Journal Entry 1 by lauraswanson22 from Burlington, Ontario Canada on Tuesday, July 07, 2009

A woman's journey of self discovery. Loved all three locations and her experiences. 

Journal Entry 2 by HoserLauren from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Sunday, July 12, 2009

I picked this book up at our meetup this afternoon. I've heard lots of things about it, both good and bad. Guess it's time to find out for myself!
Nice to meet you today and hopefully we'll see you at some more meetups. :) 

Journal Entry 3 by HoserLauren at Toronto, Ontario Canada on Monday, August 16, 2010

After the hype this book has been receiving (and now with the movie coming out), I thought I'd give it a try. I'd heard good and bad things so didn't know what to expect, but I was skeptical. Eat Pray Love is the journey of Gilbert after getting divorced and breaking up with her on-again, off-again boyfriend and determining that she needs to do something for herself.

Gilbert starts in Italy simply because she loves the way the Italian language sounds. She lives there for a few months, eating everything put in front of her, learning Italian with a Swedish friend she meets there, and slowly coming off of her depression medications.

Her next stop is in India where she learns meditation, devotion, and self-restraint at an Ashram. Yet even here Gilbert learns about herself, with the help of an out-spoken Texan. Gilbert's final stop is in Indonesia where she learns about healing from a medicine man and about love from a Brazilian.

The best part of the book was the first part; Eat. I found the second part (Pray) tedious and not as interesting as Italy. Perhaps that's because meditation holds no interest to me and I'm not an overly spiritual person, however I've heard this complaint from others as well. The final part (Love) improved but wasn't as good as Eat. I'm not sure I see why this book was so popular. It can't be simply because this woman followed her dream and 'found' herself, can it? I don't think I get it. I, personally, didn't gain anything from this book and found that it was a slow read. 

Journal Entry 4 by HoserLauren at Toronto, Ontario Canada on Monday, August 16, 2010

I will be bringing this book to Lake Louise, Alberta with me to give out in welcome bags for my wedding.