The other day I was getting lunch in the cafeteria when I stepped in line behind a kid with a really odd haircut. It was sort of like a short Mohawk, with a long tail at the nape of his neck, part of which was braided, and part of which was wrapped in red and yellow thread.
Kids these days, I thought. They'll wear their hair in any crazy style just to get attention.
And then he turned around and I realized that he was a 40-something Penobscot Indian.
I mean, way to honor and preserve your traditional heritage . . . sir.
It's at times like this that I'm grateful that I don't always say everything that comes into my head.
I was thinking the other day about books which have the same name (or very similar names) but which are on completely different subjects. For fun, I've compiled a quiz with clues about six such pairs of literary works. Your job is to provide name of the books (or names, if they're slightly different) and the authors.
1. Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself transformed into an insect.
vs.
The history of the world, from the perspective of Greek and Roman mythology.
2. A strange man wrapped entirely in bandages arrives at an inn in West Sussex.
vs.
“I live rent-free in a building rented strictly to whites, in a section of the basement that was shut off and forgotten during the nineteenth century.”
3. Edna Pontellier, wife of a New Orleans business man, finds herself falling in love for the first time with a young man she meets at a summer resort.
vs.
Victims of a sleeping sickness epidemic regain consciousness when treated with the drug L-DOPA.
4. Guy Crouchback joins the British army in World War II.
vs.
Edward d'Eath attempts to find the lost heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork.
5. The third book in the Dark Tower series.
vs.
"April is the cruellest month."
6. A 17th century argument for a social contract and an absolute sovereign.
vs.
The FBI investigates the suspicious death of Benjamin Sachs.
