Apr 10 2009
Friday’s Featured Travel Book: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia calmly entered the travel book/memoir/spiritual/self-help world in 2006 and soon caught fire—as of March 2009, the book had been on the New York Times Bestseller List for 110 weeks.
In it, Elizabeth Gilbert, an American writer, shares intimate details of her journey from married woman living a predictable life in New York to single woman searching for pleasure in Italy, spirituality in India, and a balance between the two in Indonesia.
The book was an instant success as women around the world identified with Gilbert’s struggle to discover herself, her beliefs, and the world around her: one reviewer on Amazon.com said “This is an excellent meditation on reclaiming the joy of living.” (It helps that Oprah was enamored with the book, too, and has had at least two whole shows devoted to it.)
Not everyone liked it, though–many found it too self-centered and too focused on Eastern religions. New York Post’s book reviewer, Maureen Callahan, called it “narcissistic New Age reading.”
No matter how you feel about the author, her ability to describe the luscious food and attractive people in Italy, her struggles with the devout spirituality of the people at the ashram in India, and her enchantment by the exotic flowers and intriguing people of Indonesia, means that anyone contemplating a trip to any of these destinations (or anyone who just loves adventure) could find something worth reading.
And, it’s going to be made into a movie starring Julia Roberts soon!
Want more information on Eat, Pray, Love? Check out The Mindful Tourist’s Book Review of Eat, Pray, Love for an honest opinion from someone who appreciates socially conscious travel. My Nguyen, a writer, enjoyed the book and shares a review of Eat, Pray, Love on Suite101.
This post is part of Friday’s Featured Travel Book series, where a travel book is featured every Friday. There are plenty of other choices when it comes to travel books, so check out the Travel Books collection for more ideas. And come back next Friday for a new book to add to your reading list!
