Eat...Pray...Love...over Italian with a little wine

Sara, Sheri, Charlotte and I met at Mandola's Italian restaurant, located in The Triangle apartments. We finally made it even though my gmap directions put me up near Anderson Ln and Charlotte's GPS steered her in the wrong direction. Regrets -for Amanda, Amy and Theresa. We missed you ladies.
The book was well liked up through the "Eat" portion. After that some of us felt that she got a bit too internal. Really, how many times can you "find yourself" in one book? After reading this book you should be able to answer questions like- Prayer and meditation are both things that can be learned and importantly improved. In India, Gilbert learns a stoic, ascetic mediation technique. In Bali, she learns an approach based on smiling. Do you think the two can be synergistic? Or is Ketut Liyer right when he describes them as "same-same"?
Well, I don't know about all that but I was smiling when I had my very yummy vegetable soup and delicious bread and that sure made me feel good all over.
Sara told us her mother's bookclub (which is obviously much bigger than ours) has both young and mature members. The more mature (never call a woman "old") really enjoyed the book while the younger members felt Gilbert spent too much time talking about herself. I guess since the book is about her adventures she has to talk about herself but I think they mean she talks about how she felt too often and less about what she was experiencing.
Beyond the book, we caught up on Sara's wedding, Sheri's new house and me possibly having found a new(new to me, at least) house. The food was good and we were all amazed at the number of restaurants in that area. We are thinking Galaxy Cafe next time! But, that will be Theresa's decision because we will be reviewing her book, next.
Next meeting come prepared to discuss (at least for a few moments) Pillars of the Earth.