Gore Vidal, 86, RIP

Died July 31, 2012, in Los Angeles.

Oh, my goodness. Somehow, I thought he was immortal.

One of my favorite writers.

Never read him, but always enjoyed his television apperances as an opponent of the George W. Bush adminstration and all-around gadfly. He will be missed. :(

The news totally surprised me because I thought he'd died several years ago. Too bad I've no idea where I got that impression, but I'd accepted it as fact. Who else is still alive and I don't know it?

I am.

Me.

# 5 - Growing, growing, growing

Elvis.

So I was going to say, this means I still have your obituaries to look forward to? But then someone threw Elvis in there, and now I don't know what to think.

Obituaries can be fixed.

Just seems like over the last few years the world has lost some pretty fabulous writers. Gore Vidal was more than a writer; he was a legendary wit and always willing to share his viewpoint. Whether any of us agreed with it or not, it is clear he was always aware of the world around him and especially in his later years was not at all afraid to speak out. Even in his later years I remember seeing some of his interviews.

Over the last few years we have lost several great mystery authors; Stuart Kaminsky, Philp Craig and Robert B. Parker. I have read and enjoyed all their work and wish there were more books to come. They were writing up to the end; Robert Parker had some books written that are still being published. When those are out on the shelves there won't be anymore. While Philp R. Craig concentrated on one character, Stuart Kaminsky had several as did Robert Parker. I always enjoyed them all, although I have to admit that I preferred the Russian police officer that Stuart Kaminsky created and Spenser from Robert Parker. (Not about writing, but my friends and I enjoyed Tom Selleck as Jess Stone in the made-for-television movies!!!!)

Those of us who read classics are used to reading authors no longer with us. I would love to see Jane Austin still alive and writing. I would also love to see some other authors I enjoy still writing books for me to read and enjoy as I have their other works; like Dashielle Hammet (sp) and Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner. When I was younger I was a big fan of Perry Mason. They were predictable in their endings where the bad guys always got caught. In our real lives, then and now, that is not always the case. I know that every time I feel I need a lawyer, I wish I could just go to Perry Mason and he would fix my problems. (I could not afford him, and my problems are too small for him to consider, but I remain in denial about those minor points!!)

I am retired now and intend to spend some time researching these authors' lives and not just their works.

I have read extensively about F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had an English Professor in college that had us work on a project that would easily have qualified as at least a portion of a Master's Thesis, and Ichose to research and write about Fitzgerald. But in general some of us probably do not know the stories behind the stories. There are often books written with various viewpoints and it is going to be interesting to read some of them. For mystery fans like me, some of their lives and stories still hold mysteries unsolved (at least for me).

Although not a mystery writer, I have always wondered how many believe that "Julia" by Lillian Hellman is a true story and how many that she just made it up and claimed it was factual? There seem to be several viewpoints. Is there any definitive answer? Can there ever be with her gone? I know she claimed to the end that it really happened as she wrote it.

I have not read as much about Jane Austin as I have about Dashielle Hammet and so I don't understand what caused her to stop writing. I thought I read it was quite awhile before she actually died. I am going to add to my reading list more finding books that are more about her and her life; any ideas on good ones that you all may have read? What I know of her life seems to show a pretty bumpy road and so it is amazing the works she wrote. I guess she wanted the happy endings she wrote about, even though many had difficult hurdles to get over before the happy part started. And I really had to read her books several times to get the subtle humor although I am sure many got that on the first go around.

Anyway, readers today probably feel just as bad over the loss of our authors as those people did back then. When we have thoroughly enjoyed their published work, I know I feel a loss that there is not more to read and even more to come.

Oh man, I hadn't heard this! That's 2 in 2 days for me! :( :(

Certainly sad that Mr. Vidal has passed, but over the past several years it was painful to watch him suffer the indignities of old age.

One of my most treasured possessions is my first edition of Inventing a Nation that I mailed to him with a letter and he returned, inscribed.

For those interested: A website authorized by Gore Vidal (-contains much info since his death)

http://www.gorevidalnow.com