In Memoriam

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

Paddy Hill has died aged 80. He was one of the Birmingham Six, falsely convicted for pub bombings in Birmingham, England in 1974 and imprisoned for over 16 years before the conviction was quashed in 1991. He wrote a memoir about his experiences, and the Birmingham Six were the subject of a song by the Pogues/Shane McGowan.

https://belfastmedia.com/tributes-paid-to-birmingham-six-member-paddy-hill-80

David Lodge, novelist, academic and literary theorist, has died on 1 January aged 89. I've read quite a lot of his novels - my favourites are the trilogy of campus novels set at the University of Rummidge (which might be based on the University of Rummidge: Small World, Changing Places and Nice Work. Last year, I read the first volume of his memoirs, Quite a Good Time to be Born, which had been on my library TBR for absolutely ages - it was really interesting but I did find the writing a little clunky - I think his memoirs (3 volumes) were among his last books, written in his 80s.

Toronto writer Andrew Pyper has died.

I am reposting this because I wasn't paying attention the other day and originally posted it in last year's thread. Roni, hope you can repost your terrific photo here too:

So sad, for an old folkie like me. Peter Yarrow, RIP:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/news/peter-yarrow-of-folk-music-trio-pet...

I missed that too, Shelley. Here it is.



I have a photo of me with Peter in 2011 when he did a presentation at SDSU, but I can't find it. This was taken at the same time.

Always went to every PP&M concert within reach from the late 60s on. Album 1700, Late Again and Lifelines are my favorite albums, but I have them all.

Thanks, Roni.

Wow, lucky you! I have several of their albums, even some of their solo ones (his and Mary's, specifically). I never saw them perform live, though. Wish I had.

RIP author Marie Winn, author of the wonderful book, Red-Tails in Love, among others. Excellent obit, below:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/nyregion/marie-winn-dead.html

Hey, Shelley, I found it!

Thanks, Roni. How fun that must have been!

David Lynch

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/david-lynch-visionary-filmmaker-behind-twi...

>11 amanda4242: Very talented. Knew he was ill. I loved Twin Peaks.

And Bob Uecker died today, too.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/bob-uecker-hall-of-famer-and-legendary-br...

Dame Joan Plowright has left the building aged 95.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0dmve3zg9xo

>14 Caroline_McElwee: Awww....

>14 Caroline_McElwee: - A documentary was made a few years back with her, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins (the only one of the 4 I did not know of), called Nothing Like a Dame. A pure delight!

>16 jessibud2: For some reason it's also known as Tea with the Dames and I agree, it's delightful.

>16 jessibud2: >17 lauralkeet: Yes, that was lovely. I think only two left now, glad they got them all together.

The iconic labor organizer and women's rights activist Cecile Richards died yesterday of brain cancer.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/20/cecile-richards-planned-parenthood-dies-...

Jules Feiffer, Acerbic Cartoonist, Writer and Much Else, Dies at 95

Last Friday, according to the article

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/arts/jules-feiffer-dead.html?unlocked_article...

Irish poet Michael Longley has died aged 85:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/23/michael-longley-poet-dies-aged-85

Marianne Faithfull has died at 78:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHrsv0NVa6k

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/30/marianne-faithfull-towering-arti...

>22 elkiedee: An icon gone.

>21 Caroline_McElwee: That is sad, Caroline. I well remember and loved the Collected Poems of his you gifted me back in the day.

>22 elkiedee: Sad to hear, yes, Iconic.

Charlotte Raven has died.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jan/24/charlotte-raven-obituary

I feel quite sad about this - she was about the same age as me though she started at Manchester a year or two later, and my memory of the student union elections in that year is slightly different from what is reported here. I also really disliked what I saw of Derek Draper. But this is an interesting and thoughtful piece by a friend.

But both died shockingly young and in very difficult circumstances. Derek almost died of COVID in spring 2020, and never really recovered, dying in January 2024. Charlotte was told that she had Huntingdon's disease - a hereditary neurological condition - in 2005 (in her mid 30s) and became seriously ill within less than 10 years, I think.

I read Charlotte's memoir Patient 1: Forgetting and Finding Myself in 2021, and it was a thoughtful, moving account of discovering her condition, of a range of reactions to this before the illness really began to limit her life. The memoir also included her joining an experimental treatment trial, and her hopes for that.

Gene Hackman

AP article

>27 amanda4242: Sad and mysterious. I did not know he wrote novels.

>28 laytonwoman3rd: The circumstances make me think carbon monoxide poisoning.

>27 amanda4242: Oh no, I heard of his death this morning but not the circumstances. That's awful.

>29 amanda4242: Yeah, that's what I thought when I read it. Police are saying they don't think foul play was involved, so something like that is the likeliest answer.

>29 amanda4242: Yes, I thought that, mostly because the dog died as well.

