rip - nora ephron

Nora Ephron died this week - aged 71 - which seems so young.  There has been lots in the newspapers and on the internet about her life and achievements and one does forget just how much laughter she brought into our lives.  Screenplays for Silkwood, When Harry met Sally, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, Julie & Julia besides her books, essays and reviews, and her blog for the Huffington Post.  She was one sharp lady.  Sleepless in Seattle is still right at the top of my favourite movie list and unlike so many other movies, it is one that I can watch over and over again.  I can recite these words by heart:-

Doctor (on radio): Tell me what was so special about your wife? 

Sam: Well, how long is your program? Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together... and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home... only to no home I'd ever known... I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like... magic. 

"I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

Harry Burns (When Harry Met Sally)

The beauty of her writing is that she says what every woman wants to hear coming from their man (but most men don't seem to catch on to it) and she puts the words so well into their mouths, you can (almost) believe they are true! 

I have spent the last three hours reading through stuff of hers on the internet.  She wrote some awesome book reviews.  This one made me smile, especially as I also read The Fountainhead years and years ago, Gareth is reading it at the moment and it was referred to a lot in the book I have just read, The Perks of being a Wallflower:-

"Like most of my contemporaries, I first read The Fountainhead when I was 18 years old. I loved it. I too missed the point. I thought it was a book about a strong-willed architect...and his love life....I deliberately skipped over all the passages about egoism and altruism. And I spent the next year hoping I would meet a gaunt, orange-haired architect who would rape me. Or failing that, an architect who would rape me. Or failing that, an architect. I am certain that The Fountainhead did a great deal more for architects than Architectural Forum ever dreamed." The New York Times Book Review (1968)


I think I need to read it again (and give it to Kathy to read again).  Talk about "calling it as it is"

If you want to read more, this is a wonderful article she wrote for the New Yorker about how she fell in love with the apartment she moved into after her divorce and move from Washington.  She was married to Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame.

If you enjoyed reading about the apartment, Apthorp (and want to see some pictures).  This article is also interesting and about how rent control in New York works.  The O'Neal family still manage to rent a 8 roomed apartment for $2850 a month.  Apartments were sold for over $8.6 million in 2007 but it seems like the developers of the block are taking strain. 

Oh gosh I love New York.

To close off, 2 lists from Nora which I found on Pinterest :-

And then this list from, I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections





WHAT I WON'T MISS

Dry skin
Bad dinners like the one we went to last night
E-mail
Technology in general
My closet
Washing my hair
Bras
Funerals
Illness everywhere
Polls that show that 32 percent of the American people believe in creationism
Polls
Fox TV
The collapse of the dollar
Bar mitzvahs
Mammograms
Dead flowers
The sound of the vacuum cleaner
Bills
E-mail. I know I already said it, but I want to emphasize it.
Small print
Panels on Women in Film
Taking off makeup every night


WHAT I WILL MISS


My kids
Nick
Spring
Fall
Waffles
The concept of waffles
Bacon
A walk in the park
The idea of a walk in the park
The park
Shakespeare in the Park
The bed
Reading in bed
Fireworks
Laughs
The view out the window
Twinkle lights
Butter
Dinner at home just the two of us
Dinner with friends
Dinner with friends in cities where none of us lives
Paris
Next year in Istanbul
Pride and Prejudice
The Christmas tree
Thanksgiving dinner
One for the table
The dogwood
Taking a bath
Coming over the bridge to Manhattan
Pie

How true.  I think I am going to buy the book.


Rest in Peace Nora.