In Memoriam

Our place for remembering those whose lives have touched us, especially those whose writing has impacted us.

I haven't read her, myself, but I know many LTers have. RIP, MC Beaton:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-50974575

Profoundly sad to learn of Mike Resnick's passing today. He was 77. What a legacy he leaves us!

Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation, died earlier this week of breast cancer.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/07/elizabeth-wurtzel-journalist-and-a...

Another loss: John Brownjohn, translator of the Auntie Poldi Sicily-set mysteries and The Swiss, The Gold, and the Dead (an excellent book!) from the German, died today at 90.

So did Edd Byrnes, but that's really got nothin' ta do wit' books.

>4 PawsforThought: what- I hadn't heard! She seems so young...

>44 richardderus: Yeah, she was only in her early 50s.

Hugo Award-winning science fiction author Mike Resnick has died aged 77.

https://www.sfwa.org/2020/01/in-memoriam-mike-resnick/

Man I'm bummed. One of the greatest rock drummers ever has died, and he wrote some pretty great sci fi lyrics for the songs too. Will miss you Neil Peart https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51072190 His book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road was an interesting read.

The last of Tolkien's sons, Christopher, has died at 95.

>10 richardderus: I just saw that. Not surprising considering his age, but sad nonetheless. Christopher Tolkien did an incredible job of managing his father's estate and brining his stories to the world.

>10 richardderus: Tor's article about it: https://www.tor.com/2020/01/16/christopher-tolkien-architect-of-j-r-r-tolkiens-m...

>10 richardderus: & >12 ronincats:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-tolkiens-son-christopher-dies-...

His Lord of the Rings trilogy defined my reading as a teenager and a lot of that was enabled by the son's hard work.

Terry Jones, a founder of Monty Python's Flying Circus, has died at 77.

RIP Terry.

>14 richardderus: Alas.

Jim Lehrer, author, journalist, and broadcaster, is dead at 85.

Sometimes life just hands you facts that make you go "huh!"; it seems odd to me that Christopher Tolkien was 10 years older than Jim Lehrer.

>18 laytonwoman3rd: Should there be an "only" in there? I feel like CT should have been a lot more older than JL than that.

>19 lycomayflower: No...see...I envision Christopher as a much younger man. I realize that's not logical, upon giving it some thought. It's just that I never did before.

Just saw that Mary Higgins Clark passed away today at age 92. I saw this on her FB page. It was said to be due to complications of old age.

>21 lindapanzo: Very very sad indeed. A daughter and a daughter-in-law continue her tradition. Obituary linked.

Alice Mayhew, whose development of All the President's Men helped unseat Nixon, has died at 87. She worked with innumerable non-fiction monadnocks in a forty-five year career at Simon & Schuster.

She also left detail work to inexperienced subordinates whose errors of judgment or simple lack of knowledge led to Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose's plagiarism problems.

But she changed the world, on balance for the better, and should be remembered for it.

Sad to see the passing of Kirk Douglas at the dear old age of 103. I loved so many of his films especially The Vikings and Spartacus.

Kirk today I would like to say : I'M SPARTACUS!

I remember also reading his Last Tango in Brooklyn many moons ago and liking it. Rest in Peace a great actor and by all accounts a decent man.

>25 Caroline_McElwee: So many amazing cinema memories of Kirk, not least as my dear dead friend Vincent Van Gogh!

And what a fine man he was, still serving meals on Christmas day to the homeless, until very recently.

>25 Caroline_McElwee: I had not seen that yet. It seems like the end of an era, doesn't it?

>24 PaulCranswick: by all accounts a decent man is an audacious thing to say generally and is almost always untrue, including in this case. I would suggest ending that sentence with "Rest in Peace a great actor." or "Rest in Peace a great actor who did many great things."

>27 norabelle414: I don't mind being corrected Nora, but I was referring to his record as a philanthropist and as a giver to the poor. I'm quite sure that he was flawed as we all are but perhaps today wasn't the best day to raise his flaws.

>28 PaulCranswick: That's why I like the phrasing "...who did many great things", an irrefutable fact, to replace an assertion that everyone who ever knew him thought he was "a decent man", which is false. I also don't see a need to raise his flaws today, but I also don't think its a good day to disrespect the memory of those who have gone before.

>29 norabelle414: I did say that I don't mind being corrected, Nora. Upon seeing your comment I researched and realised that he had been accused of Harvey Weinstein type behaviour some 70 years earlier by a now deceased then starlet who went on to be more than a little famous herself. He was never charged with anything and I knew nothing about the allegations when I made my earlier post. I did, like Caroline, recently see celebrations of his life wherein he was serving food to the underprivileged and was thinking of that.

Roger Kahn, notable baseball author, including one of the top-rated baseball books of all time, The Boys of Summer has passed away at the age of 92.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/02/07/roger-kahn-death-boys-of-summer-dodgers

>31 lindapanzo: Sad news indeed. Joe & Marilyn: A Memory of Love was a favorite read of mine in the 80s.

>31 lindapanzo: Oh, that's too bad.

Orson Bean died after being hit by a car while out for a walk. He was 91. His book Me and the Orgone did a lot to teach me not to fear therapy, if to be sure not to seek out Reichian therapy!

>34 richardderus: Hmmm....one of those people I would have assumed was gone from us long ago.

>35 laytonwoman3rd: Yep, me too. I read the obit thinking, "...wow...no idea he was even alive anymore..." which I guess is sad.

Actor, director Robert Conrad has died.

I loved Conrad's Wild, Wild West TV series, but he didn't, apparently. It was steampunk before we knew what that was. I had such a crush on him...

The Caribbean poet Kamau Brathwaite has died.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/05/edward-kamau-brathwaite-obituary

A leading light among rational religious people has died: George V. Coyne, S.J., author of the excellent Wayfarers in the Cosmos and A Comprehensible Universe as well as Jesuit priest, was the Vatican Astronomer, professor of Astrophysics at the University of Arizona, and the one religious professional (that I'm aware of) respected by Bill Maher. He was 87 and we need him now more than ever.