Or perhaps, a gas leak. At least it was painless.
edited to add that now, they are saying that there are no initial signs of gas or carbon monoxide leaks so an investigation is underway.

Gene Hackman's cause of death has been revealed. Truly tragic.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/gene-hackman-and-wife-s-causes-of-death...

RIP Athol Fugard.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/mar/09/athol-fugard-south-african-politic...

Vampire Diaries author L. J. Smith

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/lj-smith-author-of-vampire-diaries-novels-dies...

Richard Chamberlain has died. Loved him in The Thorn Birds and Richard Lester's Musketeer movies.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/richard-chamberlain-heartthrob-king-of-the-...

>37 amanda4242: - Oh, this makes me sad. I loved him in many of his roles.

Awww, grew up with his work from a kid, but 90 is a fair age. I remember Shogun and Centennial as well as the shows mentioned above.

I fell in love with him as Dr. Kildare but also, I remember my favourite high school English teacher assigning us to watch his performance in Hamlet on tv after we studied it in her class. She was way ahead of her time in bringing us the films to watch after doing the books in class (that one, plus Kirk Douglas in *Lust for Life*, my first intro to Van Gogh).

>40 jessibud2: I thought KD was good as VVG Shelley. Very forward thinking teacher.

>41 Caroline_McElwee: - She really was, Caroline. This was in the late 1970s, long before VCRs, even. So assigning us tv as homework, to watch Chamberlain as Hamlet was so exciting! Not to mention, creative. She (Mrs. Lewis) was probably my real introduction to great literature and the wider world. We did both Hamlet and Macbeth in her class.

>37 amanda4242: In the 70s I saw Richard Chamberlain onstage in Cyrano, Night of the Iguana and Fathers and Sons. The last was at an equity waiver theater so small that he was maybe 20'-30' away. He was huge! Tall and lean, the force his personality was what I remember most about that performance. On screen there always seemed something sleek and muted about his presentation, but that night he was like a hurricane.

>43 quondame: Wow! I envy you!

>43 quondame: I remember seeing his Cyrano filmed for TV. I believe it was shown on PBS. I also got to see him in The Sound of Music on stage, when it was touring. Our seats weren't close enough to be that aware of his size.

>45 atozgrl: Now that would have been a Captain von Trapp worth taking on a passel of brats for.

>43 quondame: What a great experience Susan.

Sad to see that the Irish thriller writer Ken Bruen has passed away aged 74.

Mark recommended his books to me in my early days in the group and his book The Guards is recommended to lovers of hard boiled detective stories.

Also sad to read of the passing of the American movie actor Val Kilmer in his 60's due to pneumonia.

>49 PaulCranswick: Yeah, that one got to me. I really liked Val Kilmer, he was a talented actor, and I was very sad about the health problems he’d had, and to die at only 65 is just too soon.

>50 PawsforThought: Much too young. He first came to my attention when he married Joanne Whalley, an English actress that I had a huge crush on.

>51 PaulCranswick: I think my favourite of his films is Thunderheart.

>52 PawsforThought: I thought he was convincing as Jim Morrison

>53 PaulCranswick: Oh, absolutely he was terrific. Biographies are not my favourite genre though.

>49 PaulCranswick: Sad to hear that. He was brilliant in Tombstone.

>53 PaulCranswick: Me too Paul.

>48 PaulCranswick: I know that Mark recommended Bruen to me as well and I picked up one of his books, which is still sitting in this very room unread. *sigh*

I first heard of Ken Bruen when he was on a panel at an event called Crime Scene in London, and bought The Guards, the first book in his Jack Taylor series. A little later I met him at a crime fiction convention in the US. I met him a few times and he was a really lovely guy. His books are full of literary references, especially the Jack Taylor books and some of his earlier standalones, some with titles like Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice and Rilke on Black.

>49 PaulCranswick: Val Kilmer was a poet too...he got into Juilliard on the strength of a poem he wrote at the age of 17. It must have been in his genes--he was a second cousin, twice removed, of Joyce Kilmer.

Jan Van Leeuwen has died. Loved her Amanda and Oliver Pig books when my daughter was young. I would not have known her name, though, I'm sad to say.

Actress and author, Jean Marsh has died aged 90. She came to prominence in the 1970s in the series Upstairs Downstairs and wrote the novel The House of Elliot another TV series that my late mother adored.

Artist and writer, Robyn Kahukiwa has died aged 87 years.
https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/04/12/respected-artist-and-political-activist-ro...

She wrote some marvellous picturebooks for children, several books weaving in Maori myth and legend and was a famous artist. Only a couple of weeks ago I bought her latest collection of stories to gift to Israeli relatives who were visiting New Zealand.

Mario Vargas-Llosa has died at 89. He has been my favorite of the South American magical realists, and I could wear a black armband for him.

