Downward Dog, Upward Fog
Meryl Davids Landau
Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kindgom on Earth
Lisa Napoli
Meryl Davids Landau wrote Downward Dog, Upward Fog (Alignment Publishing) because she perceived a vacuum in her literay world: there were no novels she wanted to read on the subjects that most interested her. So she created an endearing and only slightly ditsy character who follows her path to enlightenment in a typical work-party-sleep world. Lorna discovers yoga and meditation, but she’s so disenfranchised from the process that she makes up a new name for it: sujaling. She struggles with mother, friends and relationships in trying to find her true self, and is a lot closer by the end of the book. Her story has charm but there are no real surprises, and while Lorna finds some resolution to her spiritual and emotional conundrums, it has little impact on the reader.
In contrast, Radio Shangri-La (Crown) is a true 
story of a sophisticated Angeleno who left her urban life and media career to volunteer at the first radio station established for the youth of Bhutan, a country pulled between its traditional, more spiritual ways and the high tech materialism of the rest of the world. In an emotional freefall in her own life, she found meaning and focus in this remote mountain kingdom and has continued to return to share her knowledge and expertise. Somehow in her simple true story there is infinitely more drama, and we care deeply—if fleetingly—about the people with whom she connects.
Fortunately Napoli’s attention span is longer than that of the average reader. Americans generally don’t think much about tiny foreign countries like Bhutan, much less about their youth. Such countries don’t have an impact on world politics, and since the country limits tourists and it’s a tedious journey, not many of us go there. Seeing it through the eyes of Lisa Napoli will move this country, the original “happiest place on earth,” closer to the top of your list.
—Abigail Lewis
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