Eat, Pray, Love (1)

Title: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Non-Fiction

I really do hate to be a follower but enough people whose opinions I trust kept telling me to read this book and eventually I relented. I'm honestly glad I did. This was a very quick read that I enjoyed and it has me thinking. I cannot ask more of a book than to give me some pleasure and things to think about.

Gilbert's personal journey would struggle to be anymore different than my own but there are some common themes and feelings. I saw myself both in her moments of despair and in her moments of pleasure and joy. This may sound trite but there are so few people (dare I say few of us?) who actually do take the road and life less traveled that it is hard not to feel connected to those who make that choice and then share with others the life and journeys that stem from that choice.

I can't recommend the book to everyone because for some it will seem too much like a fairy tale, too unrealistic though it is the author's actual life. I can't fault anyone for not wanting to read real life fairy tales but when they are well written and when the stories and prose touch me I can't help but be one of those women not only loves fairy tales but also believes they can be real.

I've decided to occasionally (maybe always?) post items from my Reading List here as well. Reading List is mostly just a running list for me, posts here are open to discussion and in fact I'd welcome discussion. I do so love to talk about books. Well, I like talking about books with smart people. I do not like talking about books with people who, when discussing an autobiographical memoir says "the author is self-absorbed." Of course the author of an autobiographical memoir about a spiritual journey is self-absorbed. What else should she be obsessed with? My goal, after failing miserably in 2007, is to read 40 books in 2008.