Book, livre, Buch, libro, bok, Kniha, Kitap, Boek

In whatever language you say the word; books have been the light of my life since I was a child. I grew up in a small town with a small library, with which I was intimately familiar. By the time I was 12 I had read every book in the children’s section. The librarians would let me check out ‘adult’ books but would look through them very thoroughly before they would let me have them LOL During summer vacation from school I would sometimes read 3 or 4 books a day, sitting on the couch totally lost from the real world. I would BE in that book. My mom could stand right in front of me talking to me and I wouldn’t hear a word. There was a sea grape tree right outside my bedroom window that had a perfectly curved limb where I could sit and read while shaded from the Florida sun.

I find that today, I have to somewhat limit myself because if I don’t, I’ll sit and read and do nothing else. No creating, no laundry, no cleaning up dust bunnies. There have been times when Jack would call and ask if I wanted him to bring dinner home and I’ve jumped on that because I just HAD to finish a book. Much better than cooking sometimes LOL

I love all sorts of books but have five or so favorites that I won’t even lend out. One of those is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, first published in 2006. Now I know you’ve probably seen ads on TV about the upcoming movie starring Julia Roberts and I can’t WAIT to see it. But the book was so good that I’ve read it twice and am on my third reading. The basic story is that she travels to three different countries for three different reasons for a year. First Italy (eat), then India (pray), and then Indonesia (love) seeking to heal herself both physically and spiritually and find balance in her life.

In India you may see a lot of people wearing beads around their neck – japa malas – that are strung with 108 beads. They use the beads to stay focused during meditation and these have been used there for centuries. One bead is touched for each repetition of mantra. Every japa mala has a special, extra bead, the 109th bead that dangles outside the perfect circle of 108 like a pendant. When your fingers reach this marker during prayer, it is time to pause in meditation and thank your teachers. When medieval Crusaders drove East for the holy wars and witnessed worshippers praying with these japa malas, they admired the technique and brought the idea home to Europe as rosary.

Elizabeth structured her book into 108 sections – 36 sections in each country, which makes the book very easy to read. It’s the kind of book that you want to digest slowly. Each section only a few pages long to read and think about before moving on to the next section. Every time I’ve read it I’ve found something different to think about – light bulb moments.

What this book ISN’T: preachy, boring, whiney, melancholy

What this book IS: charming, witty, sad, happy, joyful, and enlightening

Do read it when you get a chance and let me know what YOU think about it.

Untie a ribbon in your life – you might find an adventure!