Committed...

Before Oprah discovered Eat, Pray, Love, I read it and sold a few hundred copies of it in the store. My hardcover copy is covered in highlighter and underlines on almost every page. I think that Elizabeth Gilbert is a wise and witty writer.

SO I was very delighted to receive an advanced copy of her new book, Committed, in December. I have now passed that onto my brother and his fiancee so they can read it while they ready themselves for their commitment. I could relate to Gilbert's continued story in her new book because I went through similar immigration hassles when I met my husband in Ghana, Africa. Overall I found the book to have some extremely good advice for being in a marriage. My favorites are 1) when tensions are just beginning to rise in any given situation say to your spouse: "Let's just be careful right now" so that you can rein in your emotions and hopefully bring lightness back to the situation 2) page109, start of second paragraph is the most sensible advice for how to avoid an affair.

I think this is a valuable book whether you've been married for 20 years or will be next week. My only criticism is that it felt a little too long and bogged down in the history of marriage BUT this history was important to show how many expectations we place on our spouses and how this could really be the thing biting us in the end. - Bronwyn