Constant Reader discussion

Michelle wrote: "This thread is like the mob, just when you think you're clear, you get pulled back in.

I have chosen Michelle's words as the first I absolutely felt were worthy of the spotlight which our late Pres would often focus on a line or a phrase or a paragraph as noteworthy of attention.

I was watching and wanting to begin this on Jan. 5th in honor of his birthday but just now found the right opener for the tradition. I hope some of you at least will agree with the choice.

That line was so amazing and brought such a complete sense of what she meant without knowing a thing about the thread that it was as though it had been presented to me on a silver platter.

Thanks for starting this thread, Dottie. I miss Pres a lot.

Nice comment, Michelle.

R

I can't find the thread where this appears. Don't want to miss it. Dottie, or someone, can you point me in the right direction?

Could one of you fill in us newbies about Pres?
(I opened this expecting to find political debate!)

Pres was one of our long-time Constant Readers. He was the one we started the Words & Writing conference for, because he always found these great snippets either from our own board or from something he was reading. He lived in San Francisco and many of us met him. He died recently, and there's a great big hole in the middle of CR. He was a gracious old gentleman, one of the sweetest men I ever knew. If I were home right now, I'd post a link to a picture of him. Maybe someone else can. And other memories of Pres would be welcome.

This was from a comment which showed up in my feed and was part of an ongoing "comments" conversation attached to a review. I don't recall of what and I didn't check out the conversation since there was a large number down by the comments link and I was in a bit of a hurry. I just copied the bit I posted and did my own post and that was that. I don't know that it matters because as I said what hit it for me was that it made sense even without knowing the specifics.

I guess Pres Worthy Words may get a little more difficult here come to think of it. Maybe I should have just been looking only in the threads on the group however. Though didn't Pres even sometimes post things he'd found elsewhere? I think this will work and if context is important then we can pick up a link to include next time or reference it -- I should have done so but didn't for the reason above -- next time.

He was indeed a dear. Super intelligent, witty, generous. It's hard for me to realize that I'll never again open my mailbox and see his usual subject line--AHOY!

R

For me, Pres personified the term "a gentleman and a scholar". His contributions to CR were very special and I count myself lucky to have met him more than once at our conventions.

Lynn

And, he was well traveled. Tom and I traveled to Strasbourg in France on the German border because of his great descriptions and we were glad we did.

His compliments were also low-key but very meaningful. I had infinite respect for him and, miracle of the internet, I never met him but felt like I knew him better than most of my neighbors.

Here's a picture of Pres and his partner of over 50 years, John. Pres on the right,for those of you who didn't know him. I didn't take this. It's in their house. Did you take it Robt?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v24...

R

Barb, I totally agree -- he really had a way of getting to the heart of things and making such valid points about so many things -- he was so knowledgable about so many varied facets of life and all kinds of interesting fileds of study.

And it did feel as though you'd known him even though, like you, I never met him.

Ruth -- I love that picture -- no matter who took it , we owe them a debt of gratitude as it is a very fine photo. Do you know how John is doing?

I haven't spoken to John since he called to thank me for the print-out of the thread on Pres's death. Alas, he doesn't do email, and I'm not good at initiating phone calls. This thread has me thinking I should give him a call, tho.

R

Thanks so much for the photo and memories. I'm so sorry I missed knowing him. You must miss him very much, and I hope he knows how beloved he is.

Pres looks like a dear; this thread shows what a caring and thoughtful group I was lucky to stumble into. Long live CR. What nice people you all are.

How nice of you to say so, Gail. Pres was also a lover of the theater. Once sitting next to him at a restaurant we talked about all the plays he had seen. I think he said he had a list of about 350. I have no idea if the memory of the number is correct or not; it just popped into my head. But it was a large number, I'll say that for sure.

He was going to the theater right up until the time he had to go into home hospice care.

I agree, Gail. I feel truly blessed to have found this group soon after joining GoodReads. When referring to the site, I often call it CR. This group is why I'm here.
- Misty
(edited for continuity of this loving thread) - I'm sorry that I never met Pres. From what I've seen, his spirit lives on.

Y'all don't know what you missed. CR is wonderful but it lacks something special with the absence of Pres.

I still can't believe he's gone.

Sarah H in The Road thread:

"What's the process we undergo, internally, when we are left with nothing (or what we would have called nothing had it been presented to us when we had everything)? "

hee-hee-hee -- I just read Steve's post where he said this was written on water and thought --"not if we put it in Pres Worthy Words" -- and here you've beaten me to it Sherry.

Yay -- Sarah -- that is a wonderful line and seems to fit what I'm understanding of The Road from all the discussion!

I posted here yesterday, truly I did, and the post disappeared (despite the red message at the top saying my comment had been posted).

What I said was that I feel truly honored to be here. I have never before been Pres-worthy. I miss him, too, although his largest presence on the board occurred during my longest absence, so I didn't get to know him as well as some of the rest of you. Thanks Steve, Sherry and Dottie.

In the stillness of my snow day, I'm back in Time Regained
.......Barbara Moors

Thank you, Ruth! It feels very good to be in Pres' spot.

The book was a rich stew of intertwining stories. The movie was consomme ..... Ruth Bavetta

(hoping that one who didn't know Pres may offer this here)

Why thank you, Philip. And Pres would be pleased to have you on his thread.

