While uncovering a bookshelf and rearranging things in front of it, I found "The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt" by Cecily Mackworth. Isabelle Eberhardt was a complicated young (she died in 1904 at age 27) woman writer, daughter of a Russian nihilist pope of the Eastern church, who grew up in Geneva dressing in North African male attire. She escaped to Algeria, or maybe headed there on her quest. Converted to Islam, wrote, rode in the desert, was initiated into a Sufi confraternity, married an Algerian soldier, died in a flash flood.

When I reshelved the book, I discovered Cecily Mackworth's memoir "Ends of the World" which, among other things, explained how she came to discover and become fascinated by Isabelle Eberhardt.

So...I spent a couple weeks mostly in the Algerian desert. Then I picked up "Eat, Pray, Love" which I had recently acquired at a yardsale. Wow. I don't usually read best sellers or popular books when others are reading them -- usually well before they become popular or after everyone else has forgotten about them. I don't understand how a film can be made from this book -- other than showing some nice scenery in Italy, India and Bali. There's no PLOT; it's Elizabeth Gilbert's spiritual quest to rebuild her Self after a devastating divorce and complete rethinking of what she wanted in life. This is book material -- not movie material. It can only come across as completely shallow in a movie.

Linn