Rating: 
Summary: We loved the book!
Review: Just recently a few friends of mine traveled to Europe with the purpose of visiting shrines and monasteries. We had such an awesome time, and most of it was due to Kevin's books. His book on Monastery & Convent Guesthouses was essential for our traveling purposes, as we learned about various places we could stay. His book provided the most essential information such as contact info, short summaries of each monastery/convent (i.e. is it open to men and/or women, what is their major apostolate, are their liturgies in Latin or vernacular, etc.). Also, his introductory chapters were great as they provided a nice summary of monastic history and important terms. In short, we absolutely loved the book and would highly recommend it for anyone planning to visit Europe, especially with a spiritual purpose in mind. - Jen & friends
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, no exclamation point
Review: Many of the overheated reviews for this book, which include an abundance of exclamation points, must be from friends or family of Mr. Wright. After having my expectations raised, I found that this book is dull, poorly conceived and amateurish. It is not an excellent resource, since it includes hardly any details, nor is it inspiring, helpful, awesome or any other of the adjectives used by the exclamatory reviewers. It is a waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource; Enjoyable stories
Review: Mr. Wright's book has served as an excellent resource on monasteries (and the history of monasticism, Gregorian chant, etc.) in the high school class that I teach. As the guidebook is written in the style of a directory, it provided my students with the contact information they needed, so that they could email and/or write to the respective monasteries and convents that they were researching. The numerous website addresses were also very helpful in their research. As for myself, I look forward to using the book to hopefully plan a trip to Europe sometime in the near future, so that I can visit some of these greatest Christian destinations.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource; Enjoyable stories
Review: Mr. Wright's book has served as an excellent resource on monasteries (and the history of monasticism, Gregorian chant, etc.) in the high school class that I teach. As the guidebook is written in the style of a directory, it provided my students with the contact information they needed, so that they could email and/or write to the respective monasteries and convents that they were researching. The numerous website addresses were also very helpful in their research. As for myself, I look forward to using the book to hopefully plan a trip to Europe sometime in the near future, so that I can visit some of these greatest Christian destinations.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous resource for pilgrims!
Review: Six years ago I stayed at a remarkable convent guesthouse in Assisi. The food was spectacular, the environment was relaxing, and the hospitality was top-notch. I'll never forget one of the nuns giving us some bus tokens as we departed Assisi early one morning. They were to catch the bus to the train depot. It was one of the single kindest acts anyone showed to us during our trip.Author, and consummate traveler Kevin Wright, knows well the special courtesies that such places offer the weary traveler. He has featured more than 450 such places in his recent guidebook. I can think of no finer resource for the pilgrim traveler than this compilation of European monastery and convent guesthouses. In addition to the information on the guesthouses it also provides a history of the major monastic orders, a history of Christian monasticism, information on Gregorian chant, many photographs, a listing of monastic-related web sites, and other Internet travel resources. Wright combines his youthful enthusiasm, knowledge, travel experience, and sense of humor in this very useful guidebook. Not only will travelers enjoy it, but the armchair traveler, the student of Catholicism, and anyone else interested in monastic life.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The publishers promise a travel-book style, in-depth journey to the monasteries of Europe. What you get is two hundred pages of telephone numbers and interesting facts such as, "you can join the monks in prayer". No kidding. The book is a good idea, but it needs to try a little harder to live up to its promises.
Rating:
Summary: Great Monastery Reference & History Book
Review: This book has been extremely helpful as a reference and resource book on monasteries and convents in Europe for me. The contact information of each place has allowed me to either communicate directly with many monasteries/convents, or at least research them further on the Internet. I also really enjoyed the beginning of the book which provides a background on the history of monasticism, as well as on many of the "key" players and lingo terms. Great resource book!
Rating:
Summary: Great Travel Book & Resource
Review: This book was exactly what I was looking for. It's mostly a directory-type style book, listing the contact information for literally hundreds of monasteries & convents. Just below the contact information of each monastery/convent, is a short one paragraph description, usually providing one or two unique aspects of each place. One aspect I also really liked about the book were the chapters in the beginning of the book, providing a synopsis of monastic history, Gregorian chant, the various religious orders, etc. Lastly, I found the (monastic/travel) websites listed at the back of the book extremely helpful. I would highly, highly recommend this book! Steve R.
Rating:
Summary: Great Travel Book & Resource
Review: This book was exactly what I was looking for. It's mostly a directory-type style book, listing the contact information for literally hundreds of monasteries & convents. Just below the contact information of each monastery/convent, is a short one paragraph description, usually providing one or two unique aspects of each place. One aspect I also really liked about the book were the chapters in the beginning of the book, providing a synopsis of monastic history, Gregorian chant, the various religious orders, etc. Lastly, I found the (monastic/travel) websites listed at the back of the book extremely helpful. I would highly, highly recommend this book! Steve R.
Rating:
Summary: Great Travel Book & Resource
Review: This book was exactly what I was looking for. It's mostly a directory-type style book, listing the contact information for literally hundreds of monasteries & convents. Just below the contact information of each monastery/convent, is a short one paragraph description, usually providing one or two unique aspects of each place. One aspect I also really liked about the book were the chapters in the beginning of the book, providing a synopsis of monastic history, Gregorian chant, the various religious orders, etc. Lastly, I found the (monastic/travel) websites listed at the back of the book extremely helpful. I would highly, highly recommend this book! Steve R.
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