and now for the distaff side: Elizabeth Gilbert's new book

Last week we didn't envy Elizabeth Gilbert's ex-husband Michael Cooper (see, I told you this is how the poor guy would be doomed to be referenced) for the challenges of writing a memoir that seems likely to touch on the breakup of his marriage with Gilbert.

This week we're not envying Elizabeth Gilbert for having to produce a sequel for the eager readers of Eat, Pray, Love.

The best-selling magic of Eat, Pray, Love was the right story in the hands of the right writer, Gilbert's disarmingly frank, funny voice married to a story of ultimate fantasy wish-fulfillment: how I got to leave my old life behind, eat everything I wanted (Italy), find spiritual peace (India), and acquire a gorgeous lover who wanted nothing from me but to give me pleasure.

Now your publisher and your readers want you to make the magic all over again.  What do you do?  It's not like you can write  Eat, Pray, Love:II.   Apparently, Gilbert discovered that the hard way, "completely scrapping a 500-page follow-up," according to this NYT story.  That would put your spiritual peace to the test.

In the end, the book she's come up with, according to the NYT, is “Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage,” ... a memoir of a tumultuous year that came 18 months after “Eat, Pray, Love” leaves off, as well as a meditation on wedlock."

The NYT story goes on to note:

Given the phenomenal paperback success of “Eat, Pray, Love” — it spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list and has remained on the list — the new title will be watched closely by fans and publishing insiders to see if Ms. Gilbert has lasting power.

Or, to put it another way, can she make bestseller magic all over again?  That's a mighty tough standard for "staying power."