This summer I’ve challenged myself to read one book purely for my own pleasure. This was once an easy task, back in the time before children, houses, self-employment, cooking, cleaning, gardening, and the ever present need to cross some sort of project off my “to do” list.
Consequently, I found myself in Buffalo Books and Coffee last week, searching for my perfect summer read.
After picking a few books by their cover art, which I know one should not do, and reading the first few sentences, I opened Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love.
So far, so damn good. I don’t think I’ve connected with a book so quickly with an author’s voice since my first introduction to Margaret Atwood while reading A Handmaid’s Tale (If you’ve never read this you should. I read it one sleepless day). Although, these two writers really cannot be compared, as they are extremely different.
Here is a synopsis taken from the back of the book-
In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want-husband, country home, successful career-but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. this wise and rapturous book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success, and of what she found in their place. Following a divorce and a crushing depression, Gilbert set out to examine three different aspects of her nature, set against the backdrop of three different cultures: pleasure in Italy, devotion in India, and on the Indonesian island of Bali, a balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence.
