Archive for January, 2007
How’s this for a New Year resolution?
Ben Okri’s 10½ Inclinations
There is a secret trail of books meant to inspire and enlighten you. Find that trail.
Read outside your own nation, colour, class, gender.
Read the books your parents hate.
Read the books your parents love.
Have one or two authors that are important, that speak to you; and make their works your secret passion.
Read widely, for fun, stimulation, escape.
Don’t read what everyone else is reading. Check them out later, cautiously.
Read what you’re not supposed to read.
Read for your own liberation and mental freedom.
Books are like mirrors. Don’t just read the words. Go into the mirror.That is where the real secrets are. Inside. Behind. That’s where the gods dream, where our realities are born.
10½) Read the world. It is the most mysterious book of all.
© Ben Okri 2006. All rights reserved.
Did you know?
Some of the most popular books almost had different titles! Here’s some of them:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Original Title: First Impressions
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Original Title (s): Mag’s Diversions, The Copperfield Disclosures, The Copperfield Records, The Copperfield Survey of the World as it Rolled, Copperfield Complete
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Original Title: Alice’s Adventures Underground
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Original Title: The Sea-Cook
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Original Title: Catch 18
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
Original Title: Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament
