Babbling about Books

Occasionally I step out of my "normal reading" zone (alternating mysteries and sci-fi) and pick up something different. Frequently, these are books that speak to me, or books that someone specifically tells me I should read. Last year, it was Twyla Tharp's and Linda Ellerbee's. This June, it was EAT, PRAY, LOVE.
I consumed this book while on vacation, and I've decided to revist it immediately again to more slowly savor it. If you're looking for a good read, pick this book up.

Elizabeth Gilbert was 32 when she decided to divorce her husband. The 2 year experience was emotionally and physically devastating to her, except that she found "her" guru and began to meditate and practice yoga. A professional travel writer (oh, to have such a job), she was offered the chance to travel to Bali to report on yoga vacations. There she met an ancient medicine man who predicted that soon she would come and study with him.

Now I'm the kind of person who, when a ninth-generation Indonesian medicine man tells you that you're destined to move to Bali and live with him for four monhts, thinks you should make evry effort to do that. And this, finally, was how my whole idea about this year of traveling began to gel.

(snip) But what about the benefits of living harmoniously amid extremes?... My truth was exactly what I'd said to the medicine man in Bali - I wanted to experience both. I wanted worldly enjoyment and divine trascendence - the dual glories of a human life.

(snip) So I stopped trying to choose ---Italy? India? or Indonesia?? -- and eventually admitted that I wanted to travel to all of them. (pgs.28-29).

That's what most of this book is about. Gilbert spent 4 months in Italy learning to speak Italian and experience PLEASURE. She spent 4 months in India living on an Ashram and learning to meditate and PRAY. Then finally 4 months in Bali learning how to live in balance with both extremes.

She shares her experiences is a way that is personal, hysterical and touching. I enjoyed almost every word (OK, she went on a bit too long about divorcing her husband and breaking up with her lover. But that's what pushed her to writing the book.)

Check out my other blog: Deb's Daily Distractions for this week's Tale of the Scale.