A review by heidihaverkamp
The Art of the Wasted Day by Patricia Hampl

3.0

I wanted to love this book because I love the title, but I wrestled with it a bit. I was a bit bored by "the ladies," the two famous spinsters of 18th century Wales who lived a life of study and leisure with whom Hampl opens her pilgrimage and book. I wasn't sure her background conversation with her deceased husband worked (although I know too well the power of grief and how it takes over your life). I liked her musings on learning piano, Gregor Mendel, monastic life, Montaigne, and her Roman Catholic upbringing a familiar foundation beneath it all, but I wasn't sure I was seeing how she was fitting it all together. Maybe I didn't want to hear so much about the details of her travels - the hostels, the meals, the rainy days - so much as her thoughts. Or it didn't help me piece things together. Hmm.