>63 LizzieD: I didn't see that yet, Peggy. That is huge news although he was a fine age.

>63 LizzieD: Oh dear, I set a personal challenge to read 5 more of his books this year. I read The Storyteller in January and have his Time of the Hero on a slow read at present.

Yes, sad loss, but fine age for. MV-L

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg41r4kx0lko

Sad to hear. I have not managed to read any of Vargas Llosas's work yet, but have several on my TBR.

I liked the only book by him I've read, The Dream of the Celt, a novel about a real historical character, Sir Roger Casement. But I'm put off reading other books by his political outlook. I find it hard to understand how someone who wrote so interestingly about the brutality of early 20th century British colonialism as late as 2010 also supported figures like Bolsonaro and the current president of Argentina.

>68 elkiedee: It is really difficult to understand (and he's not the only one that awakens such thoughts). Maybe it's easier to view the past with an objective and honest frame of mind than to do the same to the time and situation you yourself are living in, especially if you are in some way benefitting from the way things are.

>68 elkiedee: That was my question too, and I have no answer. The War of the End of the World is such an amazing book that I can't conceive of his sending flowers in sorrow at M. Thatcher's death, but it is so. I seem to love the works of really damaged and poor excuses for human beings like Dickens and Paul Scott. I have to be grateful for the humanity in their books, I guess.

>61 PaulCranswick: I am sorry to hear that, Paul. We loved her in Upstairs, Downstairs.

Author Andrew Gross died on April 10, 2025. I saw an announcement by James Patterson. Patterson had a webpage for his co-author to tell his story, which is rather rough reading: https://bit.ly/3XnpjiS

There is also this notice https://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2025/04/andrew-gross-rip.html

Kerry Greenwood died on March 26. She was the author of the Phryne Fisher mysteries, and while I didn't read any of them, I really enjoyed the TV series.

>73 bell7: Oh, no! I was just wondering yesterday if there would be any more Miss Fisher books coming out soon, as she had picked them back up again a few years ago (to my incredible delight). She seems to have been a wonderful person, and the world will be poorer without her in it.

As deaths often lead to reissues and republications, I do hope the publishers will reissue her books in hardbacks following this. I’d love to have the complete Miss Fisher series, but they’re only available in paperback (save the very newest ones).

>75 laytonwoman3rd: While it wasn’t a surprise considering his health concerns recently, it’s still sad to hear. I’m sad for all the Catholic people in the world today.
As a staunch atheist raised in a secular/Lutheran society, popes have not had much influence in my life, but Francis seemed like a genuinely nice person who truly cared for others and wanted to make a change for good in the world and in the Catholic Church. He visited Sweden some years ago to take part in the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Swedish reformation - which is quite remarkable and not something I can imagine any previous pope doing.

>75 laytonwoman3rd: Robert Reich has a beautiful online testimonial to Pope Francis.

Sure hope the next Pope follows his lead.

>77 m.belljackson: I just saw that, Marianne. The world, and not just the Catholic world, certainly needs a worthy successor to this Pope.

RIP Jane Gardam. A long life lived, many fine books birthed.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/29/jane-gardam-author-of-old-filth-an...

Aw....I just ordered one of her books on Independent Bookshop Day.

>79 Caroline_McElwee: Too bad. I know that I really enjoyed Old Filth when I read it several years ago.

>79 Caroline_McElwee: That's another sad loss that I wouldn't have known about had you not posted here. Thank you, Caroline.

I kinda think this qualifies for a memorial post: RIP SKYPE

>83 laytonwoman3rd: The first doesn't always end up as the best, Linda. I use both Microsoft Teams and Zoom regularly nowadays.

>83 laytonwoman3rd: ha ha indeed it does. Skype was an amazing innovation when first released, and its "descendants" are now ubiquitous.

Alan Yentob RIP. Gone too soon. I learnt so much about so many talented people from his documentaries.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8dp75gw8lo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdr5y3lxrmlo

I've really enjoyed some of his interviews on Imagine, reshown on BBC Four, recently

Peter David, a very prolific author in the science fiction realm, has left the building Saturday. Reported on Bill Mumy's Facebook page.

Author Ngugi wa Thiong'o has died at the age of 87.

NPR article about his death.

>89 PawsforThought: For what it is worth Paws, I think it is shameful that both Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong'o were both overlooked for the Nobel Prize.

An absolute titan of literature and especially for the promotion of literature written in the language of him.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce999kwxn1ro

Two other writers who have recently passed away seemingly unnoticed are:

Aidan Chambers - who Postcards from No-Mans Land is considered a classic of YA fiction.

and poet Paul Durcan who is very unfairly never listed when post war best poets are listed.

>91 PaulCranswick: I saw Paul Durcan read many times Paul, must revisit his work.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/27/paul-durcan-obituary

>91 PaulCranswick: I've read several of Aidan Chambers books. He was a great writer and supporter of childrens literature.