Barbara Remington, illustrator of the iconic Ballantine paperback editions of Lord of the Rings, died at 90 of breast cancer.



This was the first version I owned, the ones that first came out in the US in 1965. Sadly, mine fell apart years ago, but I always loved these covers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/15/books/barbara-remington-dead.html?fbclid=IwAR...

Sad to report that Paul Newman's pal and Hemingway's leading cheer captain, A.E. Hotchner, has died at 102.

>42 richardderus: Awww...I'm very sorry to hear about Hotch.

>41 ronincats: Remington lived here in Northeastern PA for decades, and often exhibited her work in Scranton. She did a lot of illustration work for the Highlights for Children magazines, which are published in Honesdale, where my mom lives. She was well known for many things beyond the LOTR covers, and our local communities will miss having her around.

>43 laytonwoman3rd: No one can complain it was an early departure....

>43 laytonwoman3rd: Yeah...and dealing with aging relatives I know it may be more appropriate to celebrate his liberation than to mourn his loss.

>45 laytonwoman3rd: Considering his novel The Amazing Adventures of Aaron Broom was published in 2018, I'm sort of shocked I hadn't realized he was still alive.

>46 richardderus: Well, I knew he was around a few years ago, when he was one of the people featured in a documentary on Salinger, but that's the last I heard of him, I think. I didn't know about the novel. I do have his childhood memoirs on my shelf, unread. His bio of Hemingway was fascinating, and I think it was re-issued fairly recently.

>47 laytonwoman3rd: Hotchner's Hemingway in Love from just a couple years ago was worth the read. I've held onto my mom's copy of his Doris Day book which opened my eyes a long time ago.

>41 ronincats: That is how I will always remember them when everyone in college seemed to have a copy.

>48 RBeffa: He put together an interesting book about Sophia Loren too, mostly in an editorial capacity, since it was "in her own words" and those of a few close associates and family members.

Good goddesses! There must be a publishing bonanza in the Netherworld. Charles Portis, he of True Grit and The Dog of the South and Norwood fame, has died. He was 86.

>51 richardderus: aw bummer. I loved True Grit the book, and enjoyed the movie (remake).

I'll have to check out more of his works.

I’ve got my copy of True Grit all queued up.

>53 drneutron: enjoy.

Katherine Johnson, one of the main subjects of Hidden Figures, has died at 101.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-katherine-johnson-pioneering-nasa-...

>55 jessibud2: such an inspiring figure.

Not just sci-fi, Neil Peart's lyrics covered most aspects of the human condition and all in his own style. An inveterate reader and journal writer too as this entry from his blog will attest: http://www.neilpeart.net/index.php/book-club/current-issue/

A great writer he was not, but Clive Cussler filled many an hour for many a needy soul in his 88 years.

>58 richardderus: Sad to hear that - my mum has always loved his books.

>57 syllabub: Thank you for that

Charles Portis and Clive Cussler within a couple of days. Sad.

Loved True Grit but I read only one book by Cussler and probably won't read any more but his view of the war from the opposite side was interesting anyhow.

Freeman Dyson has died at 96. I wonder if he's finally in a Dyson sphere, or up a Dyson tree on a comet.

James Lipton author of An Exaltation of Larks and original host of "Inside the Actors Studio" died yesterday.

That is so very saddening to me.

>63 quondame:, >64 richardderus: - I had not realized he was 93! I loved his show, Inside the Actors Studio. I also own Exaltation of Larks. RIP, Sir.

Rosalind P. Walter has died at 95. If you've watched PBS shows, Great Performances and the like, in the past 60-plus years, you've seen her name. She was 95.

>66 richardderus: Wow...thank you for that, RD. I had no idea she was the inspiration for "Rosie the Riveter". My Aunt Jessie was one of those women...worked for Grumman in Terrytown, NY, while my Uncle was in the service during WWII.

What Shelley said about James Lipton. It took me a long time to realize that the James Lipton who wrote An Exaltation of Larks, a favorite book in my family for so many years, was him.

Vale Mart Crowley...your The Boys in the Band was pretty damned mean, very unenlightened, and bitter angry fun. No wonder it ran for 1,000 performances! Every Broadway queen had to see it to get some good barbed wit.

Funny that Miss Natalie Wood invited you to be among her nearest and dearest...the ones who passed the kindness test!...when to the world you were the waspiest queen in the hive. Eighty-four isn't young, but some people leave cavernous, unfillable holes whenever they go.

Legendary Swedish actor Max von Sydow has died. The Guardian has a pretty good obituary, although they totally garbled his last name (it's not pronounced anything even remotely close to "Suedorff", it's more like "(fonn) see-dovv").

>70 PawsforThought: thanks for the link. I liked von Sydow's work, tremendously, but disliked the pretentious-sounding critiques of the films in the "obit". No byline, figures.

>71 fuzzi: Agree that the tone isn't great - but at least it covered more of his work than a lot of other obits I've seen. The talk of him "keeping a straight face" is frankly bad - as far as I know, von Sydow playing the roles in more "ridiculous" films (flash Gordon, etc.) I'm a bit surprised (and, frankly, annoyed) that none of the English language obituaries I've read have mentioned him starring in The Apple War - written by Swedish comedy duo legendds Hasse Alfredsson (father of directors Daniel Alfredsson and Tomas Alfredsson) and Tage Danielsson and directed by Danielsson. It's a classic, and besides von Sydow and the two writers also stars half the Swedish acting scene.

The byline is at the top of the page - Ronald Bergan.

>72 PawsforThought: aha, there it is on the left...I kept looking in the middle for the author. Never assume.

Why couldn't the writer just write an obit without making snide comments about the films?

>73 fuzzi: Some people just can't let the world live without hearing their opinions, I guess.

I was lucky enough to see Max Von Sydow on stage in the The Tempest a decade or so ago. What a treat.

