Read the book Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert and plan to leave your thoughts in the comment section one month from now, on Tuesday, March 16.
I haven't actually read the book yet, so I can't exactly recommend it. However, the description sounds good, and you all would be the perfect book club buddies!
If you're interested, please sign up using the form below so I can get a sense of how many folks are participating.
Happy Reading!
Book Description:
At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who’d been living in Indonesia when they met. Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both were survivors of previous bad divorces. Enough said.) But providence intervened one day in the form of the United States government, which—after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing—gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again. Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving into this topic completely, trying with all her might to discover through historical research, interviews, and much personal reflection what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is. Told with Gilbert’s trademark wit, intelligence and compassion, Committed attempts to “turn on all the lights” when it comes to matrimony, frankly examining questions of compatibility, infatuation, fidelity, family tradition, social expectations, divorce risks and humbling responsibilities. Gilbert’s memoir is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.
10 comments:
I love this idea. I just ordered my copy to be shipped today!
I wanted to read this book after finishing the book on tape for Eat, Pray, Love. Unfortunately I'm like #300 on the queue in the LA library system. Maybe I'll cave and buy the book to join the book club!
I'm actually almost done with the book, so I can recommend it! I love how Gilbert weaves her personal experience/thoughts with interesting historical tidbits. Great idea!
Am reading (and enjoying!) this book now on my Kindle for my own book club. I definitely recommend it.
i know i'm in the minority (please! no backlash!), but i think she came off so whiny and self-serving in the first book. it just never sat right with me that she financed her trips with her book advance. but again, i know i'm in the minority. her first husband is writing a book with his 'response' - looking forward to reading that. a book club is a fantastic idea.
I will read this book for purely selfish reasons. Being a child of divorce, and being a witness to many others, AND having a mother-in-law who was a child of divorce....you get the point.
I will read this book since I am engaged and have the history I have. And I will talk about it to break any unseen chains that may be in place.
@ Scruffy: You are hilarious! No, you will not get any backlash from me for expressing your opinion about a book! I try to make it a habit to be as open-minded as possible. And actually, one of my closest friends also thinks Elizabeth Gilbert is "whiny, self-absorbed, narcissistic," etc. There are aspects of Eat, Pray, Love that irritated me, but I'm eager to explore the themes that come up in her book about marriage.
Next month's book club book is going to be more of a "strengthen your marriage with these strategies" kind of book.
I'm so excited that I have new friends to read books with!
I read "Eat, Pray, Love," and thoroughly enjoyed it and looked forward to reading "Committed." Unfortunately I gave up on it halfway through. If you're interested in reading what is basically a research/history paper on marriage, read it. It's still pretty self-serving... and has a hint of her feeling like she needs to justify her marriage.
I decided to read this book for a number of different reasons, and am now almost done with it. I am extremely in love with this blog, so I think that a book club should be fun.
@Scruffy, @nmers... Although I AM enjoying the book, I also have some problems with her... Namely, to me she seems arrogant, and also self-serving. I am glad to know I wasn't the only one that felt that way!!
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