Books

Up the Mountain – Over a period of two years Gareth J. Young, a Buddhist, became an explorer of Jewish faith and culture. “Up The Mountain” is the story of that journey – a pilgrimage that continues.

Gareth attended Shabbat at synagogues and in homes many times and was the recipient of extraordinary kindness and generosity. He was invited into the experience of the Jewish High Holidays, which was a transformational experience in his life. “Up The Mountain” describes the beauty and wisdom Gareth encountered and takes the reader into the connection he developed with Judaism and with the Jewish spirit. Written from the heart it is a deep expression of gratitude.

When he expressed regret that he had not been able to devote more time to his Jewish practice, a Jewish friend observed, “You must be doing something right: you’ve got the guilt thing down!”
Amazon

The Straight Eightfold Path – As Gareth’s Buddhist practice matured he found himself drawn into the world of interfaith. This is a conversation between people whose superficial beliefs are radically different in which they come to understand that underneath it all we are all just human beings with the same hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses, and the same basic needs. Almost fifteen years after starting a journey that led him to follow the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism, the Straight Path of Islam beckoned and Gareth followed – not to depart from the experience of Buddhism, but to enrich and deepen it. This book is centered on the deepest part of that immersion, the month-long observation of Ramadan.
Amazon

The Grace of Guilt – When fifteen-year-old Jessica Jackson’s crush on her pastor’s son leads to rape, she finds herself pregnant and alone, rejected by both family and church as an unrepentant sinner. And when fellow-church member, Simon Cassell’s homosexual relationship with his high school friend is discovered, he is beaten by his father and ostracized. Meanwhile, middle-aged Dwight Cook is struggling with the economic failure of his business, the town hardware store, with estrangement from his wife and oldest son, and with uncontrollable lust for a female employee half his age.

The outcasts’ struggles with underserved guilt intensify when a lynching brings the FBI to the rural North Carolina town and both church and family members are implicated, and when a tormented loved one commits suicide.

The Grace of Guilt follows the destruction of three families and their quests for redemption, and examines the old prejudice of the new South.
Amazon

An Unexamined Life – Gareth Young’s second novel spices up echoes of Kafka’s The Trial and Nabakov’s Lolita with a pinch of erotica as he crafts a compelling tale of the relentless and inevitable decline of a modern-day Don Giovanni.

Joe Kay is released from a career that had long since lost its meaning by inheritance and seeks solace in his marriage, but when he discovers that a decade of neglect had allowed his vows to drain away he allows his libido to lead him astray. He accumulates an online roster of virtual mistresses, starts sleeping with a stripper and plays strip-Twister with a neighbor. Eventually a high school girl who frequents his favorite coffee shop and his daily fantasies exploits his clumsy infatuation and seduces Joe. Has he finally found a home for his faithless heart or would his newfound loyalty falter and lead Joe and his lovers deeper into disaster?
Amazon