a death in the family

I didn't know her. I once heard her read from "Almost There" at my neighborhood bookstore so I kinda felt like I knew her. She was my favorite memoirist. I wanted to be like her when I grew up.

I just learned while surfing the 'net, avoiding online medical transcription typing tests, that Nuala O'Faolain died on May 9.

Her writing was beautiful but it was her honesty about herself, the sometimes embarrassing and unflattering self-portraits, that I admired the most.

Here is an article from The Independent, an interview with Nuala just six weeks after her diagnosis of metastatic cancer.

Funnily enough I don't care about losing the hair. What I do care about is that sometimes I see people frightened or repulsed and that is why I went and got a wig in which I look like a rather striking but elderly chorus girl.

Damn it. I was so looking forward to her next book. Now I guess I know how the story ends.