Eat Pray Love

I have a confession to make. For Christmas, I was given the book Eat Pray Love by a person in my family to whom I am not terribly close. I was annoyed. I had seen the book and dismissed it as a superficial feel good time for divorcees who would rather lose themselves in someone else's drama/joy/adventure than deal with their own issues.

How wrong an impression.

I LOVE this book. LOVE IT. For several reasons, not the least of which is the fascinating story which is beautifully written. Naturally, I will list these reasons.

1. The author is divorced and is doing some escaping of her own in the book, in the form of a year of traveling. This interests me, for one, because I, somehow, was born without the traveling gene. I just don't really like it. I can do it sometimes, but it's uncomfortable and annoying and I always get sick. This is one of the biggest reasons that I gave up my previous career of professional music - I hated the traveling. Hated living out of a suitcase, hated the airports and hotels, hated the constant change of scenery, hated not having a routine. Hated it. So, for someone to proclaim their infinite and lifelong love of traveling is, for me, like reading about someone going to Mars. Fascinating because it's so unknown to me.

2. The book is set up in equal parts, based on an Indian tradition (out of which the rosary was born) of prayer beads. 108 of them. 108 is considered a perfect number because of its intimate relationship with the number 3 which, all over the world, is considered a holy number. 8+0+1 = 9, which is 3x3. 108 is divisible by 3 to make 36, which itself is made up of 6x6 (full of threes, of course). So the book is divided into 3 parts - one for each leg of her journey - each with 36 stories. I love this sense of order.

3. Her writing is brilliant. She is at once hilarious and real and down to earth as well as incredibly descriptive and meaningful and rich. It is like strawberries for my brain to read this - both sweet and enriching.

4. Her travels reflect my personal struggles and "holes" in my life. She travels first to Italy to rediscover pleasure. (Sit in the library much? The sunrise is pretty, I guess...) Next she goes to India to stay in an Ashram and practice yoga and meditation. (How many times have you been on your mat this year? Boy, you only need one hand...) Finally, she goes to Bali, Indonesia to learn balance. (Husband? Nephew? Dogs? Wait, was I supposed to keep up with all this stuff?)

5. Finally, I feel like a jerk for judging this book, essentially, by its cover. Even though the cover is lovely, I blew it off as being a throw away book. Instead, it has become one of my favorites I've read in a long time. I would highly recommend it.