For both writers and Zen Buddhists, paying attention is important. It stands to reason, then, that Tracy Franz¡¯s recently published memoir, ¡°My Year of Dirt and Water: Journal of a Zen Monk¡¯s Wife in Japan,¡± is full of carefully observed detail ¡ª a praying mantis tucked into a corner, the rice-grain-length stitches on a monk¡¯s garments, an urn containing the bones of a beloved cat.

My Year of Dirt and Water: Journal of a Zen Monk¡¯s Wife in Japan, by Tracy Franz.
308 pages