BOOKS: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’

EAT, PRAY, LOVE: ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA

By Elizabeth Gilbert

Penguin

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three aspects of her nature amid three cultures, Ms. Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga-practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

PILGRIMS

By Elizabeth Gilbert

Penguin

When it appeared in 1997, Elizabeth Gilbert’s story collection, “Pilgrims,” immediately announced her compelling voice, her comic touch and her amazing ear for dialogue. “The heroes of Pilgrims … are everyday seekers” (Harper’s Bazaar) - brave and unforgettable, they are sure to strike a chord with fans old and new.

THE LAST AMERICAN MAN

By Elizabeth Gilbert

Penguin

In this rousing examination of contemporary American male identity, acclaimed author and journalist Elizabeth Gilbert explores the fascinating true story of Eustace Conway. In 1977, at the age of 17, Mr. Conway left his family’s comfortable suburban home to move to the Appalachian Mountains. For more than two decades he has lived there, making fire with sticks, wearing skins from animals he has trapped, and trying to persuade Americans to give up their materialistic lifestyles and return with him to nature. To Ms. Gilbert, Mr. Conway’s mythical character challenges all our assumptions about what it is to be a modern man in America; he is a symbol of much we feel how our men should be, but rarely are.

A WRITER’S WORKBOOK: DAILY EXERCISES FOR THE WRITING LIFE

By Caroline Sharp (Author)

Elizabeth Gilbert (Foreword)

St. Martin’s Griffin

A Writer’s Workbook is Caroline Sharp’s ingenious collection of exercises to inspire, encourage, warm up and jump-start anyone who writes. A wise and funny friend who will cheerlead you through even your darkest can’t-write days and “every idea I’ve ever had is awful” nights, she provides encouraging suggestions, hilarious observations and an amazingly vivid catalog of writers’ neuroses (with advice on overcoming them, of course).

THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA

By John Muir

Penguin

Here is a stirring tribute to one of America’s most remote and beautiful places by one of the first modern preservationists.

This Penguin Classic - John Muir’s first book - puts a pioneering conservationist’s passion for nature in high relief. With a poet’s sensitivity and a naturalist’s eye, Mr. Muir celebrates the Sierra Nevada, which he dedicated his life to saving, and recounts his breathtaking visits to Yosemite Valley, Kings Canyon, Sequoia Groves and Mount Whiskey. “The Mountains of California” is an affecting celebration of raw nature by one of its most ardent defenders.