Books: Bones Of The Master

When an eccentric old Mongolian walked into the backyard of a laid-back American poet in 1987, neither imagined, surely, that they would one day be lurching through modern China in search of a teacher's grave. But Tsing Tsai proved to be no ordinary monk, poet and kung-fu master; and George Crane turned out to be a sympathetic Sancho Panza and inner Mongolian at heart. Written with the quick, vivid immediacy of an ancient Eastern poem, Bones beautifully recounts the recent heartbreaking history of Mongolia--and shows how spirit can get the better of even the deepest sorrow.

--By Pico Iyer