John Leonard, RIP

[Mark Kohut]

He was, with his Book Review, my graduate education, I used to tell people.

I saw him in the audience(!) once for an E.L. Doctorow interview...in which one of his known lines was alluded and nodded to.

5 books a week, he said on a Book TV event i was not at.....

He is the one, in his review of Vineland, who made somewhat public all the insider knowledge of THE BIG BOOKS TRP was working on---known 'cause of his grants.........

An acquaintance of mine is his agent.

I hurt over his loss...some of my enthusiasm and knowledge seems lobotomized, i say narcissistically. And a great lover of the best books is gone.....