I just read Eat, Pray, Love. I have to admit that this was not a book I'd have bought myself. My friend Marisol gave it to me for Christmas and I was like, Oh, yeah, that book.
This is going to make me sound like a fucking lit snob, which I totally am not (well, maybe I kind of am), but I tend to shy away from books that stay on the NYT bestseller list for months and months and months. I see a book like this as one which appeals to the masses. Again, there is nothing wrong with this; I just tend to gravitate toward quiet, sleeper-hit types of books by lesser-known authors whose writing affects me and stays all over me for weeks like sweat or dirt or patchouli oil.
I'd seen the book in the manicured hands of frowny middle-aged New York women communting on the train. I overheard a woman at the park saying that it was her book club book. Whatever. It might as well have had a big "O" for Oprah stamped on it, which to me is like plastering it with a big sticker in the shape of a hunk of cheese that says, "This book is fucking lame".
But. The book was really beautiful. Trite at times, yes, and maybe a little susie-sunshine in it's delivery, but the message is undeniably positive and spiritually uplifting, and the author is relentlessly honest and accepting of herself. The book reminded me that transformation is possible. I was particularly interested in the part of the book where, while in Italy,the writer talks to a friend who believes that there is a word for everything--every place, every thing, every person has one word which truly embodies it. For example, Rome's word is sex. New York's word is achieve. The author, Liz, tries to decide between the words devotion and seek.
So, this got me to thinking. What's my word?
I have fleeting ideas about this...but I know my word isn't anxiety or sadness or loss. Sometimes it's growth it definitely could be love. Acceptance. But I think the word that best describes me though is COLOR. My word is color. I like to think that I am full of color- a wide spectrum of feelings, ideas, jokes, perspectives. I bring color into my immediate world, add flavor and vibrance to the things that I do. Lily and I are colorful together. We traipse about the city in our thrift store coats and laugh and love the world around us.
I cannot, cannot imagine living in black and white. So, I am color.
What's your word?
5 comments:
my word is "apathy," because i don't really care about my word all that much.
Ah, the oprah books of the month. I have read a few. Gah! Not horrible I guess, but still. I guess I am just not into sunshine and roses, though.
I think my word is either "texture" or "touch". In my world everything is conceptualized in terms of textural interwoven, overlapping layers.
Sunshine and roses indeed. Today my word is MENSTRUATION. Or maybe it's simply BITCH. Or, can it be two words? CRAZY BITCH?
So glad you liked the book. I thought about my word for a while. I think it is Balance. I feel like I am always trying to find it. I tend to straddle that middle line in an attempt to not go too far to one extreme or the other but Straddle definitely doesn't work as a word for a non porn star part time consultant/full time mother type....
Post a Comment