Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

I really enjoyed this book.

In Italy, the descriptions of food made me ravenous! I will forever remember her description of a pizza in Naples - Margarita with extra mozzarella. Yum! I can taste the salty, gooey cheese now. I want to go back to Italy just for that pizza. I'm sure I gained 10 lbs just reading her exploration of Italy.

In particular, I enjoyed her spiritual journey in India. There were times that I felt the descriptions of her discovery and exploration of her spiritual self were a bit indulgent. She freely admits that she has a personality that is very focused on herself - and I guess this was a lot of what she needed to discover. But what I really loved were her explanations of God. There are aspects of yogic thought that I really like - that God is me. In order to know God, I must come to know the me that is God. This I like - and it makes sense to me.

It explains to me why there are so many commonalities amongst our religions in the world. If God is us - then we must all innately know the goodness of God. C. S. Lewis wrote a book called Mere Christianity. In it, he tries to lay the groundwork for proving Christianity by pointing out the universal knowlege of good and evil (the Moral Law) that are known throughout the world. It is a great book for those who are looking for Chistianity to make sense. To me, it did a better job of pointing out the universality of humanity - and perhaps making the case that Christianity doesn't have the only path to God.

I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the spiritual path to God. Which, if God is here - is me, then there is no "path". It is more about discovering behind all the stresses and thoughts and distractions of life the person within me that is God. The person that can see the world through her heart. And look at life as a great opportunity to be. These thoughts have been circling through my head since I started this book.

Her final trip to Bali, in Indonesia, is more like a very relaxing holiday. It is nice to see her emerge from this great journey she's been on into a place where she is able to experience the joys of life. And really - that is what is happiness for - the ability to experience the joys of life. I spend a lot of time looking for experiences rather than enjoying the happiness of the moment. I'd like to change that.

Recommendation: If you're looking for something that will make you think about life and question the things that your always thought were important.

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

Completed: 18 Jun, 2008

This is a story of Callie, a hermaphrodite, raised as a girl who then discovers she is a boy, Cal. The perspective of the story is told from the adult Cal looking back on his family and their history.

The family are Greek, living in Detroit. Cal's grandparents immigrated from Turkey. They were Greeks living in Western Turkey and kicked out at the end of WWI due to the conflicts between Greece and Turkey. Earlier this year, I read Birds Without Wings, by Louis de Bernieres (he of Captain Corelli's Mandolin fame). This book was also set in Western Turkey and describing the impacts on a community after WWI and the ouster of all non-Turks from Turkey. So, I was familiar with the history of what happened to Cal's grandparents.

I loved the characters in this book. Jeffrey Eugenides does a great job of capturing a wide variety of personalities and keeping them all glued together as an immigrant family in Detroit. He does a great job illustrating the "Americanization" of further generations.

Recommendation: Read it if you like stories about families steeped in history.