Eat, Pray, Love

I love to read. Always have. And asides from a brief period of study when i banned myself from reading anything but vet-related stuff, I've always read for pure enjoyment. Occasionally I browse through Peteys shelf of 'must reads' and ambitiously place them on the bed-side table ready to expand my mind through the world of books, with such wordy texts as the 'heartbreaking work of staggering genius', or the miriad of Murakami books he seems to be accumulating. But i think at long last i've come to the conclusion that reading tastes can be completely individual, and even if it would be great to enjoy the high-brow stuff, i think honestly i just like a good relaxing read. So as i've finally run out of Cormack McCarthys in the Petey library, I was on the hunt for a bit of a holiday read.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of those books i usually woundn't have thought twice about picking up, but on reflection it has everything I love in a good book, its part love story, part self-help and part travel story. The premise is that after a horrible divorce she heads off for a year of travel to mend her soul, first visiting Italy to learn Italian, then to an Ashram in India, then to Bali to study with a holy man. I think for all of us who long to find a better way to live in this high stress, consumer-driven, rat race of a society, this book opens up all sorts of possibilities. Why should we work for 40 + hours a week just so that we can buy stuff that marketing types tell us we must have and that we deserve because we worked so hard for it. Since when did a flat-screen TV become an essential item? Why not build a life around family and friends and finding inner peace. As always when I travel, or arm-chair travel, i'm struck by how much we can learn from other cultures about how to live well. The Italians it seems are all about family, pleasure and food. Food is simple, made from fresh ingredients, preferably high in carbs and meant to be enjoyed with those you love. The India section is hilarious as she battles with those pesky little internal chatterboxes, to try and find peace in meditation. Onto Bali, where she experiences the friendship of a collection of crazy locals and eccentric expats, who have also dropped out from society and eventually falls in love with a Brazilian hippie-type. Its made me want to travel again as soon as possible...now I suppose for that I may need to go back to work.