I have Postcards from No-Man's Land on the shelves somewhere and might hunt it down this month.

RIP Edmund White.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jun/04/edmund-white-novelist-dies

>91 PaulCranswick: Do you know of the LT group Written in Stone: The Literary Cemetery, Paul and Caroline? I think you'd be helpful there. It's focused on people who have published any kind of book but I do add posts about anyone else who has contributed to the culture and may have influenced writers, eg musicians and cultural figures like Alan Yentob, and no one has objected. Recommended for obituary nerds.

I think I posted there about Aidan Chambers. I know I loved at least one of his books but I read it when I was a teenager, time to see what I have and reread perhaps.

>96 elkiedee: Ooo, I'll take a look later Luci, thanks.

Barry Longyear:

https://locusmag.com/2025/06/barry-b-longyear-1942-2025/

I remember sitting in a sparsely populated theater to watch "Enemy Mine", based on Longyear's novella of the same title. It affected me much.

>98 swynn: Longyear helped spark my reinterest in science fiction after a several year break. I started reading some of his stories in the earliest issues of Asimov's magazine and would look forward to his next appearance. This was circa 1980. Enemy Mine was a powerful story and film and was the first story of his that I read.

Thanks for noticing this Steve.

Marc Garneau- first Canadian astronaut, former member of Parliament, Transportation Minister and Foreign Minster of Canada

>100 torontoc:- I saw that on the news today. He was such an accomplished man, and , according to most things I've read, a truly decent human being. Quite a shock.

I just read The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa and noticed that she died in Dec 2024 but was not mentioned in this or last year's thread.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bapsi-sidhwa-parsi-writer-who-took-parti... -

Adding: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/10/bapsi-sidhwa-obituary
'The author Bapsi Sidhwa, who has died aged 86, was one of the first English-language authors from Pakistan to receive international acclaim. With her five novels, she gave readers across the English-speaking world an insight into the Parsi community from which she came, as well as a child’s-eye view of the horrors of partition in 1947.'

Looking up Bapsi Sidhwa and seeing if anyone posted on Written in Stone.

I've copied and pasted your post there, Kerry.

She sounds interesting, and one of her novels was apparently on a Commonwealth Jubilee list published a few years ago, so I might see if the libraries still stock copies at some point.

>103 elkiedee: I hadn't heard of her before I picked up her book for a TIOLI challenge, really enjoyed reading The Crow Eaters. I didn't know about the history of the Parsi community in India & Pakistan.
My library copy was a 2025 edition so hopefully more of her books will be re-published.

Frederick Forsyth, author of the classic thriller The Day of the Jackel has died at the age of 86.

This one hurts a bit extra.

Brian Wilson, the musical genius behind the Beach Boys, has died at the age of 82.

>106 PawsforThought: - He certainly was a genius and had a lot to overcome in his life. But what a legacy he left behind. RIP, Brian WIlson.

Sly Stone passed away at the age of 82. Since I had listened to a couple of albums this year and on the recommendation of a couple of folks here, I watched the documentary Questlove did (Sly Lives! on Hulu) a couple of days ago and highly recommend it

Alfred Brendel, piano icon, dies at 94.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/17/celebrated-pianist-and-writer-alfr...

Anne Burrell at the age of 55 passed away today, cause of death is unknown

>109 Caroline_McElwee: I hadn't heard that, Caroline. Thank you for the information. He was the first interpreter of big Beethoven that I heard as a child listening to a friend's family LPs. I would have guessed that he had been long dead.

>111 LizzieD: I was making my way through the Beethoven a few years back, need to get back to it Lizzie.

>111 LizzieD: I also would have thought Brendel died long ago. My husband used to argue with a classmate (both of them music minors in college) over whose interpretation of the Beethoven sonatas was "better". The classmate held out for Brendel. We prefer Claudio Arrau.

>113 laytonwoman3rd: At my great age, Linda, I also prefer Arrau. Brendel was my gold standard for years though.

Author Paulette Jiles died on July 8 in Texas.

>115 jessibud2: Hadn't heard that. As so often happens when an author dies, this will bump her books up the TBR.

>115 jessibud2: That is too bad. She wrote some great books.

RIP Martin Cruz Smith.

>118 bell7: Oh bad. At least he got to see his last Arkady Renko published.

>118 bell7: sad news. My wife has read most of his books and he is a favorite author of hers. I think I only read nightwings circa 1980.

Sadly poet Andrea Gibson died of cancer on 14 July aged 49. I loved their work, and due to a nudge from JoeW got to see them when they were performing in London in 2019.

Sad to see that another of my mum's old favourites, Connie Francis, has passed away. The first lady solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 she eventually had a life tinged with tragedy. She was sexually assaulted at knife point in 1974 and tried to kill herself in the aftermath.

