A week-long diary by The Economist's obituaries editor

July 27, 2007 4:34 AM

I don't know what other people’s first thoughts may be on Monday mornings; but mine, as the jabber of my husband’s radio crawls into my dreams, is “Has anyone died today?” So began a week-long diary by The Economist's obituaries editor, Ann Wroe, which she completed today.
posted by Kattullus (9 comments total)

Ann Wroe recently published a biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley in the UK called Being Shelley which comes out in the US in late August.
posted by Kattullus at 4:36 AM on July 27, 2007

This is why I love the Economist whilst hating the the Economist.
posted by three blind mice at 4:49 AM on July 27, 2007

There was a nice bit on the 'on our website' page in one of the recent print editions. In a story talking about the new audio version it said you could either listen to the whole magazine in one chunk, or by story, so you could skip right to the obituary, 'as we suspect most of our readers do.'

I may not always agree with their politics, but I love my Economist subscription.
posted by Jakob at 6:14 AM on July 27, 2007

Great link, thanks.
posted by briank at 8:12 AM on July 27, 2007

That's excellent. Thanks, Kattullus.
posted by Huw at 10:26 AM on July 27, 2007

I enjoyed that--thanks for the link.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:28 AM on July 27, 2007

God, Ann Wroe's writing is so incredibly, fantastically good that it makes me want to get famous and then kill myself so she will write an obituary about me.

She's easily better than 95% of currently fashionable highbrow novelists.
posted by nasreddin at 11:36 AM on July 27, 2007

It takes me at least ten hours to read the Economist each week, and I read the obituary as dessert. Great post.
posted by Arch1 at 2:03 PM on July 27, 2007

The New York Times put out a book of their obituaries as well; I think it was called "The Last Word." They also had a recent Q&A with their obits writers. I had no idea those sections of newspapers were so popular. I've never been one to read obituaries, but after looking at this link, I think I might start.
posted by bluefly at 5:10 PM on July 27, 2007