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.