Current Quandary

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing author Elizabeth Gilbert speak at the opening night of the Drew Heinz Lecture Series here in Pittsburgh. Oddly enough, I’d had a hard time finding a friend willing to attend with me. I thought every woman had enjoyed  Eat Pray Love, her memoir of getting over a broken heart and nasty divorce by traveling to Italy, India and Indonesia, but several of my friends either hadn’t read it or found it “whiny.” (Whiny? Hello, she was desperately searching for salvation!) Fortunately, my fellow writer friend Carrie Kennedy loved the book as much as I did so we went together.

Ms. Gilbert was funny and self-deprecating and thoroughly down to earth. Even our nosebleed seats up in the overheated second balcony were enjoyable the moment she took the podium . We were the first audience to hear her read from her upcoming release Committed, her memoir about deciding to try marriage again (to the guy she met at the end of EPL).

As she finished taking questions, Carrie and I rushed down the four flights of stairs and got in line for autographs. The cherry on top of the evening was Carrie asking Ms. Gilbert if she could give her a copy of her just-published book on Greek & Roman mythology, Panorama, “because it’s my first book and I know you know how it feels.” (That’s the wonderful effect Elizabeth Gilbert has on people: you feel like kindred spirits. That, and she’s incredibly approachabe.) She graciously accepted — she didn’t even take Carrie up on her offer to mail it to her instead of having to lug it around on her book tour — and in fact comented on the beautiful cover design. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she drops Carrie a note later to say she read it on the airplane. That’s how lovely she was.

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Posted in Books, Writing