>74 PawsforThought: my mom used to say people like that "believe their own press notices".

I'm sorry Max is gone. He seemed to do an excellent job in most of his roles.

>75 Caroline_McElwee: Wow, that is very lucky.

>76 fuzzi: That's an excellent saying.

When giants like this die, I'm reminded of how many of their films I haven't seen and then my to watch-list grows even longer.

>77 PawsforThought: same can be said for when an author dies, the TBR stack gets taller.

>78 fuzzi: Oh, yeah - that's even worse, because books tend to take long to get through.

Betsy Byars passed away at the age of 91. Here's her NY Times obit.

I don't think I managed to read any of her books, but one of these days I should make it to the Newbery Award-winning The Summer of the Swans.

I don't know how many of y'all might've read It's Me, Eddie, that wickedly confessional bisexual slut's "novel"-but-not-really, but Eduard Limonov died of this virus thing recently. He was a full-bore life-grabber without an inhibition to speak of, and grandly entertaining to those not possessed of prim moralistic personalities.

Al Worden - Falling to Earth. Command Module Pilot on Apollo 15 passed yesterday. I met him and got is book signed at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey CA. Pretty much on the spot where the Command module was built in the 60's.

>82 mahsdad: That's wistful-making. Can't really be sad, he was quite old.
***
Michael Broadbent, author of the astoundingly informative and useful-to-aspiring-wine-snobs (me!) Wine Tasting, Enjoying, Understanding, has died. He was 92.

>82 mahsdad: What a wonderful momento.

Kenny Rogers has died at 81.

https://www.eonline.com/uk/news/1133180/dolly-parton-pays-tribute-to-beloved-fri...

>85 fuzzi: So glad we can keep that voice of his around.

>85 fuzzi: My husband told me about that earlier. I did not realize Rogers was in his 80s.

He looked frail all of a sudden too, I saw pictures of him from a few years ago and he wasn't much changed but his recent photos showed his age. Loved his song "She Believed in Me"

Playwright Terrence McNally (NPR obit) and art historian Maurice Berger (ArtNews obit) have both died of COVID-19 this week.

The co-creator of Asterix, Albert Uderzo, died yesterday (24th of March) at age 92.

>90 PawsforThought: aw.

>90 PawsforThought: >91 fuzzi: I know. I just recently read all of the Asterix books, and loved them to pieces.

Karen O.

>92 klobrien2: addendum: I just found a site that has ALL the Asterix books in pdf!

https://readasterix.blogspot.com/

Richard Reeves, an author and syndicated columnist who wrote about politics for more than 50 years and published books on Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and other American presidents, has died at age 83.

https://apnews.com/8f6637eb6f8eaa44a886b943fe1123e6

>92 klobrien2: I've only read Asterix sporadically but I have been considering a complete read through. I have too much lined up right now but it might be something for the summer.

>93 fuzzi: Oh, wow, that's superb! Will definitely bookmark that for later.

>93 fuzzi:>95>96 Great link! Thank you! I recently read the books, one at a time, nice big paper versions, but the PDFs are so much more easily accessed. Excellent for a summertime read-through!

Karen O.

>97 klobrien2: >96 PawsforThought: glad it works for you.

The songwriter and performer Alan Merrill who wrote I Love Rock and Roll made famous by Joan Jett has died aged 69 of coronavirus.

He was in a band called Arrows in the 70s that was moderately successful.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52089768

The country music world is being hit hard. Joe Diffie has died of Covid-19, and John Prine is in critical condition.

ETA: Today Prine's wife says she has recovered from the virus, and that John is "stable". With his history of lung cancer, among other things, I assume he's having a very hard time of it.

>100 laytonwoman3rd: I hadn't seen that about Joe Diffie but I had seen the report on John Prine and put something just now on my thread about him.

>100 laytonwoman3rd: Tom Rush announced on the 28th that he had tested positive - on his FB page. He's 79.

>102 RBeffa: Yeah, Jackson Browne, too, but he's apparently doing OK at home, and I'm not counting Tom Rush out either.

This thing is certainly taking a good number of famous people into its grasp.

Tom Hanks, assorted sportsmen, Prince Charles, Boris Johnson, and seemingly so many of the rock world. Small consolation but the number increases seem to be slowing worldwide.

I wish all of them well.

>100 laytonwoman3rd: - I posted this to a friend who really likes John Prine. Here is something she replied to me. Not sure non-Canadians would know who George Strombolopoulous is but he is an entertainment host; has or had his own radio and tv shows. I guess Lightfoot needs no introduction.

"That is so sad. He wasn’t that old, but all it takes is to be smoker, or have asthma or some other
frailty. John Prine is in critical condition. I love that man!
His health is poor, having had cancer and a large part of his neck tissue removed, which
causes breathing problems in the first place.
If you get a chance, watch this wonderful, tiny concert in George Strombo’s living room.
Even Gord Lightfoot is there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Rkm_dqm7A "

Thanks for posting that Shelley

>100 laytonwoman3rd: John Prine is the BEST! This is not good news, very upsetting.

>195 fuzzi: Thanks for that link, Shelley. I've seen that video before, but and it's very special.

>108 laytonwoman3rd: - This same friend who is such a John Prine fan, also sent me this very recently posted tribute, by a true fave of mine, Joan Baez, singing a song of Prine's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJPvc5vvKY4&fbclid=IwAR2JTIUaEdvcZMdRSalHnUJ....

>105 jessibud2: I've not heard of Prine before, but love Lightfoot. Thank you for posting that video link, I'm enjoying it.

>105 jessibud2: Thanks so much Shelley. What a great link. I listened and I'm still smiling......

Tomie dePaola, children's writer and illustrator who delighted generations with tales of Strega Nona, the kindly and helpful old witch in Italy, died Monday at age 85
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/strega-nona-author-tomie-depaola-...

>112 avatiakh: So sad to see that, Kerry. It's amazing that he was alive, actually, but disheartening to learn that he'd died.

