Reading Obituaries

Me...now I love trivia! Never challenge a librarian -- never mind a reference librarian-- to a game of Trivia Pursuit. Mind you I must admit I have lost at this game but only because I have bad luck landing on the pies.

Speaking of trivia, I have discovered a new set of books on a particular subject that most people would shun: obituaries and last words. There are even conferences for obituary writers and collectors of obituaries, most notably the Great Obituary Writers International Conference. Without these books how would I have discovered that two wonderful voices from Pooh; Paul Winchell, (the voice of Tigger) died a day apart from John Fielder (the voice of Piglet). Or that presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th , 50 years after signing the Declaration of Independence.

In obituaries you can find out who was the genius behind sea-monkeys (Harold von Brauhut) or about Opal Petty. She spent decades in a mental hospital because her Baptist parents did not want her to go out dancing. A church exorcism didn’t work so the family committed her, even though her friends and neighbours didn’t think there was anything wrong with Opal.

Some of the best obituaries are of ordinary joes. My favorite is: "Described fondly as demanding, disorganized, unpunctual and “dotty”....was at the same time intelligent , loving, witty, supportive and loyal and obsessed with buying bags, jewelry and shoes”. Or “Agate, population 70, is one of those towns that people describe as “blink and you’ll miss it”. Lois A. Engel loved living in the blink.” Can you just picture these women?

To learn more random trivia from obituaries, try these books:

The Dead Beat: lost souls, lucky stiffs and the perverse pleasure of obituaries by Marilyn Johnson.

"A journalist who's written obituaries of Princess Di and Johnny Cash, Johnson counts herself among the obit obsessed, one who subsists on the "tiny pieces of cultural flotsam to profound illuminations of history" gathered from obits from around the world, which she reads online daily-sometimes for hours. Her quirky, accessible book starts at the Sixth Great Obituary Writers' International Conference, where she meets others like herself... Johnson handles her offbeat topic with an appropriate level of humor, while still respecting the gravity of mortality-traits she admires in the best obit writers, who have "empathy and detachment; sensitivity and bluntness." ~ Publisher's Weekly

52 McGs: the best obituaries from legendary New York Times writers Robert McG Thomas Jr. Edited by Chris Calhoun.

"A "lover of the farfetched and the overlooked," as novelist Mallon puts it in his appreciative introduction, the late New York Times reporter Robert McG. Thomas Jr. (1939-2000) developed a loyal following for quirky, witty obituaries that illuminated the lives of people not automatically destined for "the Newspaper of Record." This highly browsable collection of 52 obits shows Thomas at his deadline best." ~ Publisher's Weekly

Last Laughs: funny tombstone quotes and famous last words by Kathleen Miller.

"Who really gets the last word? The one who writes your epitaph, that's who-and to make matters worse, most of the time it's written in stone."
~ publisher

In Memoriam - Vince Flynn

Sad news in the book world - bestselling thriller writer Vince Flynn (M) has passed away at the age of 47 after a lengthy illness. Flynn counted amongst his many fans, two former and very different US presidents, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Flynn found his way to the bestseller list via a career in marketing and the air force. He struggled with dyslexia and became an inspiration to others coping with the same condition.

Flynn's first novel was Term Limits (M) published in 1997, but it was in his second novel Transfer of Power (M) that we first meet Mitch Rapp (M). Mitch Rapp is an undercover CIA counter-terrorist agent who is aggressive in his tactics and frustrated by bureaucratic rules and procedures. Part of his motivation was his girlfriend's death in the Lockerbie bombing - a year after her death he was recruited by the CIA. Flynn's series moves back and forth in time and we get to see Rapp's early years in 2000's American Assassin (M).

 "Two decades after the Cold War, CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield must prepare his people for the next conflict. The rise of Islamic terrorism is coming, and it needs to be met abroad before it reaches America’s shores. Stansfield directs his protégée, Irene Kennedy, and his old colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives—men who do not exist—who will work outside the normal chain of command. Kennedy finds the ideal candidate in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing terrorist attack. . . .
Among the thousands of family and friends grieving the victims is Mitch Rapp, a gifted college athlete, who wants only one thing: retribution. Six months of intense training prepare him to bring the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency, leaving a trail of bodies from Istanbul and across Europe, to Beirut. But there, the hunter becomes the hunted: the enemy has prepared a trap, and the American assassin will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the warravaged city and its deadly terrorist faction." publisher

Flynn's many fans appreciate the realism in his stories. Memorial Day (M), published in 2004, is said to describe a raid much like the one that killed Osama Bin Laden.

