The opposite of fate : a book of musings / Amy Tan.

Fate and faith: CliffsNotes version of my life -- How we knew -- Question of fate -- Faith -- Changing the past: Last week -- My grandmother's choice -- Thinly disguised memoir -- Persona errata -- Scent -- American circumstances and Chinese character: Fish cheeks -- dangerous advice -- Midlife confidential -- Arrival banquet -- Joy luck and Hollywood -- Strong winds, strong influences: What she meant -- Confessions -- Pretty beyond belief -- Most hateful words -- My love affair with Vladimir Nabokov -- Luck, chance, and a charmed life: Inferior decorating -- Room with a view, new kitchen, and ghosts -- Retreat to reality -- My hair, my face, my nails -- Ghosts of my imagination -- Choice of words: What the library means to me -- Mother tongue -- Language of discretion -- Five writing tips -- Required reading and other dangerous subjects -- Angst and the second book -- Best stories -- Hope: What I would remember -- To complain is American -- Opposite of fate.

Born into a family who believed in fate, Amy Tan has always looked for alternative ways to make sense of the world. And now, in The Opposite of Fate, her first book of non-fiction she shares her thoughts on how she escaped the expectations and curses of her past, and created her own destiny.