Just What the Doctor Ordered

I've been sick with a cold this week, so I'm spending my days napping, drinking tea, and watching movies. A Day at the Races is in heavy rotation. A friend gave it to me for Christmas and it never fails to make me laugh.

"You must forgive him. He doesn't spell very well." It kills me every time.

What I'm Reading: Harpo Speaks!

"It's my favorite book" my friend said.  "Just read it.  Trust me, you'll love it."  As she handed her copy to me, an index card that said "My favorite book" fell out of it.  So I borrowed Harpo Speaks!, and now it's one of my favorite books, too.

I've tried to explain in detail to people exactly why it's such a wonderful book, and I've failed every time.  So I will simply say that every page of Harpo Speaks! is laugh-out-loud funny, and that Harpo Marx was that rare individual who had the wisdom to appreciate and enjoy things as they were happening to him, not just in rose-colored retrospect.  Somehow, even an impoverished childhood in Brooklyn in the early 1900s seems like an amazing adventure when Harpo tells it.  And I suppose to him it was.

Plus, as a bonus, I got to walk around for a few days saying "Exapno Mapcase" at frequent intervals.   I think it got on my cat's nerves a little.

Poster for Harpo's 1933 tour of the USSR.  Harpo decided that his name in cyrillic looked like "Exapno Mapcase."

Just read the book.  Trust me, you'll love it.


 

Words of Wisdom: Harpo Marx

I don't know if my life has been a success or a failure.  But not having any anxiety about becoming one instead of the other, and just taking things as they came along, I've had a lot of extra time to enjoy life.