Great choices Ruth and Philip!

Ruth, I loved Barb's phrasing there also and Philip, I am in total agreement with Ruth -- and would add your choice did Pres proud!

In the discussion of The Golden Notebook: Perennial Classics edition (Perennial Classics): Ricki wrote:

....which I've thoroughly enjoyed but which has at times given me a bit of intellectual indigestion from its richness.

from Courtney in the Constant Reader discussion of Bridge of Sighs (my emphasis):

This is the first Russo I have read (apart from that wonderful op/ed I read on CR) and I am really blown away by his writing, his use of big themes and ideas in small places and events. It was an utter delight.

Because Yulia mentioned it, and because I loved the book, I went back and read our discussion of The Sea.

And here was this gift from Pres:

I see memories as part of a collection, a wardrobe with both glamorous and drab pieces variously displayed: neatly folded and packed away in cedar, hurriedly dropped on a chair, scrunched in a dirty corner, hanging on a clothesline in a Spring wind. An individual can consciously use various displays for his memories.

Gawd, I miss that man.

Me, too, Ruth! That brought tears to my eyes. I was looking through another of our old disucssions and ran across some gems from Pres also -- he was a marvelous human being.

I wish he had written a memoir. He could always tell such wonderful stories of things that happened in his life. And now I've forgotten all of them. Do any of you remember them? I know you won't be able to word them the way Pres would, but if anyone remembers anything, I'd love to hear it.

From Ginnie Jones, a comment on Ruth's review of The Origin of Species:

Gin,
On my screen at least, there are always a list of Google ads to the right of each full review. Triggered by specific words on the page these ads have become a source of hilarity to me for their essential incongruity.

That's my own emphasis though as I thought as I read it --"wouldn't our Pres have made hay with many of these very incongruities?" while at the same time breathing my own complete agreement that these ads tend to strike me very funny relative to where they pop up at times.

Oh Dottie, yes. Pres would've had us falling on the floor with those ads. What a delight he was.

And Ruth, that quote brought tears to my eyes, too. Constant Reader, as great as it is, isn't the same without Pres..

or Dale..Thom..Edd..David M.

Dale may be back. He's taken sabbaticals before. I think of Thom and Edd often. Edd especially, because I drive past the Lake Forest exit on the freeway fairly often, and I never do so without thinking of Edd.

Will we ever know what happened to David? I emailed him several times. It never bounced, but I never got an answer. I hope the kidney thing is okay.

I was thinking about David not long ago also and wondering if all was well. I miss Edd's slightly curmudgeonly take on the baseball seasons among other things. And Thom's movie posts. Even never meeting these gentlemen in person -- it feels as though part of the family has gone. Whoever says no good has/does come of the internet just hasn't found the right niche. Our group was among the earliest out there and look at the core of friends which has evolved over the years.

I agree, Dottie. I did meet those men in person and what a treat. I also wish TONYA would reappear. I've phoned her a few times lately, but just get the answering machine. Her League of Women Voters work must have her tied up in knots.

I am currently reading DIVISADERO by Michael Ondaatje, and I have found several passages that should go here. Here is the first one.

"Everything is biographical," Lucian Freud says. What we make, why it is made, how we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget. Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border that we cross.

Isn't that true? We all contain bits of Edd, Thom, Pres and other Constant Readers. Since I am an avid reader of mysteries, it reminds me of the transfer of evidence. Wherever we go, we leave physical evidence that we have been there: a fingerprint, a thread, a hair. This is more about the transfer of a person into hearts.

Jane

That's some mighty fine writing yourself, MMe Jane.

Let us know later what you think of Divisadero.

What profound ideas, Jane. Yours included. I agree with Ruth, that your writing was worthy of Pres' Worthy Words.

And just for emphasis, Jane, I'm going to do this:

.... We all contain bits of Edd, Thom, Pres and other Constant Readers. Since I am an avid reader of mysteries, it reminds me of the transfer of evidence. Wherever we go, we leave physical evidence that we have been there: a fingerprint, a thread, a hair. This is more about the transfer of a person into hearts.

What a beautiful idea espressed in your last line. Pres Worthy beyond a doubt.

My kudos to you too, Jane.

I think there's a poem in there, Jane.

Thank you for the kind words, Sherry, Dottie, Barb, and Ruth. I had some other passages from DIVISADERO that I wanted to post about, but I didn't write the page numbers down. Tsk, tsk!

Jane

I would like to nominate this sentence by Wilhelmina from the "Why I Love to Read" thread:

One human being is so tiny, but with books, all of humanity falls open to you.

Congratulations, Mina. That is beautiful.

R

That is such a beautiful idea, Mina! Thank you for posting it for us, Philip.

Indeed.

Thanks, everyone. I'm honored.

All three look like quick reads, which suits my current 2 paragraph attention span.

Denise wrote the above ( I've added the emphsis there) in the What I Just Finished (no, not Finished, Put Down!) thread -- I THINK it was. See -- I'm not focused as I responded to her there wherever there was. I thought this was such a great description of what happens to all of us from time to time -- just want to read and can't concentrate but have to find a book that fits well enough that some kind of reading continues to happen.

Ruth Bavetta comment on a book review:

Housecleaning is like stringing beads with no knot on the end of the string.