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- Hachette Books Ireland
- Hachette Books Ireland
- Hachette Books Ireland
On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist: Expeditions in an in-between world where therapy ends and stories begin
Michael Harding
Memoirs, Prose: non-fiction, Philosophy of religion, Spirituality & religious experience
More observations from Ireland's best-loved memoirist.
'Searingly honest, funny, self-deprecating, Harding's narrative seems to rest on the pulse of Ireland' Irish Times
One day in the summer of 2016, Michael Harding's wife brought an unusual gift home from Warsaw. All of a sudden, he found himself falling back into the old religious devotions of an earlier time. The meaning he had found through years of engagement with therapy began to dissolve.
Here, in On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist, Harding examines the search for meaning in life which keeps him fastened to the idea of god.
After many therapy sessions focused on an effort to uncover personal truth, and long solitary months on the road with a one man show, Harding is finally led to an artists' retreat in the shadow of Skellig Michael.
Mixing stories from the road with dispatches from his Irish Times columns, On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist is a spell-binding and powerful book about the human condition, the narratives we weave around the self, and the ultimate bliss of living in the present moment.
'What happens between one story and the next? That's the really interesting part. That's the space where we find bliss; where we float sometimes, suspended, and only for a brief moment. Perhaps only for a few scarce moments in an entire life.'
Praise for On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist: Expeditions in an in-between world where therapy ends and stories begin
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Searingly honest, funny, self-deprecating, Harding's narrative seems to rest on the pulse of Ireland - Irish Times on On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist
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A compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch ... Harding writes like an angel - Sunday Times on Hanging with the Elephant
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Hilarious, and tender, and mad, and harrowing, and wistful, and always beautifully written. A wonderful book - Kevin Barry on Staring at Lakes
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Wonderful ... Like many people who have achieved a great deal, [Harding] cannot recognise his triumphs. This book, like its predecessor, is one of them - John Boyne on Hanging with the Elephant
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A book that champions the kindness (or at least company) of strangers as essential for that elusive state known as happiness - RTE Guide on Talking to Strangers
Michael Harding
Michael Harding has worked in theatre as an actor, director and writer. Most widely known as the author of such plays as Strawboys, Una Pooka, Misogynist, Hubert Murray's Widow, Sour Grapes, and Amazing Grace, all produced by the Abbey Theatre, and more than a dozen other plays for leading Irish Companies, including The Kiss, Talking Through his Hat, and Swallow.
He has directed for The Abbey Theatre, The Project Arts Centre, and Red Kettle, and has worked as a performer with many distinguished theatre companies such as Siamsa Tire, Blue Raincoat, The Abbey Theatre and Gare St. Lazare.He was Writer in Association with The National Theatre in 1993, and Writer Fellow at Trinity College in 2001, and has received numerous awards for his theatre work, including The Stewart Parker Award, The Bank of Ireland RTE Award, and Best Male Performer at Dublin Theatre Fringe Festival.
His most recent work, The Tinker's Curse, toured Ireland in 2011.
He is the author of three novels: Priest, The Trouble with Sarah Gullion and Bird in the Snow.
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