I did not really think I would like this book as much as I did, but once I started it, I read it in just 2 nights. Mostly I was jealous of the author. As a successful writer, and even after a financially disastrous divorce, she was able to take 1 year to go to 3 places and look into things for herself. Her writing style in very engaging, and she is unafraid to delve into the heart of the matter she was dealing with. In Italy she eats, and eats, and eats. With no thought to weight gain, she just eats. Her descriptions of the food make you just wish you were there, eating whatever she is eating. She also wants to learn Italian, just because she always wanted to. Of course she also meets people ( it does seem her primary focus is on the eating, she also had a rather heart-breaking love-affair on the heels of the divorce. She just fills her heart with food of the real kind, as a healing agent.) Then it is off to India to be in real-life ashram.(she had met a guru, while she was with her lover) This part seems like it could be really cheesy, but her candor and honestly about the experience come through, and it gave me insights into what undertaking that experience could be like. For the last part she goes to Bali, again to study with someone, an old medicine man (who she also met when she was with her lover), the Bali part of the story is filled with people she meets and hangs out with. This part gathers up the insights from her previous experiences, it is filled with wonderfully descripive anecdotes and insights. I like to read memoirs and travel books, and I would count this as one of my favorites.
