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BOOK OF THE DAY: “The Telling Room. A tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the W…

Jul 30, 2013

BOOK OF THE DAY: "The Telling Room. A tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese".

OK, who's looking for a WONDERFUL book?

Can I please highly recommend this one? My dear friend Michael Paterniti (with whom I used to work at GQ Magazine) has just published this beautiful, elegiac, wandering, passionate memoir which is about…well…Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese.

I think Michael is one of the best writer's we've got in American at the moment, and I would read anything he wrote. But I would especially read this book, which is about is about obsession, which is one of my favorite subjects in the world. It's also about food, about grace, about dreams, about family, about history, about the stubborn ways in which a few people in the world absolutely refuse to accept modernity.

After I read it, I wanted to move to Spain.

That's all I'm saying.

Except that it comes HIGHLY recommended!

With love,
Liz


The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese
www.amazon.com
In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as “the telling room.” Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for cen…

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

Dear Ones — I’ve always loved this line (“If you run, you’re a runner”) which…

Jul 30, 2013

Dear Ones —

I've always loved this line ("If you run, you're a runner") which brings me a particular encouragement because I am a person who "runs". Which is to say — I always put it in air quotes. I tend to talk down my "running" because I don't run very far, or very fast, or very often, or very gracefully…but I do run, dammit. I have for years. And this quote has given me permission to hold up my head and just say it: I'm a runner. Doesn't matter that I'm not an Olympian. I'm doing it, period. And that counts for MUCH.

This line of thinking works for other things, too. Other things in which it does not matter how far, how fast, how big. Let's try a few:

If you write, you're a writer.

If travel (even close distances), you're a traveler.

If you read, you're a reader.

If you're showing someone how to do something, you're a teacher.

If you plant stuff, you're a gardener.

If you're making art, you're an artist.

If you dance, you're a dancer.

If you sing, you're a singer.

If you're doing amateur exploratory surgery on your friend's cranium, you're a brain surgeon. (OK, so maybe it doesn't work for EVERYTHING…)

But still, basically, whatever you're doing, that's where it's at.

So do it proudly, whatever it is. Remove the air quotes and the self-effacing tone. Use the noun. Own it. Call yourself what you are. Doesn't matter the result. Don't let anyone bully or shame you out of using these big brave words — runner, writer, artist, cook, teacher, gardener, singer, dancer — least of all yourself.

Now this runner is going outside to RUN. It's a beautiful morning for it…

DO YOUR THING,

Love,
Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall