Deborah Batterman is the author of the short story collection, Shoes Hair Nails.At Flashlight Worthy, she came up with a list of quality books with three word titles. Her pitch for these titles:
Book titles that cut to the chase with three simple words are easy to remember, not just for their brevity; they have an archetypal undercurrent reminding us of beginning, middle end; dawn, noon, and dusk; the three phases of the moon.The last book on Batterman's list:
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and IndonesiaRead about the other books on Batterman's list.
by Elizabeth GilbertThere's some symmetry here, I admit, in opening and closing the list with books by women who found themselves falling off a cliff, so to speak, into a life more spiritual. It's never an easy, straightforward path, and Gilbert underscores the triad of her title with an explanation, in the introduction, of the number three as representing 'supreme balance'; within the threefold structure she has deliberately incorporated 108 tales (36 times 3), symbolic of the traditional Indian japa mala necklace, strung with 108 beads.
Gilbert's memoir, of course, became a runaway best seller and movie, which speaks to the appeal of stories that manage to incorporate romance and spirit. Those critical of the book want more, I daresay, of the kind of wisdom issuing from Miller's book. Those who admit to loving it clearly understand that the courage it takes to see things for what they, rather than what we'd like them to be. One clear message echoing through both books: when the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Visit Deborah Batterman's blog.
Read--Coffee with a Canine: Deborah Batterman & Maggie.
Writers Read: Deborah Batterman.
--Marshal Zeringue
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