For the Book Lovers

I have recently read some fabulous books that I highly recommend:
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

I really enjoyed this book! It was well-written and very interesting. The author decides to spend a year of traveling and just focusing on her sekf after she goes through a divorce. So, she she spends 4 months in Italy (eat) where she focuses on pleasure (which in this case is the pleasure of food), then India (pray) where she stays at an ashram with a native guru and focuses on her spiritual explorations, and in Bali (love), she focuses on putting all that she has learned together; the art of balance...putting together worldly desires and spiritual health. She becomes friends with a elderly medicine man who helps her with this.


In the Time of Butterflies -Julia Alvarez

This story takes place in Dominican Republic from 1938 to 1994 and follows the lives of four sisters, three of which were assassinated during the rule of Rafael Trujillo. Each sister is the narrator of a chapter, which I find an interesting way to tell a story, you get to hear different sides. The story made me cry but was interesting to learn about a country's history that you do not hear too much about in school.

Snowflower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

The book takes place in 19th-century China, when women were foot-bound and were very secluded. A lady nearing the end of her life is looking back and telling the story about her and her "old sames" (laotongs) and the nu shu writing (a secret women's writing). The foot-binding chapters were a little hard to read (I couldn't imagine the pain) but the story was really good! I loved the characters and the authors style.

Right now I am reading The Blind Assassin (by Margaret Atwood) and Three Cups of Tea (By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin). I am really enjoying both of them. The first one is a piece of fiction and the second is a non-fiction about a man who is building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan (to promote peace through education). I love the books title, which is taken from a proverb: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family..."