This is her performing "Where the Boys Are" on the Ed Sullivan Show. She was 87.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sccTzpFfPaE&list=RDsccTzpFfPaE&start_rad...

Ozzy Osbourne

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/ozzy-osbourne-who-led-black-sabbath-and-bec...

RIP Cleo Laine. Great voice, fine age to achieve.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce78ddyjl76o

>124 Caroline_McElwee: We were driving home from running errands this afternoon, and NPR ran a story about Cleo Laine. Now I know why. They played some amazing clips that showed the range of her voice.

Satirist Tom Lehrer has died at 97:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpv02yd2714o

>126 jessibud2: Tom Lehrer's lyrics are among the first I remember - I was singing them before I knew what most of them meant!

>127 quondame: Yep, he was a family favorite in our house, too. So many great lyrics. I can remember watching Electric Company with my kids and recognizing Lehrer's voice and style on songs, like "Silent E":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91BQqdNOUxs

I stumbled across a story about Dan Pelzer. Who just recently passed at the age of 92.

During his lifetime, from 1962 til 2025 he kept track of every book he read. The list stops in 2023 with 3,599 books, but he probably read close to 5,000. Virtually all of them were borrowed from the library.

His family wanted to honor who he was at his funeral, and wanted to share his list. But since his journal was 100+ pages, that wasn't logistically feasible. So they created a web page.

https://what-dan-read.com/

It was a little confusing at first, just click on each page and it will flip to the next. Some of the pages are a little hard to read, but it was fascinating just skimming thru them. I want to read his list more in depth. I definitely saw some that I have read as well.

He would have fit right in with this group.

>129 mahsdad: Amazing to have noted all those books and that the family appreciated his reading enough to publish the list.

>129 mahsdad: Fascinating, will explore the link. Thanks for posting.

>129 mahsdad: What a treasure! Thank you for the link!

>129 mahsdad: Thanks for that, Jeff. He certainly would have fitted right in with all of us here wouldn't he?

Some of the pages are a bit difficult to decipher but what a wonderful document.

I need to slowly go through it and look for shared reads!

>129 mahsdad: How cool! I see he started to add dates in 1965 and typed entries makes reading easier!

Long time Chicago Cub, Ryne Sandberg, passed away today at age 65. He was the author of Ryno!

https://www.mlb.com/news/ryne-sandberg-dies

>133 PaulCranswick: Me too. Well you know me with lists. The first thing I wanted to do was figure how to get this out of an image and into a spreadsheet and see how many I've read :)

What Dan Read - redux

The Columbus Library did the heavylifting and created a spreadsheet. Here's their PDF that has a link to the Excel

https://www.columbuslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/What-Dan-Read-Booklis...

Jeannie Seely has died. A classy, admirable lady with Pennsylvania roots. I will miss listening to her "Sundays with Seely" country music show during Sunday road trips. RIP dear lady.

“I think of myself as a feminist,” {Ms Seely} explained. “My idea of ‘feminist’ is to make sure that women have the same choices that men have always had, and that we are respected for our roles — whatever they are — as much as any man is respected for his.”

Greg Iles has died, much too young. I read just one of his books, and wished for a sterner editor, but I think he was a storyteller of the sort I usually enjoy.

Terence Stamp - 1960's Icon and entrancing actor has passed away at the age of 87.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/17/terence-stamp-the-mesmerisingly-sed...

The "Terry and Julie" referenced in possibly my favourite ever song, 'Waterloo Sunset' is thought to refer to Stamp and Christie who were lovers back in the day. I loved his portrayal of the seducer in Far from the Madding Crowd.

RIP Graham Greene A marvelous talent, lost much too soon.

>141 laytonwoman3rd: - Yes, we saw that here yesterday. 73 is still way too young!

>141 laytonwoman3rd: Oh, how sad. 73 is definitely too young. He was such a great actor, and I always liked seeing him pop up on the screen

>141 laytonwoman3rd: I was very sorry to hear this. I very much enjoyed Greene as an actor.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro died on 8/31.

https://locusmag.com/2025/09/chelsea-quinn-yarbro-1942-2025/

>145 amanda4242: I have to say that I have never heard of the lady. I will have to see if I can track down something of hers to read - staying away from the horror stuff though :)

>146 alcottacre: Her vampire books are only technically horror: they're historical novels that have a vampire protagonist, so you have the same person experiencing thousands of years of history. Think Highlander with an immortal who occasionally takes a few sips of blood from a willing partner.

ETA: Stick to the first dozen or so Saint-Germain books, as they become very cookie cutter after that.

>147 amanda4242: Thanks for the heads up, Amanda!

>148 alcottacre: No problem!

I do vaguely remember that Hôtel Transylvania has kind of gothic horror thing going on, but it's more Hammer horror than gory.

