Still Reading It!

I'd be a little more excited about it being Christmas Eve if I wasn't sitting at work right now. I left my parents' house this morning at 5:20 am so that I could open the pharmacy at 6:30 am in a snow storm. Not fun. Anyway...

Today during my lunch I read some more of my book. I've mentioned before that I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I've also mentioned that it's taking me ABSOLUTELY FOREVER to finish this book! I haven't explained why though.

The book is deep, insightful, and thought provoking. This is not the kind of book I'm used to. Not to say that the books I read have no substance whatsoever. That is not true. I recently read Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof, all by Emily Giffin. I thought these books were all very interesting, entertaining and stimulating (for lack of a better word). However, I made my way through all those books with relative ease and didn't stop to contemplate many things I read. Eat, Pray, Love is completely different. I mean, I guess I should've expected it since it's "One woman's search for everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia." I can't quite explain what it is about this book that has me so captivated, but I'll share just a few snippets that I enjoyed. Before doing that, however, I must explain my special book reading process. ..

I buy all my books, with very few exceptions. I know it's a somewhat careless waste of money when there are so many libraries out there, but I can't help it. I like to own the books I read. I like to have them as a reminder of all I've been through. I guess that sounds stupid, but I definitely buy books based on my current life location. When I was single all of my books were about single people. When I'm confused about life all of my books are about "finding myself." You get the point. So, it's funny when I look back at some of my past purchases.

Also, and more importantly, when I'm reading a book I always have a pen with me. I started doing this several years ago. Sometimes when you're reading a book you read the most perfect phrase, sentence or paragraph. Sometimes it's just a phrase that reminds me of a moment in my life, sometimes it's something that makes me think a lot, sometimes it just sounds like something I want to remember. I started getting frustrated that those words would just disappear into oblivion as soon as I turned the page. I then decided that I would underline those words and then mark the page number on the back cover to tell me where to find it. Now, I must admit, there's only been a handful of times that I've gone back to find a quote, but I just like to have them there. When I was moving and packing up ALL of my books (that sadly remain in their boxes 'cause my new apartment has no room for them), I opened up the back cover of several books and looked at what I had noted. Some of the quotes were ridiculous, but some were just as good the second time around. Anyway...

I already have lots and lots of underlines passages from my current book, so I figured I'd share some and inspire you to maybe read this book...even if it is from the library.

"You should never give yourself a chance to fall apart because, when you do, it becomes a tendency and it happens over and over again. You must practice staying strong, instead."

"Yoga is about self-mastery and the dedicated effort to haul your attention away from your endless brooding over the past and your nonstop worrying about the future so that you can seek, instead, a place of eternal presence from which yo may regard yourself and your surroundings with poise."

"You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in this moment."

"I'd asked him not to get in tough with me while I was traveling, knowing that my attachment to him was so strong it would be impossible for me to focus on my journey if I were also tracking his."

"I think you are free to search for any metaphor whatsoever which will take you across the worldly divide whenever you need to be transported or comforted .. you take whatever works from wherever you can find it."

"She's got that fierce old lady vibe you see sometimes..."

"I love children, but what if I don't have any? What kind of person does that make me?"

"We must get our hearts broken sometimes. This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something."