Writers are brilliant creatures. Some create from scratch. Some - the really smart ones - come up with the idea to write a book by using something other people have written. No, I’m not talking about Dan Brown…

I’m talking about the new release The Dead Beat by Marilyn Johnson. This one is a hardcover study of obituaries. The book is getting play everywhere, very good reviews and, as of this morning, was #166 at B&N. Not bad. The Washington Post says:

[Johnson's] real heroes are the editors and writers who compose cheeky, gossipy obits that are the hallmark of British style. The trend started in 1986 when, almost in concert, the London Times, the Telegraph and the newly formed Independent began to publish quirky, irreverent send-offs that reveled in a subject’s eccentricities and spectacular moral failings.

For those who follow the NYT and are familiar with the sometimes harsh words of reviewer Michiko Kakutani (hint: she didn’t win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism by loving everything - in fact, most days she doesn’t love anything) here is a blurb from her review of this book:

A fetching book about obituaries? Well, yes: Ms. Johnson writes about obituaries with the zeal — and insight — of an avid obit fan, someone who looks at half a dozen newspapers a day and spends hours online, Googling death: reading posts on the alt.obituaries newsgroup and posting favorite obits of her own.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 at 7:41 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books, About Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.