>149 amanda4242: Hammer horror I can handle. I do not do gory.

Beloved Canadian, Ken Dryden, hockey legend, lawyer, politician and author of 6 books, dies at 78:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cw-4XlcY2k

Rest in peace, good man.

New Zealand writer Kelly Ana Morey died 01 September after a short illness, only 57 years.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/07/a-portrait-of-kelly-ana-1968-2025/

>152 avatiakh: Eek, only a tiny bit older than me.

That's a lovely article from a former lover, which even includes a shelfie which definitely makes me want to read her work - though I don't know whether any of it is available here - some really good books on there.

There are also memories of her from several writer friends including Catherine Chidgey here:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/06-09-2025/kelly-ana-morey-remembered-by-catherin...

>153 elkiedee: I think she was beloved of the books community and one of those writers who never has much luck. Braunias is well esteemed in the community as a great wordsmith in his role as editor, reviewer & journalist. I thought it was a lovely article as well.
Regarding Morey, I don't think I've read any of her fiction though have a couple of her books in my tbr piles. I read her How to read a book which is part of a series by Awa Press. Braunias wrote How to Watch a Bird and I used to give that book as a gift for a while as it was so entertaining.

A lot of the big names in publishing have closed their New Zealand offices and now publish New Zealand writers from Australia. Smaller publishers have popped up here but inevitably it's harder to get published.

>153 elkiedee: Today I found an ARC of her second novel Grace is Gone & Bloom in my NZ book stash that I've been cleaning out....and a review of her first book at the ANZ LitLovers blog
https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/07/14/bloom-2003-by-kelly-ana-morey/

Robert Redford has died at 89.

>156 lauralkeet: - Rest in peace, Sir. Another classic, gone

>156 lauralkeet: Oh my goodness, isn't time inexorable. My late mum adored Redford and Newman.

>156 lauralkeet: This one hurts my heart. I’ve adored Redford since I was a teenager (my mum introduced me to him) - he was truly one of the best.

Dear Bob. A good innings, will be missed but left a rich breadth of work both sides of the camera, and environmentally. RIP.

I recall getting a book about decorating from the library. It was a book about the gala homes of movie stars. The one we really liked was Robert Redford's place and it was the only one not done by a pro! He chose all the things personally that he loved and that impressed us and it looked like a home not a show place!

Favourite Redford movie .....Jeremiah Johnson. Loved that film.

>162 PaulCranswick: My parents are both fans of that one. I've always had a fondness for Inside Daisy Clover.

Jane Goodall has passed away at the age of 91.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/obituaries/jane-goodall-dead.html?unlocked_ar...

>164 klobrien2: - Oh no. She was a hero of mine. I have seen her speak 3 times, here in Toronto and have read most of her books. Her work was astounding, on so many levels.

>164 klobrien2: "while on a speaking tour"! Considering her age it's not surprising, but she kept going until the end.

>164 klobrien2: One of my heroines too. I had the chance to hear her speak, and it led me to undertake a late degree in Environment and international affairs.

I'm very sad that Brian Patten, the youngest of the three poets whose work was published in the 1960s collection, The Mersey Sound, has died aged 79.

>167 Caroline_McElwee: They don't make them like Jane Goodall anymore and good for you, Caroline. I'm also thinking of taking another degree part time when I go back to the UK.

>168 elkiedee: I have the brilliant Mersey Sound collection by Penguin Modern Poets featuring him, Brian Patten and Roger McGough. Another of the good guys gone.

>164 klobrien2: I got tears in my eyes when I saw that - she was such an incredible person and one of my life’s big heroes.

Jilly Cooper has passed away at 86.

I must admit that I haven't read any of her books but there was a time that you would always see her books at the beach or by the swimming pool seemingly as an ideal holiday companion.

I know that @johnsimpson was a fan of her books

>171 PaulCranswick: 88

I haven't (yet) read any of her books but have picked up a few as Kindle bargains. I'd never realised she had a West Yorkshire connection until today.

Philosopher John Searle passed on September 17. Searle proposed the "Chinese room" thought experiment, which challenges some operational definitions of intelligence. It's an experiment formulated before the Internet, but the recent explosion of LLM tools like ChatGPT has only made the experiment even more relevant. I was introduced to it in Searle's Great Courses lectures on The Philosophy of Mind way back in the late 1990s. I think about ideas from that lecture series frequently.

>171 PaulCranswick: >172 elkiedee: I only read a couple of her very early books as a teenager.

>173 swynn: I remember that experiment when I was doing a short philosophy course years ago.

I am more sad about Brian Patten.

175 Awww. RIP Brian.

>175 elkiedee: I wouldn't perhaps have put it in such as direct a way Luci because I didn't know either of them but I am very familiar with Brian Patten's work and being a lover of poetry it does affect me personally more too.