>112 avatiakh: Oh, no! How terribly sad.

>112 avatiakh: I just saw that myself and came over here to report it. I remember reading his books to my kids when they were younger.

>115 alcottacre: I also used to read his books to my children.

Yes, me too! His illustrations were so unique and wonderful.

>116 avatiakh: I daresay a lot of us did.

>117 mdoris: I agree!

Bruce Dawe has died, aged 90. I've only ever read one of his poems, thanks to an Aussie whose academic dad came to UT Austin to do reasearch, thus the lad ended up in my high school. He thought this 1959 poem was The Stuff, quoted it at me, and made me promise I'd find a book of Dawe's poems to experience Aussie Culture at its Finest.

Reader, I did no such of a thing. Wasn't until I was browsing the COVID-19 obits that I'd even thought of the poet or poem since 1977.

Enter Without So Much As Knocking
Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.

Blink, blink. HOSPITAL. SILENCE.
Ten days old, carried in the front door in his
mother's arms, first thing he heard was
Bobby Dazzler on Channel 7:
Hello, hello hello all you lucky people and he
really was lucky because it didn't mean a thing
to him then...
A year or two to settle in and
get acquainted with the set-up; like every other
well-equipped smoothly-run household, his included
one economy-size Mum, one Anthony Squires-
Coolstream-Summerweight Dad, along with two other kids
straight off the Junior Department rack.

When Mom won the
Luck's-A-Fortch Tricky-Tune Quiz she took him shopping
in the good-as-new station-wagon (£ 495 dep. at Reno's).
Beep, beep. WALK. DON'T WALK. TURN
LEFT. NO PARKING. WAIT HERE. NO
SMOKING. KEEP CLEAR/OUT/OFF GRASS. NO
BREATHING EXCEPT BY ORDER. BEWARE OF
THIS. WATCH OUT FOR THAT. My God (beep)
the congestion here just gets (beep)
worse every day, now what the (beep beep) does
that idiot think he's doing (beep beep and BEEP).

However, what he enjoyed most of all was when they
went to the late show at the local drive-in, on a clear night
and he could see (beyond the fifty-foot screen where
giant faces forever snarled screamed or make
incomprehensible and monstrous love) a pure
unadulterated fringe of sky, littered with stars
no-one had got around to fixing up yet: he'd watch them
circling about in luminous groups like kids at the circus
who never go quite close enough to the elephant to get kicked.

Anyway, pretty soon he was old enough to be
realistic like every other godless
money-hungry back-stabbing miserable
so-and-so, and then it was goodbye stars and the soft
cry in the corner when no-one was looking because
I'm telling you straight, Jim, it's Number One every time
for this chicken, hit wherever you see a head and
kick whoever's down, well thanks for a lovely
evening Clare, it's good to get away from it all
once in a while, I mean it's a real battle all the way
and a man can't help but feel a little soiled, himself,
at times, you know what I mean?

Now take it easy
on those curves, Alice, for God's sake,
I've had enough for one night, with that Clare Jessup,
hey, ease up, will you, watch it -

Probity & Sons, Morticians,
did a really first-class job on his face
(everyone was very pleased) even adding a
healthy tan he'd never had, living, gave him back for keeps
the old automatic smile with nothing behind it,
winding the whole show up with a
nice ride out to the underground metropolis
permanent residentials, no parking tickets, no taximeters
ticking, no Bobby Dazzlers here, no down payments,
nobody grieving over halitosis
flat feet shrinking gums falling hair.

Six feet down nobody interested.

Blink, blink. CEMETERY. Silence.

>119 richardderus: Will wonders never cease? RD posts a poem. It really IS the apocalypse, isn't it?

Bill Withers, singer/songwriter, dies at 81. not of covid but a great loss, still

https://globalnews.ca/news/6773286/bill-withers-dead/

Lean on Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkaexjc-1os

>121 jessibud2: Awww....

I have been playing a fair bit of Bill Withers recently preparing my 70s playlists, and my absolute favourite track of his is Aint no Sunshine. Appropriate. I don't think he ever got the credit or acclaim that his brilliance deserved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CICIOJqEb5c

Ellis Marsalis, the patriarch of the incredibly talented Marsalis family of jazz musicians, is another victim of this insidious covid-19:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/02/ellis-marsalis-jazz-wynton-branfor...

The Marquess of Bath has also died of the coronavirus.

The last project I did in the UK was the Centerparcs Holiday Village in Warminster adjacent to the Longleat estate and I had the pleasure of meeting the Marquess a couple of times. Charming man and a real character - apparently a lothario extraordinaire.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/05/the-marquess-of-bath-obituary

Canadian actress and activist, Shirley Douglas. She was the mother of Kiefer Sutherland and the daughter of Tommy Douglas:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/shirley-douglas-dies-at-86-1.5522758?ref=m...

Farewell Pussy Galore...Honor Blackman dies at 95.

Jean Little, author of Mine for Keeps, died at 88.

>128 richardderus: - This makes me sad. She was a much beloved Canadian author and her books were treasured classics.

John Prine, musician and songwriter died today of complications from COVID 19. He was in intensive care for the past 13 days. He was 73.

>130 mdoris: - Damn. RIP, Sir.

>130 mdoris: I was sad to read in the Guardian today of the passing of John Prine. He beat cancer a time or two but couldn't get past this dreadful virus.
He will be sadly missed.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/apr/08/john-prine-us-folk-and-country-son...

>130 mdoris: It's very sad...talk about one man having more than his share of trouble...

Mourning John Prine.

>133 laytonwoman3rd: True but his last song When I Get to Heaven, he said he had "more blessings than one man can stand."

From the Rolling Stone article

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/john-prine-25-essential-songs-974...

