Artist Elizabeth Gilbert

Long before Elizabeth Gilbert’s mega-selling Eat, Pray, Love inspired women hither and yon to dream of ditching their loveless marriages and set sail for parts unknown, Gilbert had carved out a successful career as a novelist and award-winning magazine writer. So despite any current backlash, she’s an undeniably skillful writer. Gilbert’s latest, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage, picks up where Eat left off—with her and her new beau, Felipe, having to make a choice between getting married or never having the opportunity to return to the U.S. again. Since they’d both sworn off another union, the book explores how they learn to exist within an institution that most people spend far less than 300 pages wringing their hands about.  

Updated 01/18/2010