Lessons from the Monk I Married

Both spiritual journey and romantic memoir, this book, named after the author’s popular blog, recounts Jenkins’s love affair with and eventual marriage to a Korean Buddhist monk. Traveling to South Korea on a whim to teach English, the author explored Buddhist meditation with the help of a young monk with whom her relationship deepened. Jenkins describes in detail her willingness to endure grueling living conditions, separations, and much travel in search of happiness based on her own knowledge: “I have to walk my own path and find my own wisdom through my own experiences,” she writes. Each chapter is couched as a life “lesson,” such as “trust your inner voice” and “you are more than the roles you play.” Jenkins’s writing is graceful and direct, and she isn’t afraid to reveal her initial naïveté. Her observations tend toward the superficial and clichéd (“I still didn’t fully trust the universe”), and the author is reticent about her reactions to the complexities of Asian cultures. Overall, romance overshadows spiritual wisdom in this gentle, earnest book. Agent: Tricia Davey. (Apr.)