The first meeting of the new year!And, our Gina actually has this book in her hot little hands, (thanks to our Christmas book exchange) so she is likely to read it. Lisa, has not read a book in let's just say a "little while" and was intrigued by the book, so she is likely to read it. With these great odds of someone actually reading the book, (Susie and Lynnea aside, we're already done with it!) we voted for this book. I loved the soul searching piece of it, for I think our 30/40s brings that out in our journey of life.
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review: Elizabeth Gilbert (The Last American Man) grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights--the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners--Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. "I came to Italy pinched and thin," she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise "betwixt and between" realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry--conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor--as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression.
See you in the new year!
