3/25/2007

Reading De Profundis, by Oscar Wilde.

The book was her ex-boyfriend's. He died two weeks ago of a heart attack. Oscar Wilde was one of his favorite authors--he loved him for his wit and cheekiness, for his plain living and high thinking. You can see his picture below. She made these up for his memorial service.


Here's a website where you can read some of his writing--he was a Fall 2004 STORM Writing Contest winner. The Kitchen Mouse is her favorite piece of his--I just read it and it is beautiful.

His favorite book was Little Big, by John Crowley. It's about an eccentric family that turns into fairies. She said that it took her several tries to get into it, due to the archaic language, but it's worth it after you start. She loved it, too, but is "more of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez, T.C. Boyle kind of gal."

From an email she wrote me the next day about De Profundis:
One more thing. We call Michael the "King of Coincidence". I didn't pay much mind to this particular book when we lived together. Just remembered it being there, though he encouraged me to read it. You finding me reading his book and then posting it on the net seems like a joke from the other side! Thanks for sharing THAT with me.