Beijing is a relatively dry city so street vendors abound. Selling ceramic coffee cups, Communist propaganda posters, toothbrush holders shaped like Hello Kitty and everything in between, I can browse, haggle and buy to my consumer heart's content. And this heart has a weakness for books.
Thankfully some book vendors have a few English language titles in their bicycle-drawn carts. Despite having two unread books from my previous book cart binge, I bypassed Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series and Barack Obama biographies and picked up three books. Today's loot: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (read it many times but gave my old copy to a co-worker), What Would Machiavelli Do? by Stanley Bing and delightfully trashy chick lit Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Three books for 28 RMB. A fair price? At least it's cheaper than The Bookworm's wares.
I remember a time when Eat, Pray, Love was the book to read in New York. Subway cars were lined with women clutching the overhead railing with one hand and a paperback copy of that book in another. Recommended to me by a particularly sensitive masseuse during a wine-and-spa weekend in Sonoma, this bestseller helped galvanize me into making some life-changing decisions, one of which led me here.
WOW. Two things I didn't know before! 1) I didn't know you took a wine and spa weekend to Sonoma. When did you come? 2) I had no idea Eat, Pray, Love had that effect on you. That is so interesting. Way to go for following inspiration. That's really cool. I totally admire your commitment to seeing your adventurousness through. I read the book, but didn't have the same reaction. I thought it was interesting, though.
ReplyDeleteI was in Sonoma in October 2007. I remember having a surprisingly intense conversation with my masseuse Jula about being at a crossroads in our lives. Something about being totally relaxed that made me so open about the details of my life with a stranger -- anyway, she recommended this book as I was leaving the spa. So grateful for her recommendation.
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