"Rapp, back in the field after a long stint on desk duty for insubordination, unearths the bomb plot during a daring commando raid on an al-Qaeda stronghold in Afghanistan. A U.S. strike force manages to intercept and disarm the nuke moments after it arrives by freighter in Charleston, S.C. Everyone, including series stalwart President Robert Hayes, congratulates themselves on a job well done, but Rapp isn't convinced; he believes al-Qaeda leader Mustafa al-Yamani has smuggled a second nuke into the country and plans to detonate it in Washington, D.C., during Memorial Day celebrations. Rapp, a ruthless terrorist pursuer by temperament and training, turns it up several notches this time around, following al-Yamani's scent with feverish abandon." publisher

Unfortunately Flynn leaves an incomplete novel that is called Untitled (M) in our catalogue, but I have seen referred to elsewhere as Survivor. It is currently listed as "on order".

Fans of fast-paced, complex tales of international intrigue will be saddened by this loss.

In Memoriam - Margaret Yorke

Crime Writer Margaret Yorke (M) passed away in November at the age of 88. She was born in Surrey and grew up in Dublin before returning to England as a teenager. During the war she worked both as a hospital librarian and as a driver for the Royal Navy. Yorke divorced her husband in 1957 and at that time launched a writing career to support her two children.

Her first novel was Summer Flight (M).  "The chief event of the August Bank Holiday weekend in Bramsbourne is the Annual Fete and Flower Show. Into this peaceful scene comes a man on the run. His efforts to evade the police net tightening around him affect, one after another, everyone in the village. No one escapes the consequences of his presence. But Brigadier Trent and his wife, and the war-disabled Vicar, are more deeply concerned than any..." Back cover.

Yorke wrote consistently producing approximately one book per year. Her only series character was academic Patrick Grant, an Oxford don, who shared Yorke's love of Shakespeare. Fifth in the series was Cast for Death (M) in which " Sam Irwin, actor, is found dead in the River Thames. It appears to be suicide. But why should he have taken his own life shortly before opening in a new play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon? Dr. Patrick Grant, a friend of Irwin, manages to link the seemingly unconnected occurrences of the death of a dog, a further suicide, and a series of art robberies in coming to an conclusion. That, however, is not what is seems, being only the prelude to a massive deception. Grant himself is threatened, and unless he can escape unscathed from a concert at the Festival Hall, the secret of Irwin's death will die with him." publisher

Yorke's novels have been described as suspenseful and intricately plotted, featuring realistically drawn characters and stories that are quietly chilling. Margaret Yorke's novels won few awards, yet she was a consistently popular author in our library with her final book A Case to Answer (M) published in 2001.

In Memoriam - Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron (M), who was a bestselling author as well as a screenwriter, director, journalist, and blogger, has passed away at the age of 71. Ephron grew up in a writing family. She was the eldest of four daughters and all four went on to pursue writing careers. Her parents were both screenwriters and Ephron was raised surrounded by actors, writers and directors. Nora Ephron made a name for herself as a journalist and a columnist in the 1960's, an experience she wrote about in her collection of essays I Remember Nothing (M), which we wrote about last year.

Ephron worked terrifically hard throughout her life and she established a reputation and proved her talent in fields that did not easily admit women. Her first novel was Heartburn (M) in which she memorialized her failed second marriage to Carl Bernstein. "Is it possible to write a sidesplitting novel about the breakup of the perfect marriage? If the writer is Nora Ephron, the answer is a resounding yes. For in this inspired confection of adultery, revenge, group therapy, and pot roast, the creator of Sleepless in Seattle reminds us that comedy depends on anguish as surely as a proper gravy depends on flour and butter. Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has "a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs" is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wishing him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes. Heartburn is a sinfully delicious novel, as soul-satisfying as mashed potatoes and as airy as a perfect soufflé." publisher

In more recent years Ephron has blogged for The Huffington Post and her collections of essays have included I Feel Bad About My Neck, I Remember Nothing and Wallflower at the Orgy (M). "In this classic collection of magazine articles, Ephron does what she does best: embrace American culture with love, cynicism, and unmatched wit. From tracking down the beginnings of the self-help movement to dressing down the fashion world’s most powerful publication to capturing a glimpse of a legendary movie in the making, these timeless pieces tap into our enduring obsessions with celebrity, food, romance, clothes, entertainment, and sex. Whether casting her ingenious eye on renowned director Mike Nichols, Cosmopolitan magazine founder Helen Gurley Brown—or herself, as she chronicles her own beauty makeover—Ephron deftly weaves her journalistic skill with the intimate style of an essayist and the incomparable talent of a great storyteller."

Nora Ephron will probably be best remembered for her many successful films including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, Michael, You've Got Mail and Julie and Julia (M).

In Memoriam - Barry Unsworth

British novelist Barry Unsworth (M) has passed away at the age of 81. His first novel was published in 1966 and he had ultimately become associated with fine literary historical fiction writing. His novels covered a broad time period and his stories, complex and layered, served as background to explore human ethical issues. He is perhaps best known for his 1992 Sacred Hunger (M) for which he won the Booker Prize.

