Your posting about Elena Giorgio has inspired me to expand my reading selections. It pushes us off into the New Year where reading may be our only solace.
Dear Aimee, here's wishing you and your family the very Happiest of Holidays along with every joy and success in the coming year (regardless of all the insanity that we, as a nation, have decided to unleash upon ourselves).
Thank you for this essay: reading, I should add, is saving me. My world ended on September 22nd of last year when my beloved wife, Kitty Donohoe, who taught at Roosevelt Elementary School in Santa Monica for 34 years, succumbed to an aggressive, and currently incurable, uterine cancer. Would you believe that she received the dreadful diagnosis of her disease on June 12th, 2023, which was her very last day as a teacher before retiring. I will be eternally grateful, though, that she was able to achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a published author. Penguin Random House published Kitty’s picture book for children, “How to Ride a Dragonfly,” on May 23rd of last year. Kitty gave a triumphant reading of the book on May 27th at Children’s Book World, which was attended by an overflow crowd of students, former students, their parents, colleagues and friends. But who knew then that she would be gone less that four months later?
Kitty was a lifelong reader herself. You would hardly see her anywhere - even if in a line at a grocery store - without a book in her hands. Jane Austen was a particular favorite of hers. Perhaps Kitty saw a lot of that resilient, ever cheerful young woman in herself. And so my reading began with "Pride and Prejudice" and has continued, through Nabokov (one of my favorites for the lyricism of his prose) and Booker Prize winners to Professor Timothy Snyder's seminal book - one that is as much about history as it is about philosophy, "On Freedom." In keeping with Kitty's example, I try, of course, to write as well. But more about that at another time.
I'm looking forward to continuing our conversation over Zoom on January 4th.
Alas, Aimee, we had just 14 years together. We decided to get married on our second date. It is the best decision I could ever have made: I am the luckiest of men for I know what true love is.
Oh Homi. Such loving heartache. Kitty sounds like a wonderful person and you were lucky to have each other for so long. It’s lovely to hear that books have meant so much to you both. I hope you have family and friends to lift you up this season. Looking forward to seeing you too!🙏🏼
Your posting about Elena Giorgio has inspired me to expand my reading selections. It pushes us off into the New Year where reading may be our only solace.
Happy Christmas Marcy! Yes, deep reading can light the darkness. Much love to you 🎄
Dear Aimee, here's wishing you and your family the very Happiest of Holidays along with every joy and success in the coming year (regardless of all the insanity that we, as a nation, have decided to unleash upon ourselves).
Thank you for this essay: reading, I should add, is saving me. My world ended on September 22nd of last year when my beloved wife, Kitty Donohoe, who taught at Roosevelt Elementary School in Santa Monica for 34 years, succumbed to an aggressive, and currently incurable, uterine cancer. Would you believe that she received the dreadful diagnosis of her disease on June 12th, 2023, which was her very last day as a teacher before retiring. I will be eternally grateful, though, that she was able to achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a published author. Penguin Random House published Kitty’s picture book for children, “How to Ride a Dragonfly,” on May 23rd of last year. Kitty gave a triumphant reading of the book on May 27th at Children’s Book World, which was attended by an overflow crowd of students, former students, their parents, colleagues and friends. But who knew then that she would be gone less that four months later?
Kitty was a lifelong reader herself. You would hardly see her anywhere - even if in a line at a grocery store - without a book in her hands. Jane Austen was a particular favorite of hers. Perhaps Kitty saw a lot of that resilient, ever cheerful young woman in herself. And so my reading began with "Pride and Prejudice" and has continued, through Nabokov (one of my favorites for the lyricism of his prose) and Booker Prize winners to Professor Timothy Snyder's seminal book - one that is as much about history as it is about philosophy, "On Freedom." In keeping with Kitty's example, I try, of course, to write as well. But more about that at another time.
I'm looking forward to continuing our conversation over Zoom on January 4th.
Alas, Aimee, we had just 14 years together. We decided to get married on our second date. It is the best decision I could ever have made: I am the luckiest of men for I know what true love is.
Ach I’m sorry. I misread and thought you were together for 34. But still yes. You are right. To know true Love at all is a blessing.
Oh Homi. Such loving heartache. Kitty sounds like a wonderful person and you were lucky to have each other for so long. It’s lovely to hear that books have meant so much to you both. I hope you have family and friends to lift you up this season. Looking forward to seeing you too!🙏🏼