Some recommendations for Franco’s ‘in flight’ reading
If Franco has another four nights in parliament, perhaps he would consider taking in one of these each time.
They are in the same class of ‘image book to be read, talked about and carried in public’ as The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and all five are seriously out of date.
Most of us grow out of this kind of thing by 19 (and worry if we haven’t).
Also at the age of 19, most of us smart girls began moving away from the kind of man who was still reading this kind of book. We knew that when a man was still reading this sort of thing at that age (and being impressed by it), then he was going to be reading it for life and we’d eventually outgrow him.
Imagine then, what sort of man starts reading this sort of book in his 30s.
Schools and homes which promote and glorify nerdiness should be banned. All they do is postpone adolescent rebellion. And then the problems of rebellion, instead of being inflicted on their proper subject – the parents – are inflicted on society or the nation, depending what position the middle-aged person holds.
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Not The Little Prince though.
[Daphne – Not in terms of content, no. But as a ‘membership of the special outsiders club’ book, then yes. Probably not in your time, but certainly in mine.]
Read the first comment posted here
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120124/local/government-stocks-issue-announced.403711
“Mark. Galea
Today, 14:56
Hope that the LP supporters do NOT buy any of the above stock … ”
Unbelievable!
TOM confirms that the PL’s electoral program is far from ready.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120124/local/pl-posts-confirmed.403720
“University lecturer Carmen Sammut was appointed to chair the IDEAT Foundation, a think tank affiliated to the party. She succeeds Aaron Farrugia, who is working on the PL’s electoral programme.”
Bhal sidu, (Il-prattikament prim ministru) Dr Aaron ghandu il vizzju li jkun daqsxejn ….tardi?
Meta cempilt lil Carmen Sammut fuq il-programm li kellha nhar ta’ Sibt fuq l-RTK u ghidtilha li hi tahdem fi hdan il-Partit Laburista kienet hadet ghaliha.
Fair choice of books (espescially Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) but I didn’t know you were a literary critic too Daphne.
Any aspiring politician should read ‘The Prince’ by Niccolo Machiavelli.
[Daphne – People with brains and insight don’t need to read The Prince because they can work these things out for themselves. And those without brains or insight read The Prince to no avail. People who read are not necessarily literary critics. But they do tend to be people who know about books.]
If people need to read The Prince to be aspiring politicians, then I weep for this country.
Maltese politics remind me more of “Catch 22” than of “The Prince”.
My recommendation for Franco Debono is to read “The Song of the bird” by Anthony De Mello SJ (That’s a Jesuit,yes).
Its not a BIG book , but it’s a GREAT book.
It’s here in PDF:
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/songofbird.pdf
Here’s a fitting ‘story’:
DROPPING THE ‘I’
Disciple: I have come to offer you my service.
Master: If you dropped the ‘I’ service would certainly follow.
You could give all your goods to feed the poor and your body to be burnt and not have love at all.
Keep your goods and drop the ‘I’. Don’t burn your body; burn the ego. Love will instantly arise.
who told you that you have brains!!? I find you completely insane lol!!!!!!!
Qabel accetawk fil-partit taghna ghamlulek xi tip ta test tal-mohh lilek?
[Daphne – Minhiex f’ebda partit, hanini. U lanqas klabb tal-festi jew xi klabb tal-banda.]
Ghax nahseb kieku ma konniex indahhluk fil-PN ghax vera kreatura tal-misthija inti. Lanqas haqq il-mibeghda li qed tizra fin-nies jahasra. Niddejjaq nghajjar lin-nies imma nahseb dik mhux tghajjira meta jghidulek is-sahhara tal-Bidnija. Ghax vera m’intiex normali.
[Daphne – ‘Indahhluk fil-Pn’. Sigh. Beetlespeak.]
Hilarious sense of creativity Daphne.
Oh what shame you put us through. I thought if I got a real job I would be allowed my pre-adolescent musings. I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull at the very least yearly, still enjoy video games and gives my daughter lego as an excuse for me to play with it.
Boys will be boys I suppose. Then again, even though I don’t hide that fact I wouldn’t flaunt it either (apart from publishing it here for everyone on internet to see of course).
While I would not read this Tibetan Death Book (and have struggled to make any sense of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat and gave up on it very quickly), I am against setting an age limit at which certain books may be read. In fact, I think it is wise to take one’s time and wait with some of the classics.
[Daphne – How can you set an age limit on books? I thought you were a lawyer.]