The first stop in my book club's journey of reading travel writers is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I listened to the audiobook read by Elizabeth Gilbert. Her writing is humorous and insightful. She likes to delve into her motivations. If you are uptight and repressed, it can get uncomfortable. So I was uncomfortable.
I find people either love this book or hate this book. I fall in between. I like how she tames her inner critical voices by addressing them directly and reasoning with them.
I had some beliefs challenged by her understanding of spirituality and God. There is a common metaphor for religion. Several blind men are brought to an elephant; each feels a different part and thinks he understands what an elephant is. One feels the trunk and proclaims the elephant is like a hose. One feels a leg and thinks the elephant is like a tree. The point of the story is they are all wrong. Someone wiser and more knowledgeable is needed to reveal the whole elephant. It feels like Elizabeth Gilbert believes she sees the elephant. I find her story vacillates between humility and I-know-better. It can be annoying because it feels disingenuous.
Still, she tells an engaging story of her adventures.
🍝🪷🏝️ 🧘♀️
If you're interested, here is a website that talks about Elephant illustration:
I like a weird book, and Things in Jars by Jess Kidd is one of the strangest I've ever read. It is difficult to categorize. It contains historical fiction, suspense, mystery, fantasy, and horror. The main character, Bridie Devine, is an Irish immigrant to Victorian London who works as a female private detective. The book moves between Bridie solving her current case of a missing child and gradually revealing Bridie's childhood. I like Bridie because she is unconventional, and fiercely fights for the abused and exploited. Even though Things in Jars is teeming with fantastical characters, it feels authentic. She is helped by the ghost of a boxer and her seven-foot-tall housemaid. The story can be gruesome, with detailed discussions of dead bodies, surgeries, and autopsies. I found it fast-paced and riveting.
🧜♀️👻🫙🐌💧
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