"With its graphic depiction of the 18th-century slave trade and a society driven by the desire to maximize profit regardless of the human cost, this new novel by the author of Pascali's Island offers a dark view of human nature clearly relevant to our own time. William Kemp hopes to recoup his losses in cotton speculation by entering the Triangular Trade. As ship's doctor, his nephew Matthew experiences firsthand the horrors of shipboard life, ultimately leading a revolt that lands the crew and remaining slaves on the southeastern coast of Florida. Here they try to establish "a paradise place," but events force Matthew to conclude that "nothing a man suffers will prevent him from inflicting suffering on others. Indeed, it will teach him the way." Library Journal

His most recent book The Quality of Mercy (M), published just last year. According to the New York Times Book Review, "“Unsworth is one of the best historical novelists on either side of the Atlantic, and in both Sacred Hunger and The Quality of Mercy his vast knowledge of 18th-century social and material conditions creates a rich and strange rendering of daily life that’s utterly persuasive.”

On the British Council Literature Team site, Unsworth gave this statement about his writing. "All my fiction starts from a feeling of unique perception, the pressure of a secret, a story that needs to be told. Before it can be properly told one needs to explore the ways, find embodiments in character, deal with the weather and the look of things, get it right. But whatever the ramifications, whatever turns the path takes, the beginning is always there, in a particular moment, a particular point of access."

In Memoriam - Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

This week we mark the passing of master storyteller Ray Bradbury (M). Mr. Bradbury's career spanned an astonishing eight decades during which he wrote hundreds of stories collected in numerous anthologies, plays, screenplays and eleven novels. It would be too simple to describe him as a science fiction writer as his stories were not bound by genre and could be considered to be fantasy and speculative fiction as well. Ray Bradbury wrote thought-provoking stories about the future. His were often cautionary tales of the mixed blessings technology could have on our lives.

One of his stories, The Pedestrian (M), although I read it many years ago has always stayed with me. It is 2053 and in the eleven years Leonard Mead has spent walking he he has never seen another person. Everyone remains home watching their televisions. To leave your house and walk and to not own a television is deviant behavior and Mead is taken away by a robotic police car to a psychiatric center. In more recent years Bradbury has been quoted despairing of the impact of the internet and cell phones.

Perhaps Bradbury's most recognizable book is Fahrenheit 451 (M). "Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires...The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning ... along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames... never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then he met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think... and Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do!"- publisher

Amongst his accolades, Ray Bradbury has had an award named in his honour, the Ray Bradbury Award presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to recognize excellence in screenwriting, won recently by Neil Gaiman (M). In 2004 Bradbury was the recipient of the National Medal of the Arts and in 2007 was recognized by the Pulitzer Board "for his distinguished, prolific and deeply influential career as an unmatched author of science fiction and fantasy."

In Memoriam: Jeanne Robinson: 1948 - 2010

Spider Robinson was the first author I cared to recall, way back in my early teens. I got right into the Callahan series with ‘Lady Slings the Booze’. His writing spoke to me in new and interesting ways. He wrote logically, especially for someone so eccentric. He turned the improbable into the possible. He wrote about women, my greatest weakness at the time. He used puns, my greatest weakness right now.
And he wrote about hopeful futures, justifying his optimism.

“Just as there are Laws of Conservation of Matter and Energy, so there are in fact Laws of Conservation of Pain and Joy. Neither can ever be created or destroyed. But one can be converted into the other.”
- Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977)

Somewhere between leaving the States to briefly become Haligonian, he began the Stardance saga, co-written with his wife Jeanne. A dancer, choreographer (formerly of Halifax's Nova Dance Theatre, Dance Co-Op, Halcyon Dance Theatre, DancExchange Studio), and Soto Zen Buddhist-in-training, Jeanne Robinson expertise helped develop the movements necessary to describe the novel’s infamous zero-gravity dance.

The book is set in space, after all. It won a Hugo and a Nebula, so you know it worked out. They headed West and settled in B.C.; the rest of the trilogy appeared shortly thereafter. (Stardance, 1979, Starseed, 1991, and Starmind, 1995)

This impossible dance was almost filmed, if you can believe it, with the aid of the Zero G Corporation and low orbital flights. Will it still be made? As Spider might pun, it is up in the air.
More information here: http://www.stardancemovie.com/index.html

You see, on May 30, 2010, Jeanne Robinson died following a long battle with cancer.

"Shared pain is lessened; shared joy is increased (and bad puns are appreciated)."
-Callahan’s Legacy (1996)

In recognition of his impact on me, and her impact on him, I recommend the following titles. They’re touching, engrossing, and even educational. Mostly though, they're happy endings.

Stardance Trilogy: Stardance, Starseed, & Starmind
Callahan’s Cross-Time Saloon
Lady Slings the Booze
The Callahan Touch
Callahan’s Legacy
Callahan’s Key
Callahan’s Con
The Crazy Years