Full Tilt: From Ireland to India by Dervla Murphy marks the first in a new series on Breathedreamgo called GO Books. I will be reviewing and recommending books about travel, personal transformation, culture, India, yoga and/or writing, and providing a link for purchase from Amazon. I will be reviewing classics, like Full Tilt, as well as newly published books. I will NOT recommend any book unless I absolutely believe it is a first-rate read. If you buy it and don’t like it, I will personally invite you over for a home-cooked dinner and you can tell me why (some conditions apply). Continue Reading →

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Top 5 ways my India travels differ from Eat, Pray, Love

By on October 19, 2011 in GO Books, India, Yoga/Spirituality

Photograph of Aurovalley Ashram, Rishikesh, IndiaMe, Liz and the subcontinent

I traveled in India and studied yoga, but there the Eat, Pray, Love similarities end

Because I travel in India and write about it, many people ask me if I was influenced by the book Eat, Pray, Love, and they try and compare me to author Elizabeth Gilbert. Here are the five key differences between my story and Gilbert’s.

1. I did not have a hefty book advance to subsidize my trip. My trip to India was not research for a book, and I had to subsidize it myself out of my meager resources. I sold 1/3 of my possessions, gave up my apartment, moved into a small room and scrimped and saved for a year. After I returned, and realized how much I’d changed, I went through a lot of financial instability. The whole experience was a “real spiritual quest,” in the sense that I threw myself into it without any attachment to outcome. A big part of my journey was about throwing myself off the cliff to find out IF a net would appear. Read on for the other four. Continue Reading →

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Understanding the Indian rope trick

By on July 21, 2011 in GO Books, India, Yoga/Spirituality
Author of The Rope in the Water sylvia Fraser traveling in India

Sylvia Fraser in India, 2000

An interview with Sylvia Fraser

Author of the transformative travel classic, The Rope in the Water

In 2005, as I was getting ready to go to India for the first time, on my six-month “trip of a lifetime,” my friend Chrissy gave me a copy of The Rope in the Water. As I read about Toronto author Sylvia Fraser’s pilgrimage to India, I was struck by the many similarities between us; and completely flabbergasted to discover that we share the same birthday (March 8 – International Woman’s Day).

I loved the book and decided I had to meet Sylvia Fraser; that somehow my destiny demanded it. Well, it took me five years to finally connect with her and I am happy to report that we are now friends. I interviewed Sylvia in February 2011 about her many transformative travel experiences and her reality-defying “rope in the water” story (see below and find out how a non-existent rope saved her life when she was being carried out to sea by a riptide, off the coast of Kerala in South India). Here are the highlights of our interview.

Mariellen Ward: What is travel to you, and why do you prefer being a seeker and going on pilgrimage?

Sylvia Fraser: Travel is something I love to do, it’s a need, not a luxury. If I’m not happy, planning a trip is absolutely the best. Continue Reading →

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