Things Become Other Things

“Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod is billed as “a walking memoir” and captures a solo hike through parts of the Kumano Kodō trail in Japan. It’s a reflective book, weaving personal stories through meditative steps. I dog-eared more pages of this book more than any in memory. (In hindsight, folding a corner of paper is the worst way to save passages.) My first fold contained an introduction to the concept of Yoyū and finding difficult forgiveness on the road: The moment I felt that was like getting hit in the head with a basketball—a freakish pang, a dull ache in the skull. I almost fell into a bush. I was hyperventilating—realizing my heart had expanded in some immeasurable, beyond-physics way that hearts can expand, and in that expansion I had a new space. There’s a word in Japanese that sums up this feeling better than anything in English: yoyū. A word that somehow means: the excess provided when surrounded by a generous abundance. It can be applied to hearts, wallets, Sunday afternoons, and more. From there I just kept folding more and more pages. In fact, now I feel like reading it all over again — maybe this time with a highlighter or a notebook.”

“BOOKSELLER RECOMMENDATION “Craig Mod is a photographer as well as a writer, and you can tell not only by the photographs set into this remarkable travel narrative, but also by the way he captures scenes, moments, and thoughts, giving personality and presence to even the smallest observations. Things Become Other Things is a literary chronicling of his solitary walks through Japan's Kii peninsula, though he is not alone, meeting with locals and writing towards his long-dead friend. A fully-voiced, ruminative slice of life in a little known area, this walking memoir is a one-of-a-kind must-read.” — Melinda • Bookshop Santa Cruz”