"Prine couldn’t have written a better epitaph than this, the final song on his final album. In spoken-word verses influenced by Hank Williams’ alter-ego Luke the Drifter, Prine lays out what he will do when he reaches the pearly gates: “When I get to heaven/I’m gonna shake God’s hand/Thank him for more blessings/Than one man can stand,” Prine sings, before laying out all he’s been grateful for: his parents, who encouraged his musical career, his departed aunts and brother Doug, and even his critics (“those syphilitic parasitics,” he says). Prine pledges to open up a nightclub called the Tree of Forgiveness in the afterlife. Over a joyous kazoo-filled chorus, he sings about making a handsome Johnny (his famous favorite drink: vodka and ginger ale) and “smoke a cigarette that’s nine miles long.” Prine had found rich subject matter in mortality for as long as he’d been recording. When he sang about his own, it was full of just as much dark humor and lyrical precision: “When I get to heaven, I’m gonna take that wristwatch off my arm,” he sang. “What are you gonna do with time/After you’ve bought the farm?” P.D.

I know, that last song is amazing. I posted a link to it on my Facebook page this morning. I guess he'd come to terms with his mortality pretty well.

>134 streamsong: You beat me to it Janet I was about to post that link. It is well worth listening to all 25 and lots more.......what an amazing songwiter/musician.

Mort Drucker, creator of Mad Magazine movie and TV satires, died yesterday at 91. His satires were always my favorite part of the mag.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/arts/mort-drucker-dead.html?smid=fb-share&amp...

>137 drneutron: waaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Drucker was one of the best.

I didn't know there was an album released about a month ago from Swamp Dogg with several John Prine duets.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/john-prine-last-recording-swam...

>138 fuzzi: Wonderful cartoon! Thanks for sharing!

>139 streamsong: Thanks Janet. That is really nice and touching.

John Conway has died from COVID-19.

https://planetprinceton.com/2020/04/13/covid-19-kills-princeton-mathematician-ga...
https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4732

>142 qebo: John Conway was a giant in game theory and computer science. I've spent hours reading about and "playing" his Game of Life, and many hours more in the pages of Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays. Very sad.

Brian Dennehy, 81, died of non-corona virus natural causes. Known mostly as an actor, he also did a few audiobook narrations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/actor-brian-dennehy-dies-81...

>144 drneutron: goodbye, Cobb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eug4wbPSykc

>144 drneutron: I saw him play Willy Loman (Death of a Salesman) in Chicago years ago. The performance was electric; unforgettable.

Per Olov Enquist, who wrote The Visit of the Royal Physician, has died at 85. It isn't an early death, but his gloomy pietistic world-view was peculiarly pleasant to visit.

Well, it's not the day to be an Irish poet, is it: Eavan Boland died at a mere 75.

>148 richardderus: That is too early indeed Richard.

>149 Caroline_McElwee: That's for sure, in today's world that should be late middle age!

Jill Gascoigne, novelist and actress, died of Alzheimer's complications at 83. Sad to lose such a creative mind so cruelly before her body followed.

>150 richardderus: Sorry to hear about Jill, she used to live in the town I grew up in. Sad for Alfred Molina too.

>151 Caroline_McElwee: Sadly, she's been gone since 2015...her body still alive, her mind so far gone that she was in a care home.

He's probably relieved, since she's been in that state for so long. It's awful what that disease does to a person.

Maj Sjöwall, crime writer and one half of the Swedish writing duo Sjöwall/Wahlöö, has died at the age of 84, after long-term illness. (Link is in Swedish, can't find any in English yet.)

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö more or less invented the Swedish crime novel with their books about detective Martin Beck - the first book in the series, Roseanna was first published in 1965.

>153 PawsforThought:

From Mysteryreaders.inc

https://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2020/04/maj-sjowall-rip.html?fbclid=IwAR2...

Madeline Kripke, doyenne of dictionaries:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/nyregion/madeline-kripke-dead-coronavirus.htm...

>155 jessibud2: She puts my own small dictionary collection to shame, and suddenly I'm sad I'll never get the chance to meet her even though I hadn't known who she was until today.

>156 bell7: - Me too! Though that photo makes me a bit jittery. I hope she wasn't a smoker......

>153 PawsforThought: Very sad to see that, Paws. Together with Per Wahloo she virtually invented Scandi-crime.

>155 jessibud2: ETC

I was worried actually because that is what my place is going to end up looking like.

Stanley Bing has died at 68. He wrote funny business books for the 90s and 00s mentality, they'd probably get him lynched today if he wasn't #MeToo'd to death. What Would Machiavelli Do? The Ends Justify the Meanness and Sun Tzu Was a Sissy: Conquer Your Enemies, Promote Your Friends, and Wage the Real Art of War are among his more memorable titles.

To be crystal clear, they were satires, he was a very successful businessman writing under a pseudonym, and I've never heard a damn word about him being more than usually sexist IRL.

Michael McClure, poet, has died at 87. Of Indigo and Saffron: New and Selected Poems is a scary chunkster I got from the University of California Press ages ago, and took ~7 years to finish.

Apologies if this is old news.

Ruth Ditmore Craig (womansheart), an LTer who was formerly active in this group and in Club Read and a friend to many of us, died in her home of Tallahassee on February 4th, at the age of 77. I was thinking about her earlier today, as I realized that I had not heard from her on Facebook or Instagram in several months, and I noticed that she had not posted anything on Facebook since the end of November. I knew from her private messages to me that she had not been in good health for quite awhile, and I feared that the worst had happened to her. Although I never met her in person she was one of the kindest and most caring members of our book club, and I'll miss her enthusiastic and loving messages.

https://usobit.com/obituaries-2020/02/ruth-iona-ditmore-craig-november-24-1942-f...

Oh my, I hadn't realized that she was in ill health. Like you, I enjoyed her spirit and encouragement while she joined us.

Good golly, Little Richard has died.

Not to mention Roy, of Siegfried and...

>164 laytonwoman3rd: Poor Roy. But Little Richard...! What a titan that man was, he was so instrumental (!) in setting the course of rock and roll that it's hard to see how it would've reached its heights without him.

