Thursday, July 10, 2008

Eat Pray Love

As you can see from my Shelfari bookshelf, I'm an avid reader of everything from the classics, to fiction, to non-fiction, to trashy fluff so if you have any book recommendations let me know; I'm always looking for a good one to devour. Some days sticking my nose in a book and plugging into my MP3 player are the only things that get me through the daily commute into the city on the T (MBTA/Orange Line) .


I recently read the hyped autobiography Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I usually don't like reading what everyone else is raving about because I'm often disappointed when it doesn't live up to the glowing reviews but I actually liked this one. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by honest account of this woman's determination to find herself and the life she knew she was meant to have. At times I thought she was a bit whiny but I think I was just jealous because I couldn't afford to take a year off from my life and find myself. Wouldn't that be nice, huh?


There was a great passage about Karma that really hit home with me. Gilbert writes:
"The karmic philosophy appeals to me on a metaphorical level because even
in one lifetime it's obvious how often we must repeat our sames mistakes,
banging our heads against the same old addictions and compulsions, generating
the same old miserable and often catastrophic consequences, until we can finally
stop and fix it. This is the supreme lesson of karma (and also of Western
psychology, by the way) - take care of the problems now, or else you'll just
have to suffer again later when you screw everything up the next time. And that
repetition of suffering - that's hell."

I've been living that hell by repeatedly making the same mistakes. I continue to struggle but I'm determined to fix it - I don't want to be fat in my next life too :)

4 comments:

  1. You're so good about getting that bookshelf going! I just find it hard to sit and think about books although I know that I need to start reading again on a regular basis.

    Promises, promises! Hope you're getting to enjoy some nice weather your way :)

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  2. I recently discovered a new writer. Well, he came up to me at B&N and introduced himself, so I didn't actually discover him. :)

    His name is Troy Cook and he's got two books out, "47 Habits of Highly Effective Bank Robbers" and "The One Minute Assassin." Both very funny reads, perfect for escaping.

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  3. I adored the book as well.
    it entirely changed my life (and prompted a tattoo but that's another story :))

    Miz.

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  4. Manuela: I don't know if I could get through my daily commute without something to read. If you are out enjoying life there is no time to read. :) Enjoy.

    Cammy: Thanks for the recommendations. I'll have to check those out. I need to escape.

    MizFit: Oh, I definitely want to hear the tattoo story.

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