This week I found a number of books I'd forgotten. Besides being a prominent composer, Ned Rorem is considered to be one of the great American diarists of the 20th Century. An acquaintance of mine, a poet, was interested in Rorem because he was known for his art songs. He set poetry to music. I am a bit of a diarist--or at least I have been. One of my pandemic tasks was sifting through my old journals. Most are incredibly boring but occasionally there's something worth preserving. Of those gone through so far, probably 80 percent of my entries have wound up in the recycling bin. Anyway, finding this brought up all sorts of memories of twenty years ago in my life, the hopes and disappointments of that time. So like the diarist that I kind of am, I am registering it in BookCrossing for release. After reading Edmund White's introduction yesterday, I decided to send this away immediately. But randomly paging through this morning, I found interesting entries. So am going to have this around for a bit and use it for random reading. That's probably what it is best for--for any reader.

Later, I see that I did launch one of Ned Rorem's diaries into the BookCrossing river in 2007. It has only been heard from once since then. I wrote of buying this book in that journal entry. https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4235312. Ned Rorem, aged 93, is still with us. What an interesting life! And how heartening that he's chronicled so much of it. That shows a true devotion to life.

Hello! This a gift from BookCrossing, a random community of book lovers. If you'd like to join the BookCrossing story of this book, please make a journal entry at our site with the BCID (bookcrossing ID) on the bookplate. BookCrossing is free to join and confidential. You don't have to join to comment.

This book may have found a reader. It has moved. May it have happy journeys wherever it may be.