The Passing of RebeccaNYC

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The Passing of RebeccaNYC

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1avaland
Modifié : Sep 22, 2017, 3:34 pm

I thought someone should post this. Rebeccanyc, long time member of LT, and 2nd administrator of this group, died on AUGUST* 12th of ALS, also know as Lou Gehrig's disease. While she shared so much with all of us, she valued her privacy, which is why only some of us knew her by her real name, Sybil.

Here's is her obit: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=186390507

Rebecca/Sybil was one of the first LT friends I made way back in '06, we shared fair bit of reading and recommended books to each other in those early heady days on BookTalk and the What Are You Reading Now? groups. I met her in NYC what seems like ages ago when I was there on a business trip to BookExpo. In the years that followed she generously took over both this group and the Reading Globally group from me. She has been greatly missed over the last year or so; and shall continue to be for a long time. Rest in Peace, dear RebeccaNYC.

*apologies for error, it as August not this month.

2auntmarge64
Sep 22, 2017, 3:50 pm

Lois, thanks for posting this. What a remarkable woman she was! My condolences to all who knew her personally.

3avaland
Sep 22, 2017, 4:09 pm

I thought we could tell recommendation stories; or books we've read because of rebeccanyc's recommendations.

Back when we were both on the "What Are You Reading Now?" group in late '06, rebeccanyc recommended I take Half a Yellow Sun off my TBR pile. I had read Adichie's first book and enjoyed it, so had bought the 2nd but it was languishing in the TBR pile (too many books, you know!?). So, I did and loved that book much as I loved the first. Meanwhile, I was encouraging her to read one of Jennifer Haigh's early books, either Mrs. Kimble or Baker Towers and she took me up on it. She got me hooked on Denise Mina and I got her hooked on Bonnie Jo Campbell We swapped recommendations for African novels from time to time... and on it went. Both of ou reading changed and differed over the years, we weren't always in sync, but I always considered her one of a handful of LTers' who truly could recommend a book to me personally that would be a spot-on choice.

4japaul22
Sep 22, 2017, 4:23 pm

Thanks so much for posting this, Lois.

I always valued Rebecca's thoughtful and articulate reviews and how she struck a great blend of reading classics and modern fiction. Her particular book influences are too many to name, but I credit her with introducing me to the NYRB publications which I've now bought many of and which have broadened my reading. We also shared a love for Trollope. I recently checked out a Denise Mina book from the library and will think of her when I read it.

It is amazing to me how close I can feel to someone who I never met in "real life" and only knew through books. She is missed.

5RidgewayGirl
Sep 22, 2017, 4:36 pm

Rebecca shared my love of older European crime fiction and along the way we both enjoyed van de Wetering's odd police procedurals set in Amsterdam and The Mad and The Bad, a superlatively good noir.

Her reviews were always worth reading and I'll miss the Trollope reviews most - they always made me want to dive right in. Still haven't though.

6bragan
Modifié : Sep 22, 2017, 4:43 pm

Yes, thanks for posting this, Lois, and thanks for leaving notes on the individual threads, or I fear I might not have seen this right away.

I am so sorry to hear this. It's always such a shock when someone who was such a presence for so long is gone forever.

7ELiz_M
Sep 22, 2017, 5:05 pm

Thank you for letting us know of Rebecca's passing. I have often wondered how she was doing.

I joined LT and ClubRead not too long before she announced her health problems and subsequently stepped down as moderator. But for my first months here, she was such a welcoming presence and made sure to stop by each and every thread to post thoughtful and encouraging comments on the reviews. An exceptional individual who is missed even by those late to know her.

8tonikat
Sep 22, 2017, 5:33 pm

I'm very sorry to have heard this, thank you for letting us know. My thoughts are with her family and friends, including here of course where she was so active and generous in sharing her wealth of reading.

9AnnieMod
Modifié : Sep 22, 2017, 6:54 pm

I hoped that she is just going to be away for awhile and that it was just a nasty health issue that will clear.

Thanks for posting this.

