I was thinking that it might be nice for those bloggers who are Weekly Geeks to pay tribute to Dewey in the next week or so. To take the time to post to their blogs a “Weekly Geek” post about Dewey–maybe share their favorite posts from her site, maybe share a memory or two about participating in weekly geeks, the bookworms carnival, the 24 Hour Readathon, or one of Dewey’s challenges, maybe just share a favorite memory of Dewey in general, what they’ll miss most, how they’ll remember her, etc. I’m going to try to post mine this Saturday–but bloggers anywhere and everywhere are encouraged to post whenever they want.
About Dewey: (excerpt taken from her blog The Hidden Side of a Leaf):
“My main focus in blogging is community. I want to share my love for books with other bloggers, hear what they think of what they’re reading, and have lots of bookish fun. My non-review blog activities, such as the Bookworms Carnival, the Read-a-thon, Weekly Geeks, the challenges I host or join, and the contests and giveaways in my blog are all meant to build community.”
Dewey acheived her main objective above brilliantly and with much enthusiasim. I wish we could have bottled her enthusiasm and energy!
Like most of you when I found out about Dewey’s passing, I was in shock. It really hit me a few minutes later and the tear came streaming down my face. I spent the entire evening going from blog to blog reading memorials about Dewey and commenting. What has really struck me over this week is how we have pulled together as a community, just like Dewey taught us. She would be proud of what has been accomplished in our discussions of how we can keep Dewey’s projects alive. How we have come together as a community in mourning her death and celebrating her life!
Before writing this I visited Dewey’s blog, The Hidden Side of a Leaf for inspiration. What hit me first was her most recent post of “Book Coveting”. She listed five books that she planned to read soon. I wondered if she started any of them, finished any of them, or even started reviewing any of them? Was there a book she started that she left unfinished? It made me sad all over again. There are so many books that I want to read and the list keeps growing. I’m sure that was the case for Dewey.
The next post of Dewey’s that hit me was here review of John Steibeck’s East of Eden. I love John Steinbeck and remember reading her review a few weeks ago. At the end she said, “I’ve enjoyed every Steinbeck novel I’ve read, but I haven’t read The Red Pony.” Another book Dewey will never read.
Then a little further down on her blog was her Reading Journal November 18 2008. She said, “I am seriously behind on book review posts. I actually have about 35 books in my read-but-not-yet-reviewed pile.” That’s around 35 book reviews that we will never get to read.
Dewey, we miss you!
