Eat, Pray, Love and River Town

I’m newly obsessed with reading travel books. After visiting China twice, I accidentally ran across River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.), a book chronicling Peter Hessler’s two years as a teacher in Fuling, China. River Town is quite possibly the best travel book I’ve ever read, in part because I can relate to many of Hessler’s personal triumphs in learning the Chinese language and partly because he’s a brilliant writer. I literally can’t wait to read the next chapter of the book. There’s a lot to be learned about experiencing Chinese culture as an outsider between the covers of River Town. Next on my list is the audiobook version of Eat, Pray, Love, which chronicles Elisabeth Gilbert’s year long travels across Italy, India, and Indonesia. Gilbert’s quest for self discovery is intriguing in her approach. Coincidentally, I’m finding out that Elizabeth Gilbert is also sharing her story on Oprah, which scares me a little because I generally don’t agree with Oprah’s taste in books.