10laytonwoman3rd
Sep 22, 2017, 6:33 pm

Late last summer, when Rebecca had told us she would be retiring from LT for health reasons, I knew she was setting us up for a permanent farewell. She had such a love for Trollope, who I had never read, that she made me want to get acquainted with him as well. At the time, she mentioned missing a few titles, and as I was about to take a trip that I knew would involve visits to excellent used book stores, I asked if there was anything she particularly wanted. She mentioned 2 titles, and I was able to find one of them, which I sent to her. I sincerely hope she found the strength to read it, and that it gave her pleasure. She also turned me on to the New York Review of Books editions, which I have begun seeking out. I will not soon forget the influence of this wonderful woman.

11deebee1
Sep 22, 2017, 6:41 pm

Thank you very much, Lois, for sharing the news. I had been hoping that somebody would let us know, I have often thought of her since her last post. Though I never knew her real-life identity, I regarded her as a good "book friend", and I miss her presence here. She was the one with whom I had the most similar interests in authors and types of writing (I remember her always referring to her preference for dark, gloomy themes), hence our common love of East European literature. We both discovered this when we "met" over at 75 group during its earliest days.

Her thread was always the first one I opened knowing that there would be something new there that I was sure to be interested in. If not the work of an author I already knew, it would be a name that was new to me. She always had something to say about each book. More often than not, I would become curious enough about it to pick it up. I trusted her reading choices.

While not all her favourites became mine (e.g. Chimamanda Adichie, Hans Fallada, Joseph Roth), some became my favourites too. She was already a great admirer of Victor Serge when I barely knew what he wrote. It is to her thoughtful reviews of VS's books that I owe my discovery of this author's brilliance. I would also never have heard of Mavis Gallant, if not for rebeccanyc.

On the other hand, I remember her being grateful for my recommending Gregor von Rezzori, and Alejo Carpentier, both of whose works she very much enjoyed. I remember recommending Mario Vargas Llosa's The War of the End of the World, which she loved. It was the same with Fernando del Paso's News From the Empire. These authors and books also joined her list of favourites. I remember recommending, and which she soon picked up, The Lost Steps by Carpentier. After that, whenever she mentioned the best among her favourite books, it was always up there on the list.

I'm grateful for having "met" her here, and for the influence she had on my reading life. I will always remember her discipline in reviewing every book she read (I admired how she took this seriously), in writing and responding to posts, and in organizing and guiding threads/discussions. She was the one who was always there. The one whom you could count on to keep things moving. On one of the common threads some years ago, one CR member commented she was "rational rebecca." It made me laugh, as I guess it did others too, and rebeccanyc herself, but I agree, she was exactly like that in these forums. And everybody, in my view, liked her for it.

When she left, she left a sizeable hole in this group but, especially for tor those of us who had the most interaction with her during her most active years on LT, she will not be easily forgotten.

12PaulCranswick
Sep 22, 2017, 7:25 pm

'Rebecca' was a lovely, hugely intelligent lady whose carefully considered reviews and wide range of reading helped attract me to the 75ers in my initial time here in 2011. She was a person of conviction and obvious courage. I remember when I had a scattergun approach to the group and was sending out friend requests left, right and centre she sent me a very honest PM informing me why she was not accepting my friend request at that time. I would like to think we became friends later, indeed I know so.

Thank you Lois for putting up this thread.

13torontoc
Sep 22, 2017, 8:17 pm

Thank you for posting this- I always followed "rebeccanyc"' threads as she read very interesting books and my reading was enriched by reading some of her choices.

14dchaikin
Sep 22, 2017, 8:23 pm



I'm really sad to learn this, much more so than we might imagine for someone who I never met in real life and only had a passing LT acquaintance with. But it was a long acquaintance and a very special one in its own way. To be fully honest, I'm crushed, at least a part of me is.

I know Rebecca (Sybil) got me to read a few books, and she also inspired me to think about many many more, but mainly for me she was an inspiration for the elegant way she wrote about all these fascinating books she read. This had been a special group with a number of interesting and varied and penetrating and inspiring readers. Yet, somehow Rebecca stood out. And now that I've read her obituary it makes a lot more sense. She was a really special and intelligent person. I suddenly feel very blessed to have encountered her here.

She will missed here as well as by those she knew in real life. Sorry to all for our loss.

15Nickelini
Modifié : Sep 22, 2017, 9:44 pm

There has definitely been a hole in LT since she left.

