An excellent and surprising work on the lives of specific Trappists monks. Some parts almost read as good fiction but are true accounts. ( )

I read this when it came out and remember it to be a wonderfully written account of a man's inner journey and shared experience, for a while anyway, with various Trappist monks across the US. Some of the old fellas, working away in the various small industries, I can still see in my head today; the man who keeps re-rinsing the raisins in the auto-washer because he can still hear the slightest knock of a small pebble swirling around inside, for instance. This book is well-liked by the many people to whom I have subsequently passed it on, or from whom it was never returned ;-) ( )