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Summary:

Some people hibernate and lick their wounds after a difficult divorce. Not author Elizabeth Gilbert, who self-prescribed a year of exotic travel and convinced a publishing house to pay for it with a book advance. The result is Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert’s journey of self-discovery in Rome (the eating leg of the trip), on an ashram in India (the praying portion) and love (in Bali, where she reconnected with joy). The 108-chapter book (the number of mini chapters is the number of beads in an Indian prayer necklace) remains a best seller more than a year after publication. It was translated into 20 languages, and was named one of the 100 notable books of 2006 by the New York Times.

Meet Elizabeth Gilbert:

In addition to writing four books, Elizabeth Gilbert was a staff writer for Spin magazine in the 1990s, and also has written for GQ, the New York Times Magazine and O, the Oprah Magazine, among other national publications. Gilbert was born in 1969 and grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Connecticut. She is a graduate of New York University. She now lives in New Jersey and is working on her fifth book, a novel. The film rights to Eat, Pray, Love have been acquired by Paramount Studios, which is developing it with Julia Roberts in mind for the starring role.

Her 10 Most-Asked Questions (Click)

In her own words:

Elizabeth Gilbert on writing, life, food and spirituality:

On writing:

‘’Becoming a published writer is sort of like trying to find a cheap apartment in New York City: it’s impossible. And yet…every single day, somebody manages to find a cheap apartment in New York City. I can’t tell you how to do it. I’m still not even entirely sure how I did it. I can only tell you – through my own example – that it can be done. I once found a cheap apartment in Manhattan. And I also became a writer.’’ – Elizabeth Gilbert, from her Web site (www.elizabethgilbert.com).

On her attitude toward life:

“”We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses – one foot is on the horse called ‘’fate,’’ the other on the horse called ‘’free will.’’ And the question you have to ask every day is – which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?’’ – from Eat, Pray, Love.

On eating:

 “”There are so many manifestations of pleasure in Italy, and I didn’t have time to sample them all. You have to kind of declare a pleasure major here, or you’ll get overwhelmed. That being the case, I didn’t get into fashion, or opera, or cinema, or fancy automobiles, or skiing in the Alps. I didn’t even want to look at that much art. I’m a bit ashamed to admit this, but I did not visit a single museum during my entire four months in Italy. (Oh, man – it’s even worse than that. I have to confess that I did go to one museum: the National Museum of Pasta, in Rome.) I found that all I really wanted to do was to eat beautiful food and to speak as much beautiful Italian as possible. That was it. So I declared a double major, really – in speaking and in eating (with a concentration on gelato).’’ – from Eat, Pray, Love.

On how her year of spiritual searching changed her:

‘’ There is a small, new, holy part of me which I hold onto and treasure very carefully – cupping it in my hands like a freshly lit match. I try to protect that new part of me as much as possible from the sheering winds of 21st Century America. .. These days I slow down when the light turns yellow (I mean this in many ways) instead of speeding through every intersection blindly.’’ – from her Web site.