Sunday, March 18, 2007

Know yourself

I had a five hour lay-over in Denver airport on the return flight from Anchorage and used much of the time to browse the bookstore. You won a free totebag with the purchase of three books and so I bought Tao Te ching (tranlation by Stephen Mitchell), White Teeth by Zadie Smith, and Amsterdam by Ian McEwan. I acquired An Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai and two baby books for my grandson on the flight up. The portraits of The Sopranos by Annie Liebowitz in the new Vanity Fair magazine caused me to rid myself of some American money as well. I loved the Proust Questionaire of journalist Helen Thomas on VF's back page.

Sample questions and her answers:
Q What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A Fulfillment of personal goals and dreams. A lasting love.
Q What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
A Silence - when words were needed.
Q What is your motto?
A Know when you are happy, Know yourself. Know your enemy. Ask not for whom the bell tolls.

2 comments:

Karoda said...

I love Zadie Smith's writing style...White Teeth kept me in tears from laughing with its very dry ironic humour. I'd like to know what you think of the book.

Nellie's Needles said...

I want to know and see more of "Metaphysical Thinking". I checked out the postings in the label for it and am most intriqued.