I loved Little Richard's role in the uneven but sometimes funny Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

>164 laytonwoman3rd: - I thought this was a nice tribute, from one great to another:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nB5BruIuiQ&fbclid=IwAR3ccjTEIEuEr5mPF3U0t2B...

Here's the scene, best part of the whole movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nIkMIJpBMc

Swedish poet and dramatist Kristina Lugn has died at the age of 71. She was a member of the Swedish Academy and had been seated on chair 14 since 2006.

I wasn't a fan of her as a person but I enjoyed quite a lot of her poetry - she had a dark sense of humour that I really enjoyed. (One of her poetry collections is called "For my husband, if he knew how to read".)

Saddens me to report that Jerry Stiller, comedian, father, and husband of comedians, memoirist par excellence, has died at 92. If you haven't, I suggest you read his love letter to comedy, his late wife Anne Meara, and their long career together: Married to Laughter.

>170 richardderus: sorry to lose him, they were such a funny pair. I recently rewatched the movie Lovers and Other Strangers and laughed out loud over Meara's role.

>171 fuzzi: Their chemistry, on screen and off, was amazing. I seldom think of re-watching most films but that one is a frequent flier in my repertoire.

>172 richardderus: my dh (dear husband) doesn't appreciate subtlety as much as I do, but he not only watched it with me, but kept laughing throughout. We've been married almost 40 years and "get it".

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear of his passing.

The hits, as in "blows," keep on coming for Simon & Schuster: Their corporate daddy is selling them, and their decade-plus of growth and prosperity ended when its architect Carolyn Reidy died last night.

She was Stephen King's shepherdess, I mean editor, among other Names.

>174 richardderus: Not good news, at all.

>175 laytonwoman3rd: I actually fear for the results of this. It could make the Big Five the Big Four (down from the Big Eight when I was starting out), and that is never, ever good.

RIP, Annie Glenn:

https://apnews.com/e8c41297b5913b8d954860c2406f292d

Larry Kramer, who wrote The Normal Heart and was the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Women In Love, has died at 87.

Rest in power, comrade.

RIP Larry. I saw The Normal Heart when it was in London, at the Royal Court, with Martin Sheen in the lead.

And we can add Bruce Jay Friedman to the list of departees. He was 90.

Even the Rhinos Were Nymphos? Splash? Have You Spoken to Any Jews Lately?

Anyway, *I'll* miss him.

>162 kidzdoc: I am sorry to hear about Ruth. Every now and again she would reach out to me to see how I was doing, especially with the arm problems. I never got a chance to meet her IRL either, Darryl.

Very sad, I love his books.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, the Spanish author of novels including international bestseller The Shadow of the Wind, has died aged 55.

According to Spanish media reports, Zafon died after being diagnosed with colon cancer.

>182 avatiakh: Oh, no! I loved The Shadow of the Wind. I'll have to get to the other three books in his Cemetery of Forgotten Books series in the near future.

ETA: According to The Guardian, Ruiz Zafón was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2018. Obviously I don't know his medical information, but if he did not get a colonoscopy at age 50, per the recommendation at that time*, he conceivably could have been diagnosed and treated then. A dear friend of mine and fellow pediatrician is alive today because she did have a colonoscopy at age 50, which revealed that she had asymptomatic stage 1 pancreatic cancer seven years ago, and one of my favorite professors in residency died from metstatic colorectal cancer in his late 40s after he did not get a screening colonoscopy at the age of 45, as African Americans are advised to do, and ignored worrisome symptoms for months before he was diagnosed. He left behind a wife and two young children.

*The American Cancer Society now recommends screening for colorectal cancer for everyone at average risk at the age of 45, and studies have shown an increasing incidence of colorectal cancer in people in their 30s and 40s. Professor Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, was diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer in his mid 30s, but he reports that he is now cancer free.

>182 avatiakh: That is so sad. Like Darryl, I loved The Shadow of the Wind.

Sad to hear about Zafon, glad Kendi is cancer free. I started promptly at 50, have had polyps, so getting screened every 5 years.

>185 drneutron: Well done, Jim. I'm also on a five year schedule, due to my race and because my father has polyps, and I had my second colonoscopy in 2017.

Shadow of the Wind is one of my all-time favorite books. I've read quite a few of his books. So sad to lose him at such a young age.

Yeah I have also had issues with the same thing and got very good treatment here in Malaysia.

Very sad to see the passing of Carlos Luiz Zafon - it seems that so many of us agree that The Shadow of the Wind was a magical book.

Carl Reiner, comedian, actor, director, author, is dead at 98.

https://www.wect.com/2020/06/30/carl-reiner-dies-age/?fbclid=IwAR3KzV51bIgiDp83u...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/arts/television/carl-reiner-dead.html

>189 ronincats: - I just heard this. A true classic and an original. Not many of them left. RIP, Sir.

Rudolfo Anaya has died. He was 82.

Noted sports author, Lonnie Wheeler, passed away last month. I've read about 5 or 6 of his dozen books on baseball.

One of the best!!

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/2020/06/10/former-enquirer-sportswriter-...

Ennio Morricone died, aged 91.

Who could resist his great theme tunes.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h1PfrmCGFnk

Brad Watson, author of Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories, has died at age 64. It is sad to know he won't grace us with more lovely sentences and moving stories.

>194 richardderus: book bullet...

>195 fuzzi: A quarter-century late, but hey it's still a net win.

>196 richardderus: agreed. I also like Ken Foster for "real" dog books.

Christopher Dickey, author of Our Man in Charleston and Securing the City, died of heart failure at his home in Paris. He was 68. His father was James Dickey, author of Deliverance as well as some poetry; it was a lifelong struggle to move out of his father's shadow.

Joanna Cole, author of the fabulous Magic Schoolbus series, died on July 12.

>199 amanda4242: - Oh, this makes me so sad! I used her Magic School Bus series, both the books as well as the tv shows (I taped them and showed them in class) when I was still teaching. My students LOVED this series and I used that to my advantage when introducing various science theme units. My students even called me *Miss Frizzle* because I would try to find something to wear that went with the theme, like that famous teacher! Joanna Cole also wrote a lot of other kids' books.