It is very touching that on his website he used to put up a "poem of the month" and the final one was called "Pipe Dream" which starts with sad prescience:

If I could choose the hour in which
Death chooses me
And the way in which
It will make its arbitrary choice
I can think of nothing better than
To fall asleep near midnight
In a boat as it enters a new port,
In a boat with a clarity of stars
Above and below it;
And all around me
Bright music and voices
Singing in a language
Not known to me.

I didn't know either personally but I haven't (yet) read any Jilly Cooper though I might well do so, whereas I read some of Brian Patten's work quite often when I was younger.

What Jane Goodall said about trump and musk - to be released after her death - is unforgettable.

>179 m.belljackson: Yes, clapping dear Jane.

>179 m.belljackson: - What was it, Marianne?

>181 jessibud2: It's long, but it starts by saying that she would "launch trump and musk into space..."

It's gone viral up now on a Search!

Ivan Klima has died at 94 years.
'One of the great Czech writers of the 20th century, Ivan Klima, died over the weekend at his home in Prague, at the age of 94. Klima lived an incredible, principled life, having survived both the Nazi concentration camp at Terezin as a boy, and post-1968 Soviet repression in Czechoslovakia.'
https://lithub.com/ivan-klima-the-best-czech-novelist-of-his-generation-has-died...
https://english.radio.cz/a-witness-a-crazy-century-remembering-writer-ivan-klima...

...and I missed that New Zealand writer Maurice Gee died at 93 years back in June.
'Maurice Gee, who has died aged 93, was one of New Zealand’s most respected writers. For over 50 years, in more than 30 novels and stories, Gee mapped what he saw as the violent and sordid character of New Zealand society in psychologically complex narratives marked by unsatisfactory relationships and the rigid expectations of a conformist era.'
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/564192/respected-kiwi-writer-maurice-gee-has...
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/16-06-2025/dear-maurice-i-miss-you-tributes-to-ma...
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2025/jul/02/maurice-gee-obituary

I've read lots of his books. He wrote for adults and children and several were made into films.

>184 avatiakh: Saddened to see that, Kerry and I missed it too. I really enjoyed his book Crime Story.

>183 avatiakh: I stopped by to post about Ivan Klima's passing. Both he and Kundera can be said to have merited the Nobel Prize. I really appreciated his Love and Garbage.

He was just a singer (and a songwriter) in a rock and roll band. John Lodge of the Moody Blues died unexpectedly, still on tour despite his 82 years of age. He was scheduled to perform near me in Napa in December. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/john-lodge-obituary-moody-blues-s.... Justin Hayward, the last of the moodies, is still performing also.

>186 RBeffa: I'm sorry to hear that. I always liked their music.

But we've also lost Diane Keaton. https://apnews.com/article/diane-keaton-dead-d2f890b961fb906cfbbbab4b7af309c6

>187 atozgrl: One of the great American actresses. She made quirky attractive.

>188 PaulCranswick: She was quirky. I have to say that I didn't care for "Annie Hall" but "Something's Gotta Give" is one of my favorite movies.

Susan Stamberg. One of those people whose name conjures up her voice in my head. I hope to never forget it.

>190 laytonwoman3rd: I know, Linda. I am there with you.

The much revered Norwegian author Roy Jacobsen has passed away at the age of 70 from complications following surgery.

His books were nominated for a number of international awards including the International Booker. Usually svelte novels but packing a gentle emotional impact.

Judy Taylor, an expert on Beatrix Potter and a children's literature editor at Bodley Head UK has died earlier this month at age 93.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/oct/07/judy-taylor-obituary

She came to New Zealand for a visit in the early 2000's and I attended a cosy evening chat where she shared some insights into Beatrix Potter and her life with our group.
I have a copy of her Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman.

Christopher Gortner, author of numerous historical fiction novels, under the name of C.W. Gortner died of a sudden heart attack on October 25. He was a friend, and he was only 57 years old.

>194 Chatterbox: Condolences on the loss of your friend. And of his future books.

Marina Lewycka has died at 79

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/13/marina-lewycka-british-ukrainian-a...

I'm sad to read this - I really enjoyed her novels.

>194 Chatterbox: Wow, so young. I am sorry, Suzanne.

Tom Stoppard has died. A lot of fans here, I believe.

>199 laytonwoman3rd: Aw, that’s sad to hear. What a talented man he was.

I have Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead staring at me from my shelves. I’ll have to work it into my planned reads in his honour.

>200 PawsforThought: one of my favourite playwrights. RIP Sir Tom.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74xe49q7vlo

I was a huge fan of Tom Stoppard too. He will be much missed. RIP.

