I didn't simply postpone reading Eat, Pray, Love, I balked. My obstinacy lasted 3-1/2 years. How could such a popular book be worth reading? The first printing (February 2006) put 129,000 hard cover copies in circulation. Add 15 printings of the paperback reprint begun in January 2007, and more than 500 million copies are in print, translated into 31 languages. Now that I've read and savored this runaway bestseller, I'd like to meet anyone who, after reading Eat, Pray, Love can declare, "I hated it!" and explain why without revealing more of himself/herself than he/she wants others to know. Author Elizabeth Gilbert has described her book as "investigative reporting of the self." This engaging, adventurous woman with her page-turning writing about who, where, when, why, and how prods deliberate gate-crashing of her hidden truths -- and sometimes there is unbidden insight into ours, her captivated readers.

All this happens while her writing-chatty, profound, humorous, fearless, educational, and never, ever dull -- entertains and informs to a fare-thee-well. She's on a deliberately personal journey to learn from her past, heal her wounds, experience fun in many of its dimensions, and be prepared to continue evolving as a confident, whole individual. She gives herself a year to accomplish her goals: stays of four months in three different countries -- Italy, India, Indonesia.

"I wanted worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence -- the dual glories of a human life. I wanted what the Greeks called kalos kai agathos, the singular balance of the good and the beautiful...I'd been living in a giant trash compactor of nonstop anxiety...I wanted to explore the art of pleasure in Italy, the art of devotion in India and, in Indonesia, the art of balancing the two."

Hence the book's subtitle, "One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia." Now this book with readers around the world is already on its way to becoming a movie, starring Julia Roberts (shooting began in NYC, continued in Italy before moving on to an Indian Ashram and ultimately Bali). The film is scheduled for release in 1011. In the meantime, Liz Gilbert has written a sequel entitled Committed: a skeptic makes peace with marriage scheduled for a January release. In anticipation of this book flying off the shelves, the first printing is for one million copies. My plan in January? To buy a copy.

EMMA HARRAN IS AN ECLECTIC READER OF MOSTLY NONFICTION, ESPECIALLY MEMOIRS, BUT OCCASIONALLY ENJOYS GETTING LOST IN A WELL-WRITTEN NOVEL.

See Emma Harran's movie review: http://www.theartsetc.com/MovieReviews.htm