Tears
I am devastated. While researching a horse breed for my work-in-progress, my thoughts naturally turned to one of the top-five nonfiction books of my life: Sacred Horses: Memoirs of a Turkmen Cowboy by Jonathan Maslow. Released in 1994, my copy of this unbelievable book has survived multiple moves, marriages, and pregnancies. It has been packed and unpacked, and though I am a chronic book-giver, gifting my hardcover and paperback books to anyone who wants to read them, it is one I have never, EVER even loaned to another human being. I read it. I re-read it. Sometimes, I just touch the cover.
So while researching, I decided to see what this wondrous author was up to. And I found out he died of cancer two months ago.
I am literally in tears. THAT is how much the book has meant to me. It is out of print, but believe me, so worth tracking down for his humor, his edge, his beautiful writing. I feel utterly bereft. Like losing a friend. That he wrote about nature makes it even more poignant. He was writing about nature and the rain forest before most of us even began to worry about "going green" or global warming. His writing was witty, alive, vibrant.
So my friends, this blog post is dedicated to one of the most brilliant writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. And it's with the hope, the idea, that his writing lives on.
I am including a "sacred horse" in my Magickeepers series. I believe the horse has just been named Maslow.
Thanks for reading this. Only other lovers of words can understand, I think.
Peace,
E
So while researching, I decided to see what this wondrous author was up to. And I found out he died of cancer two months ago.
I am literally in tears. THAT is how much the book has meant to me. It is out of print, but believe me, so worth tracking down for his humor, his edge, his beautiful writing. I feel utterly bereft. Like losing a friend. That he wrote about nature makes it even more poignant. He was writing about nature and the rain forest before most of us even began to worry about "going green" or global warming. His writing was witty, alive, vibrant.
So my friends, this blog post is dedicated to one of the most brilliant writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. And it's with the hope, the idea, that his writing lives on.
I am including a "sacred horse" in my Magickeepers series. I believe the horse has just been named Maslow.
Thanks for reading this. Only other lovers of words can understand, I think.
Peace,
E
Labels: favorite books, Jonathan Maslow
posted by Erica Orloff at 6:44 PM
13 Comments:
Hugs.
I understand the love. And the loss. Tears are an amazing gift to give.
Losing an author can be like losing a friend, even if you've never met or communicated with the person. I've also been disheartened to learn that an author I'd just discovered had already gone to Heaven.
What is it with that lead Amazon review?
Hi Heather and Sarah:
Thanks. I only feel this way about one or two authors/books. I was very, very sad when Terry Pratchett announced he had Alzheimer's.
A lot of the other writers I like are already long deceased. Jane Austen or Dickens. So I guess I simply don't feel that way--I don't expect their body of work to increase as they continue spinning their gifts.
Hi Stephen:
Books were ALWAYS my friends more than people when I was younger. And really beloved books? Hard to describe how I feel.
As for that lead review . . . I cannot imagine. The reviewer seems most upset that Maslow embraced the experience so fully, and for that reader I guess, that seemed disrespectful. For me, just the travelogue of Soviet Russia and how impossible it was and only through bribery . . . to get to where he wanted to go was worth it. Very comical.
E
"Sometimes, I just touch the cover."
Ohmigosh, I do this to books ALL the time. I didn't know anyone else did! When I'm writing, sometimes I just have to have certain books at my side. I don't open them, but they keep me company. I tell DH I have to go get my "friends."
That's so sad to hear. I had that reaction to Heath Ledger's death, too. And there are authors I know I will just sob for when they die.
Hi Spy:
I don't know why . . . but yes, I like my "friends" around, too. In my old house, I had a bookshelf behind my desk and a VERY SELECT five or six books made that shelf.
Sacred Horses was one. Two Hemingways that belonged to my mom. And a prayer book that belonged to my grandma. And a Daphne Du Maurier.
E
I'm so sad for you, Erica. I, too, have special books and touch them. I brought a copy from mom's house that was Kathleen Woodiwiss's, Shanna. I love that book, and having my mom's copy is very special to me. I've even slept with a book beneath my pillow before.
One day, I hope to find a copy of this book of yours, and read his beautiful prose. I love magic.
I love that you're calling your Magic Horse 'Maslow.' What a fitting tribute.
I understand (if only minimally) what you feel. I fell in love with a book "Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine" last year. It's a children's book, written in the 1960s. I LOVED the writing. I read it over and over to my children. Then I googled the author and discovered she passed away in the 1980s. My heart fell to the floor. I was literally in shock. I know that's crazy. I guess it's in expecting someone to be there, in the most basic sense, alive.
But, I'm glad that your story didn't end with you losing this book, which is where I thought this was going. Have you tried sending a letter to a family member, saying how much the book meant to you? I'll bet it would mean to the world....
I so understand. When someone touches your life like this their passing is always hard.
Its like losing a good friend.
(((HUGS)))
It's always such a loss when an artist you really like dies. Whether it be an author, musician or what. Just knowing they are gone and that you have experienced the last of their work is a sad feeling. If you know them on personal level it is even worse.
Hi Chris:
I actually have thought of it. I did write an editor at his old newspaper, who had written an online tribute.
Hi Aimless . . . Hi Travis:
it does seem like an old friend. And Travis, you are so right to compare it to music. I know people who were devastated when John Lennon died, and though I LIKED the Beatles, I didn't quite "get" it. But then there are certain songwriters--John Hiatt springs to mind--who literally have been a part of the fabirc of my life . . . and so yeah, now I get it . . . but hope he lives a long, long time and keeps writing the soundtrack for my life,
E
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