On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist

'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.'

“A compelling memoir. Absorbing and graced with a deceptive lightness of touch ... Harding writes like an angel”

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

- Sunday Times on Hanging with the Elephant

Hilarious, and tender, and mad, and harrowing, and wistful, and always beautifully written. A wonderful book - Kevin Barry on Staring at Lakes

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

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 is an author and playwright. A recipient of the Stewart Parker Award for theatre, a Hennessy Award for Short Stories and a Bank of Ireland/RTE award for Excellence in the Arts in 1990, he has written numerous plays for the Abbey Theatre and was writer in association with the National Theatre in 1993.

His novels include Bird in the Snow, The Trouble with Sarah Gullion and Priest. He is also the author of several bestselling memoirs including Staring at Lakes (winner of the Bord Gais Energy Book of the Year award), Hanging with the Elephant, Talking to Strangers, On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist, Chest Pain and What is Beautiful in the Sky.

He is a member of Aosdana, a columnist for over fifteen years with The Irish Times and his podcasts are available on the Patreon platform.

'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.'

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