It was when she got to San Diego, of all places, that Elizabeth Gilbert realized everything had changed. She had left home as the author of a reasonably successful, year-old memoir titled “Eat, Pray, Love,” a first-person fusion of travelogue, confessional, and self-help manual, tracing her post-divorce journeys to Italy, India and Indonesia. On tour to promote the book’s paperback release, Gilbert recalls, she’d been speaking to audiences of “10, 15, 20 people.”
Now, heading to yet another appearance, she saw “people like three deep wrapped around the block.” Gilbert was confused: “I said to the driver, ‘what’s going on tonight in San Diego? Is there some kind of a concert or show?’ And he said, ‘No,…