Rep. John Lewis has died.

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/792579944/rep-john-lewis-a-force-in-the-civil-rig...

>201 kac522: Very sad to see, Kathy.

Would like to say a thank you though for all his determined efforts and wisdom in his battle for civil rights.

>201 kac522: So sad to hear about John Lewis. A very great man.

>201 kac522: - We knew this was coming, but oh dear, this is so sad. Just the other day, I watched a new documentary film on him. Such a powerful and positive film. Wonderfully combining film footage from his early years (some of which he, himself, had not seen before), with recent and current clips of speeches, Lewis looks back, reflects, and most importantly, looks forward. How this man, after all that he had been through, and especially with what is currently going on in his country, how he could remain so positive, is nothing short of inspirational.

John Lewis: Good Trouble (scroll once to the right to watch the trailer).

My favourite part (not shown in this trailer preview), was a clip that went viral of him doing a happy dance. It was delightful and charming and hilarious!

If you can find this film to watch, to stream, whatever, I highly recommend it. It's the antidote to the pessimism and the poison that is permeating the United States (and the world) today. I wish I could share his optimism but it felt good and right and necessary to see and listen to this man right now. Rest in peace, good Sir.

Here's the happy dance

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ygRLrbE85ws

>205 Caroline_McElwee: - It's not viewable for me, Caroline but I do hope others can see it. The documentary film was excellent. He is a man who made a difference in the world (though it might be hard to notice, lately, in the current state of world chaos). He will be missed.

>206 jessibud2: strange Shelley, being YouTube. I'll see if. Can find it elsewhere.

Here's a version he's doing in his office.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4QchDC9FaiI

>208 Caroline_McElwee: - Thanks, Caroline. that link worked! Lovely!

>208 Caroline_McElwee: Loved watching that! I will never forget the wonderful graphic novels based on him.

JI Packer, author of Knowing God has died at 93:

https://www.christianpost.com/news/ji-packer-author-of-knowing-god-dies-at-93.ht...

Sad to see that Peter Green the brilliant guitarist and songwriter who formed Fleetwood Mac has just passed away.

This is from over 50 years ago - the wonderful Black Magic Woman performed in Boston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRu7Pt42x6Y

>212 PaulCranswick: 😢

Olivia de Havilland died on 7/25 at the age of 104 and Regis Philbin on 7/24 at 88.

I'm quite sad to say that Robert Hellenga, author of The Sixteen Pleasures, died on 18 July of neurendocrine cancer. He was 78.

Film director Alan Parker responsible for the brilliant Midnight Express and Bugsy Malone, amongst others, has passed away aged 76.

Ah, Midnight Express...the original straightwashed racist prison-break film! Billy Hayes was as outraged as Morrissey that his love affair with another man was prude-ized out of his own story.

>216 PaulCranswick: Mississippi Burning and Evita were also directed by Alan Parker.

>217 richardderus: We are supposed to feel sorry for this guy who has a huge stash of coke strapped to his body. '

>218 fuzzi: Also Angel Heart which was weird but compelling.

I own I loved all those movies.

>219 PaulCranswick: As an ardent anti-prohibitionist, I couldn't care less about the "crime" he committed. This was his story about what happened to him...dramatic as all get-out...scrubbed of his actual self to make idiots comfortable? The kind of person who is homophobic won't much empathize with a jail-breaker, will they.

Shirley Ann Grau, author of The Keepers of the House, has died. She was 91.

Pete Hamill, author of the memoir A Drinking Life, has died. He was 85.

>224 richardderus: Aww....now that's too bad. I've enjoyed his work.

It is, isn't it. The world moves on and he's been gone from center stage for a long time, but like you, I'll miss him.

Pete Hamill, New York journalist and novelist, died today at age 85.

>221 richardderus: I haven't read Billy Hayes' book, RD, and so I take it that the film was less than faithful to his story?

>234 RBeffa: Sad to see that......I read A Drinking Life a few years ago and have a couple of his novels on the shelves.

>228 PaulCranswick: Very much less than faithful to his actual story, especially the gay-sex part and the entirety of the ending.

>229 richardderus: Quite piqued my interest, RD, I didn't even realise the film was based on a true story. Thought it was too far-fetched! I will certainly try to find the book now.

>230 PaulCranswick: Is it still in print? It was really of its time...turns out it is! https://www.bookdepository.com/publishers/Curly-Brains-Press

Canadian (and international) star of stage, Brent Carver, has died at 68:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-brent-carver-star-of-broad...

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Brent+Carver&docid=607996644190128321&a...

I'm saddened by the passing of Bernard Bailyn, whose magisterial The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution I read in school in the early 80s.

Justin Townes Earle singer-songwriter and the son of Steve Earle has died today.

ETA: https://www.npr.org/2020/08/23/905303470/justin-townes-earle-second-generation-a...

>234 RBeffa: Oh, that's a shame. I was hoping he'd be one of the luckier ones.

>234 RBeffa: I was very sad to see this news on the Twitter page of another singer songwriter

Too young for such talent to leave us. RIP Chadwick Boseman. May your star shine in your new kingdom.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53955912

Shere Hite has died. The Hite Report made a lot of straight men very, very angry and a lot of gay men very, very amused. She was 77.

>239 laytonwoman3rd: 😢

Winston Groom, perpetrator—ermmm, author...of Forrest Gump...has died. He was 77.

I just discovered that Terry Goodkind passed away.

Well, SHIT, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. What a woman!

This is a bloody nightmare.

Lord have mercy on us!

>243 ronincats: - Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. As if 2020 hasn't done enough already. And on Rosh Hashana, too. So tragic, on so many levels.

We should have known 2020 would do this. I understand she wrote to a family member just a few days ago saying it was her fervent hope that she would not be replaced on the Court until after the election. Imagine facing your own last days and making that your dying wish.

