Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

by Julie Kuntze
(Omaha)

I know this book has become perhaps overly popular, but it best fit my "criteria" for my favorite book selection. I read about 50 books a year (not counting children's books - or you could up the figure to 800), and I own too many to count. My criteria included: have I read it more than once? (In this case, yes; a book read more than once had better have content worth it!) Are the pages marked up and dog-eared? (Meaning, here are some ideas to revisit, share, or that expressed something I experienced but could not personally put into words, and this book did.) Do I have my own copy? (Sometimes I have bought my own copy of a book after having read it all the way through before.) Have I recommended this book to others? (Meaning, does this book have something to say to someone other than me? Would it be appropriate, interesting, and worth the time of my family/friends? In this case, yes.) Was the book written by someone different from me in many ways, but said something I could relate to anyway? (Again, yes.) Did I continue thinking about the content long after I had finished the actual story? (Yes, yes, yes.) By the way, a close second to my "favorite" selection is To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.