Have you read it yet?

I just finished reading Eat Pray Love.

I might be the last person on the earth to have finally read it.

As it turns out, I LOVED IT.

Have you read it? What did you think?

I don't usually enjoy biography type books. I have started many, and finished very few...as in none. Wait, I did finish the Porter Rockwell biography, and I did enjoy it. I mean, the guy is fascinating.

I suppose this book isn't so much a biography, but more "one women's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia", as the front cover explains.

Truth be told, I could not put the book down.

I found it so honest, refreshing, fascinating.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"...people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't you will leak away your innate contentment. It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."

Another Favorite:

"...all the sorrow and trouble of this world is caused by unhappy people. Not only in the big global Hitler-'n'-Stalin picture, but also on the smallest personal level. Even in my own life, I can see exactly where my episodes of unhappiness have brought suffering or distress or (at the very least) inconvenience to those around me. The search for contentment is, therefore, not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift to the world. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people."

And just one more..

"The other problem with all the swinging through the vines of thought is that you are never where you are. You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment. It's something like the habit of my dear friend Susan, who- whenever she sees a beautiful place- exclaims in near panic, "It's so beautiful here! I want to come back here some day!" and it takes all of my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she is already here. If you're looking for union with the divine, this kind of forward/backward whirling is a problem. There's a reason they call God a presence- because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time.

Maybe you should just read it, instead of me posting my 20 favorite quotes from the book.

I am interested in how the movie version of the book is going to turn out.

Anyone up for a girls night to find out?