How to Hepburn
Lessons on Living from Kate the Great
By Karen Karbo (Bloomsbury, $19.95)
Author Karen Karbo marks what would have been Katharine Hepburn’s 100th birthday (May 12) with this biography/rulebook/tribute. Readers will learn how to live like the strong-willed, pants-wearing, haughty-accented actress.
1. “Find yourself fascinating. View your qualities and quirks, your challenges and achievements, with real interest.” In other words, appreciate yourself.
2. Be physically active your entire life. Hepburn swam, golfed and played tennis, long before the days of expensive workout gear and aerobics. She was slim and gorgeous and she lived a long, long life.
3. “Say what you think.” If you constantly tailor your thoughts to the person you’re speaking with because you’re worried about what he/she will think, you’ll eventually lose touch with what you feel and who you truly are.
4. “Be frugal.” Because her dad managed her money and gave her an allowance well into her 50s, Hepburn never had to take work she didn’t want.
5. “Find the type of clothes you feel best in and never take them off.” Discover your own style, then enjoy it.
