Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Pilgrims

I've loved Elizabeth Gilbert ever since I read her article Coyote Ugly in GQ. A wide-eyed Gilbert went to the interview in a cardigan and was told that she was wearing too many clothes. She eventually learned how to outdrink her regulars (keep a mug of Coke handy, whenever you take a swig, spit it out into the mug).

But I couldn't read Eat, Pray, Love. I couldn't even finish the first first page.

I fared better with Gilbert's first novel, Stern Men. But what I really wanted to read was her first collection of stories, Pilgrims. So as soon as I saw a copy, I bought it. Nevermind that I'm trying to save money. I can control my cravings for clothes and food. But I admit it, I'm addicted to books.

From Pilgrims, I learned that sunflowers always face east in the morning and west at dusk. Gilberts said in an interview that instead of getting an MFA, she crisscrossed the country and wrote.

What I plan to do is get and MFA and then wander.

"Like Eat, Pray, Love," my sister said. No, I'm not running away from a devastating divorce. But I am looking for something.

2 comments:

Jo said...

I couldn't get through the first chapter of Eat, Pray, Love. I just wasn't impressed with the way it was written. I felt like I was reading a tell-all blog without particularly interesting entries. But the book hit a nerve with millions of people apparently. :)

ice said...

Not to mention Julia Roberts.

Maybe we don't like it because we haven't been divorced? Hehe.

I did find Eat, Pray, Love too confessional, which was unlike the tone of her GQ articles. There, she also writes about herself, but she's wry and funny.