(Eat Pray) Love it - or not?
So I was just going over the New York Times bestseller list, which runs each Sunday in The Miami Herald's Tropical Life section, and I noticed a seismic shift on the nonfiction bestseller paperback list: Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love is no longer no. 1! After 45 weeks on the list, it has dropped below John Grisham's An Innocent Man.
OK, so maybe it's not that big of a deal, and it probably should have happened sooner (hasn't every woman on the planet read this book already?) But Eat Pray Love is one of those rare books that seems to elicit not only praise but outright devotion in its readers, all of whom seem to be female. I have not yet met a man who has read it (or admitted to reading it), and I only know of one person who violently disagreed with the general assessment that it's excellent. (I won't divulge a name in the interest of personal safety; you know who you are.)
Anyway, I'm a big fan of the book, which chronicles the author's travels to Italy (to eat), India (to meditate) and Bali (to do a lot of stuff, including falling in love). I personally would never have made it out of Italy, especially not after sampling the best pizza in the world in Naples. I would just set up a box and live on the street nearby to get my hands on that pizza every day, possibly for every meal. Seriously, given the choice, what would you do: scrub floors and live in an ashram, or eat your weight in pasta and drink cheap red wine in Rome? I fear my spirituality is compromised.
Posted by Connie Ogle at 01:32 PM on December 12, 2007 in Nonfiction | Permalink
Don't know of any men who admitted they read it. I know of one who might, maybe I'll give it a try.
No one told her that she could meditate in Italy, while eating pizza. They have walking meditation, sitting meditation, and chanting meditation? Why not eating meditation? I know of a sushi joint where every bite results in a spiritual experience.
Posted by: SilviaC | December 16, 2007 at 12:36 AM
THAT'S IT!!! That's the idea that's going to change my life. I'm moving to Seattle, where people would appreciate such a thing, and opening an Eating Meditation restaurant. I will serve that fat-laden macaroni and cheese to help knock patrons into a coma.
Seriously, why do you have to fast to see God? You can't get spiritual on a full stomach? That seems so unfair.
Posted by: Connie | December 16, 2007 at 08:29 AM