Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Good Friends & Elizabeth Gilbert

Our book club, like many others, just read Eat, Pray, Love.
How lucky for us that the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, was at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland recently! I was thrilled when I found out that she was coming before I started reading the book and a little bit disenchanted about spending $30 for a ticket midway through the book. I found, at times, it to be somewhat wordy, redundant, and personally, somewhat difficult to relate to.

I finished the book at 3:26 the afternoon of the lecture. In the end I did grow to understand and appreciate Elizabeth. I was emotional several times during her journey and was rather pleased with the book afterall. Although, much to my dismay, I didn't LOVE it. I really wanted to LOVE it! I will have to settle for I liked it. What I did love, though, was Elizabeth herself! She was funny, quirky and inspiring!

Six of my girlfriends and I carpooled downtown to see her. We all enjoyed hearing her speak whether we loved the book, liked the book or didn't even finish the book! She was captivating, humorous and enjoyable. We left the Merrill Auditorium and gathered at a local restaurant and conversed about both the book and the lecture. We had a great, fun evening out, which none of us get much of a chance to do; sharing conversation, our thoughts, laughter and our points of view as we ate interesting food and drank a tasty beverage or two.
I am happy that I finally read Eat, Pray, Love. Happy that I got the chance to hear and see Elizabeth Gilbert in person. And so happy to have such fantastic, enjoyable friends to share it with!

I look forward to the prospect of other authors coming to Portland to share their stories in person with us as well!

Oh, an added bonus was that the proceeds from the event will go directly to support the work of The Telling Room, a non-profit dedicated to imbuing kids ages 8 to 18 with a love of storytelling through the introduction of positive role models. I love that!!!

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