"L'shanah tovah" is hollow, but RBG is now a tzaddik because by tradition the righteous who die on Rosh HaShanah are God's select champions.

>248 richardderus: Maybe she will do something for us from beyond?

Pray for that

>248 richardderus: - She already was, always had been.

I hope she voted by early mail-in vote.

As my daughter announced the news, we're screwed.

>248 richardderus: I like that.

Whatever new powers she may have, crank up your engines lady. Rest, you won't need rest, you'll be 21 again, with the wisdom of your lifetime and more at your fingertips.... waking dream...

>251 jessibud2: A nice thought, but I believe DC ballots are being mailed to voters the first week in October.

Guess How Much I Love You scribe Sam McBratney has died. He was 77.

Cat Bordhi, September 19, 2020. Knitters, lower your needles. Then bring them up again in her memory. Just before her death she sent out her last pattern as a gift.

Gale Sayers has passed away:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2020/9/23/21452396/bears-gale-sayers-die-kans...

Sadly, Jill Paton Walsh has died. I very much enjoyed her Farewell, Great King, among others.

She was 83.

Sunshine today, dimmed by the loss of 007.

His Oscar-winning role in The Untouchables...and that speech! Played the cheap Scotsman:

"In winning this award, it creates a certain dilemma because I had decided that if I had the good fortune to win, that I would give it to my wife, who deserves it. But, this evening, I discovered backstage that they're worth $15,000 — now I am not so sure," he joked. "Micheline, I am only kidding. It's yours."

Ave atque vale, Sir Sean. Ninety years young.

I'll always remember Sean Connery thus, RD.



I'm quite sad tonight and will watch my favourite of his Bond movies - From Russia With Love - tomorrow.

>259 richardderus: Fuck. Ain't that just typical of this shitshow of a year?

>259 richardderus: Oh no. At 90 he was still the sexiest man on the planet.

I'll remember Connery not for Bond, but Ramius:

>263 fuzzi: Favorite line from that movie...."He schlipped on hiz tea"

Oh, No! Sean Connery died? He was indeed the best Bond! I confess to being in love with his incredible looks.

The man had a great talent and a great voice. But I guess no one else remembers him telling Barbara Walters there were times when slapping a woman was justified. He kind of lost his sex appeal for me right there.

Debra Doyle passed away yesterday at the age of 67.

From Wikipedia:
Debra Doyle (30 November 1952-31 October 2020) was an American author writing in multiple related genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Many of her stories were co-written with her husband, James D. Macdonald. Their novel, Knight's Wyrd, was awarded the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature in 1992 and appeared on the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list in 1993.

>266 laytonwoman3rd: - +1.

>266 laytonwoman3rd: Me too sadly Linda.

Anita Mason who was Booker shortlisted in the 1980s has passed on in Bristol, UK. Underrated writer. RIP.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/01/anita-mason-obituary

>266 laytonwoman3rd: +3

Sad news: Rachel Caine, author of the Great Library series and the Morganville Vampires series (among others), has died. She was 58, and lost her fight against soft-tissue sarcoma.

>273 richardderus: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I knew she hadn't been doing well lately, but it's still hard to see. I liked the first book in her Great Library series and have been meaning to continue reading.

>274 bell7: I was sorry to learn of it and taken by surprise since she just *poof* vanished off Twitter then turned toes up in like a few days!

Time is fleeting.

>264 laytonwoman3rd: bwahaha!

I decided to rewatch it yesterday afternoon, still holds up well for a movie that's 30 years old...

"The hard part about playing chicken is knowing when to flinch..."

Actor Geoffrey Palmer

BBC obituary

>277 amanda4242: Aww....Lionel...

>277 amanda4242: Oh no.

Alex Trebek has died.

Oh no again and again.

>280 amanda4242: - Oh no!!! It shouldn't be a shock, but it is. Rest in peace, good Sir

>280 amanda4242: nonono!
😢😢😢

George Cockcroft, pseudonymous perpetrator, I mean author, of The Dice Man, died at 87. I read that weird, wild, whimsical book at 15 and it changed what was left of my life.

Chance, as in "taking a", really does rule the world.

Jan Morris

Guardian obituary

>285 amanda4242: Another blow in a devastating year. I'm sad for us.

>285 amanda4242: RIP Jan, but she has left us much fine work.

The passing of Jan Morris is very sad. What a pioneer and a fantastic writer.

Jan Morris by some of her fellow travel writers:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/nov/23/in-praise-of-jan-morris-by-six-fe...

Author of The Dice Man, Luke Rhinehart has passed away.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/25/luke-rhinehart-obituary

Ben Bova, prolific writer of science fiction, passed away yesterday. COVID-related pneumonia and stroke. Damn.

https://www.tor.com/2020/11/30/legendary-science-fiction-author-ben-bova-has-pas...

Oh, so sad...

Alison Lurie has died at 94. She won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with Foreign Affairs. I liked The War Between the Tates a bit more, myownself, but she was a tart-tongued tattle-tale and so a lot of fun to read any old how.

>293 richardderus: A fine age. A long time since I read her work.

Surprised no one posted yet about Walter Williams, who passed away this week at the age of 84.

https://reason.com/2020/12/02/i-just-do-my-own-thing-walter-williams-rip/

Oh, the sadness...William Kittredge died. The Next Rodeo: New and Selected Essays was his last, possibly best, book. He was 88.

>296 richardderus: Not a writer I know Richard, but I love essays, off to click... I see he has a collection of stories called The Van Gogh Field and Other Stories, I like him already.

88 is not being short changed, but departure is always sad.

It is, isn't it Caroline? I am sorry he's gone, like so many others, but really pleased he got a long life and career in before final exit.

Very sad news. John le Carré has died at the age of 89.

>299 PawsforThought: Yes, I have just seen that. He epitomised an era in many ways with his cold war spy novels.

And the same day as le Carré died, so did Terry Kay, who wrote To Dance with the White Dog. He was 82.