Monday 11.16.2009 | 4:23 AM UTC

A Matter of Consequence: Le Petit Prince

I first read this charming little book in my native Spanish when I was about 6 years old, before I moved the States. I reread it in English a few years later, then again in French in high school. It’s likely the first and last book I’ll ever read in three languages

I read The Little Prince every few years to remind me that now and again, you gotta let your child-like wonder out of it’s post-modern prison and get you straight on a few things: Boas can in fact swallow elephants. Beauty is sad and and a matter of consequence. And flared overcoats with epaulets will always be cool. This book, along with Franny and Zooey, The Beatles, bourbon and cigarettes are the periodic salves I turn to when I feel compelled to throw myself out of a window.