On My List

In an interview in today's Times, the celebrated Turkish author Orhan Pamuk thinks every president should read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I'll pick it up at the library this afternoon. Here is the Amazon summary:

One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.

Looks interesting.


Update
G-Lo weighs in on Orhan Pamuk:

A note about Orhan Pamuk -- I've read Snow a couple of times for the Star Island book group and "Museum of Innocence" for the library book group, and I've just read "Birds Without Wings" for a narrative of the rise of the Turkish Republic.