recommended reading...

eat, pray, love: one woman's search for everything across italy, india, and indonesia.

so, i just finished this book, and i'm recommending it to everyone i know. especially those of the female persuasion. I NEVER buy books any more, but this one will certainly make its way into my library.

an excerpt from each section of the book...

italy
it was interesting for me to discover what i did not want to do in italy, once i'd given myself executive authorization to enjoy my experience there. 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... i found that all i really wanted was to eat beautiful food and 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).

india
the other day a monk told me, "the resting place of the mind is the heart. the only thing the mind hears all day is clanging bells and noise and argument, and all it wants is quietude. the only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. that's where you need to go."

indonesia
then, yesterday, i was standing in the courtyard, saying my good-byes to ketut, and nyomo came shuffling past with her broom, sweeping and pretending not to be paying attention to everything that happens in her empire. i had my hands clasped behind my back as i was standing there, and she came up behind me and took one of my hands in hers. she fumbled through my hand like she was trying to untumble the combination on a lock and she found my index finger. then she wrapped her whole, big, hard fist around that finger and gave me this deep, long squeeze. i could feel her love pulsing through her power grip, right up into my arm and all the way down into my guts. then she dropped my hand and limped away arthritically, saying not a single word, continuing her sweeping as though nothing had happened. while i stood there quietly drowning in two rivers of happiness at the same time.

and the last paragraph of the entire book:
in the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. in the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.