My favourite architect has left the building, RIP. Frank Gehry, you got to 96.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y2p22z9gno

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qlgx275jqo

>203 Caroline_McElwee: As a chap who has to manage projects of this scale I am probably lucky that I never got tasked into bringing one of his creations to life - The Guggenheim Bilbao must have been inordinately difficult to build. PNB118 was a challenge with its 118 floors, its complex belt-truss steel structures and its glass box observation decks sitting 530 metres above ground level. Marina Bay Sands was a technical nightmare with three inclined towers having a faux sailing boat sitting above them. But Gehry was something else entirely.

>204 PaulCranswick: He was indeed Paul. The Guggenheim is just a stunner. I couldn't stop photographing it when I was there, and it changed constantly as the light changed on its titanium shell.

Sad to see Gehry go. Loved his stuff. As Paul said, I'm sure actually building his works had to be intense. We are lucky enough to have a Gehry in San Pedro. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium was designed by him early in his career.


(not my photo)

Also there's my favorite LA building ... The Walt Disney Concert Hall


(this is my photo)

Daniel Woodrell died recently. Never an easy read, but none better if you like "country noir"--his own term for the kind of fiction he gave us in his much-too-short life.

Sophie Kinsella has died at 55. She wrote the Shop-a-holic books.

>208 raidergirl3: So young!! I read several of the Shopaholic books back in the day. They were just for fun books.

>208 raidergirl3: Her most recent book, What Does it Feel Like, was the quasi-autobiographical story of a woman with the same # of children as she has diagnosed with a malignant glioblastoma, so I have been fearing to hear this news....

>209 alcottacre: >210 Chatterbox: I know she is known best for the Shopaholic books, but her books Twenties Girl and Remember Me?, both stand alones, were the ones I liked best. I'll look for What Does it Feel Like

>211 raidergirl3: I agree; I much preferred the stand-alone books. The first two Shopaholic books were fun, but after that, the idea no longer appealed to me. The stand alones were/are fun.

I haven't read all the Shopaholic books yet, but of those I did read, I thought the best were #4 and #5 - Shopaholic and Sister and Shopaholic and Baby - the latter was about pregnancy and it was quite funny on how pregnant women are subjected to the hard sell - I appreciate this might not appeal to all readers and that perhaps #4 would have a broader appeal among those who get that far in the series.

John Varley passed the other day. Science Fiction writer. A favorite of mine. His Gaean Trilogy, as well as the collection series Persistence of Vision are particular favorites of mine.

https://locusmag.com/2025/12/john-varley-1947-2025/

Poet Charles Coe passed away recently.

Joanna Trollope, whom I never read but have heard of, died yesterday.

Guardian Obituary

>216 LizzieD: I read her The Book Boy a few years ago but nothing else. It was part of a novella series for non-reading adults and about a wife who has hidden her illiteracy from family members but finally decides to learn to read. I also marked her Mum & Dad as a possible read mainly because it was set in Spain.

>216 LizzieD: I am going to see if I can find my copy of Second Honeymoon and give it a read in tribute.

I've read a few Joanna Trollope books and have many TBR. A lot have come up as Kindle deals and I've downloaded all 22 of them on my newest Kindle, along with a lot of Sophie Kinsella's work.

>216 LizzieD: Sorry to hear this. I've really enjoyed many of Joanna Trollope's novels, and can recommend many of them.

Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0np02znezo

>221 amanda4242: - Just heart sick over this.

>222 jessibud2: Yes.

>222 jessibud2: I feel the same way.

>221 amanda4242: Rob & Michele's kids went to the same school as my daughter and I met them at events a few times. He even complimented her 6yr old acting! (Of course his son Jake should have gotten the part of Elephant-child, but it was by draw not talent.)

From her own thread, I have just seen the very sad news that we've lost one of our own group. Caroline McElwee has died of a short illness just before Christmas. I met her a couple of times in real life, and she very kindly posted a couple of books to me a few years ago. I will very much miss her thoughtful reviews and her posts about her reading.

>226 elkiedee: Very sad indeed, Luci. She was a lovely person and had unerringly great taste. I am heartbroken.

>226 elkiedee: Oh, no! That is just terrible news. Heartbroken does not even begin to cover how I feel. She was such an encouragement to me personally.

>226 elkiedee: I am so very sorry and sad to read this. This will be such a loss to our group. I read Caroline's thread very regularly and so admired her.

Brigitte Bardot has passed away aged 91.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly92pr8qryo

>226 elkiedee: Oh no. Is there any way to send sympathy to her family? We are much poorer here without Caroline.

>231 LizzieD: I'm not sure, but I think Caroline's sister may at some point have access to her LT account, so either a message on her 75ers thread, or on her profile page might be seen.

Thank you, Linda.

Tatiana Schlossberg, daughter of Caroline Kennedy:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/30/politics/tatiana-schlossberg-dead

She was a published author and environmental journalist. The Kennedy family truly is cursed by tragedy.