Have you read this? You should read it. I mean it, really. now.

In fact, I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love. I lied. To quite a few people. What I did do however, was listen to it on tape - in my car, my house, my studio, for two blissful weeks between school, chores, trips and food shopping. I wanted to read it, so I went to Bath Central Library to pick it up a few weeks ago but all they had was the audio version. The wonderful thing was that the audio version was read by Elizabeth Gilbert and so the voice on the page came to life and the tone, the expressions, the nuances of the written word were exactly as intended. What a treat!

Now, I am not a successful journalist/novelist, and neither have I just left a marriage, and nor do I live in Manhattan (oh, I wish!) but there are some basic similarities in my 'new chapter' to EG's 'new chapter' (the details of which I will spare you). What is plain to me is that I am in a true period of transition and growth, and that this is firstly, hugely exciting but secondly, absolutely terrifying. Reading books like this helps enormously, and creates a perspective within which the challenges and confusion begin to make sense.

What Elizabeth Gilbert manages to do (and my mum and sister can attest to this as they really have read it since) is to be both firmly rooted in what it is to be human, and confused, and making mistakes, and trying to correct those mistakes (both successfully and unsuccessfully) and searching for answers, and yet, also to be clear about what one really needs. There are successes, and moments of absolute clarity, which are inspiring to read (listen to) and through the voice of someone like Gilbert, those successes suddenly feel within reach.