Asking a man to read the best selling book "Eat Pray Love" is as cruel as forcing a eunuch to read the Kama Sutra. Honestly, I had the book like 20 months ago but somehow I havent got the time (as an excuse) to even read through the first chapter. I even bought the DVD, it's movie adaptation and tried to watch it but somehow fell asleep with only barely 15 minutes after I switched on the play button. Not even Julia Roberts, my favourite actress could convince the man in me that it is a book worth reading on a personal memoir about the existential problems of a woman suffering from midlife crisis. I must be a normal MCP because the audience for "Eat Pray Love" was 72% female on its opening weekend. My source: BoxOfficeGuru.com. (maybe the other 28% which made up of men who went to watch the movie were either drugged or threathened with something by their wives or girlfriends)
But when I picked up the book by comedy writer Andrew Gottlieb which penned a male alternative to Gilbert's 2006 memoir, titled "Drink Play F@#k" somehow it clicked and I could relate. I actually finished reading it in a week which you can say is a record time as I usually take time reading 3 to 4 different books at the same time. I have to say that the book is a more masculine version that probably took a complete satirical parody of Eat Pray Love. The book tracks the fictional trip of Bob Sullivan, who journeyed across the world after his marriage of eight years fell apart until he rebounced and met a new love of his life Alicia. I could have sworn that I thought at first the book was a personal memoir only to realise it was fictional after the author's name on the front cover is not Bob Sullivan. I would give a thumbs up on the book. I quite like the anecdotal advice on the last chapter of the book on how one can be happy. True to life, we do have choices whether to be happy or sad but the best starting point to be happy is to keep our life as simple as possible and Not to complicate things like having endless sexual orgies or drinking parties. okay, being a man, I wont lie. I do have thoughts if the Peter character in the book can be real especially the chapter where Bob met Peter at the "Cove" somewhere in Phuket where the latter chartered a luxury boat manned or rather womanned by only sex hungry curvacious women crew and set sail into the tropical ocean!
At the final chapter Bob makes a list of what makes him happy and his cant be the same as ours as to make you or me happy is something very individual. I do have my own list:
1. When my wife and kids whisper to my ears "i love you"
2. When I birdie a golf hole
3. Sipping freshly brewed coffee
4. When my daughters come to me seeking fatherly advice
5. clearing my Visa card bill
6. Making others happy, like approving leave of my staff and giving them suprise birthday gifts and cakes
7. Getting a surprise call from people I consider good friends asking how am I doing
8. Hanging out at weekends with my siblings (which I have been missing since we moved)
9. Visiting mum and dad which I also have not done since December last year:-(
10. Sitting on my Osim massage chair reading good books
There are a few more but since today is saturday, my golf weekend and it is already 530 am, I will stop for now. I am trying to make myself happy by trying to hit some birdies which incidentally is number 2 of my list...bye:-)
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