Her obit is amazing. I had no idea. I feel honoured to have shared conversations with her. I first got to know her when I was doing my habitual complaining about books where Americans or Brits go to Italy and have a magical experience. She recommended Any Four Women Could Rob the Bank of Italy, and it was the perfect antidote.

16janeajones
Sep 22, 2017, 11:35 pm

What a remarkable life and what a remarkable contribution to LT. May you find a wonderful library to indulge in dear rebeccanyc/Sybil.

17amandameale
Modifié : Sep 23, 2017, 3:48 am

Rebecca and I joined Librarything in the same year, 2006 (?), so I had the pleasure of getting to know her reading habits for about 9 years and to get to know her ,a little, outside Librarything. I always admired her voracious reading of exemplary novels and I will always be trying to catch up with her. But I never will.

Rebecca gave so much to Librarything, through her reading recommendations, her reviews, her sense of humour and her kindness. What a loss.

If you didn't know rebeccanyc and you want some fantastic recommendations, go to her profile page.

Vale dearest Sibyl Rebecca.

18AlisonY
Sep 23, 2017, 4:51 am

Very, very sad to hear this news. I picked up so many book bullets from "Rebecca" - she had such eclectic reading taste and her reviews pointed me towards so many books I'd not have come across otherwise.

Thank you so much for sharing her obituary.

19charl08
Modifié : Sep 23, 2017, 10:42 pm

I miss Rebeccanyc's presence on LT, although I was late to discover her wonderful reviews. I admired her writing style and her wide ranging reading, and my reading has been richer for her recommendations.

Thanks for posting her obituary. How lovely to know she was appreciated and influential beyond the community here in such an important field.

20laytonwoman3rd
Sep 23, 2017, 10:14 am

>17 amandameale: I second Amanda's recommendation to visit Rebecca/Sybil's profile page rebeccanyc if you hadn't been a follower of her threads. There are links there to all her Club Read threads, and those are an absolute goldmine of reading suggestions. Although she had indicated that she would be deleting her LT account, I am thrilled that she did not do that. She has left us all a wonderful legacy, whether she knew it or intended it, or not.

21cindydavid4
Sep 23, 2017, 11:54 am

>15 Nickelini: I was also amazed by her obituary. She worked on so many art and historical agences, and yet had the time to be on LT.

Ive only been on LT a year and don't think I had the opportunity to know her. But I do know well what its like to lose someone you never met but knew for years online, and how that person could influence not just what you read but influence your life. My deep condolences to her family, friends, and all those here who remember and mourn for her. May her memory be a blessing.

22cindydavid4
Sep 23, 2017, 12:05 pm

>20 laytonwoman3rd: thanks for linking to her page. Just went through her list of fav non fiction - We seem to have very similar tastes. I'll be using this list as a guide for future reading.

23mabith
Sep 23, 2017, 12:08 pm

Thank you for posting this. I loved following her threads, and she was one of the first that really drew me into the groups here. I knew she was having serious and eventually fatal health problems but didn't know it was ALS.

My mother has just passed on herself and I'm almost comforted to imagine her and Rebecca sitting around an endless library talking about books.

24LolaWalser
Sep 23, 2017, 12:31 pm

Thanks for letting us know, Lois.

I'm so sorry for Rebecca, her partner, her family and friends, for the time taken away from them. We didn't have much contact but it was rich with meaning and I'll always remember her with gratitude and affection.

25NanaCC
Sep 23, 2017, 2:33 pm

I'm so sorry to hear this, Lois. Thank you for letting us know. Like so many, I loved reading her posts, and selected many books based upon her recommendations. I was saddened last year when she told us of her illness, and have missed her wonderful reviews. She will be missed by her friends on LT.

26southernbooklady
Sep 24, 2017, 9:30 am

I posted this in Reading Globally, where I most knew her, but I'll post again here:

I am so sorry to hear about rebeccanyc -- when I first joined LT hers was one of the voices that really stood out for me. I was alternately in awe and green with envy for her ability to review so many books, so thoughtfully and well. It was she who first put me on to Tete-Michel Kpomassie's An African in Greenland, and I subsequently paid close attention to whatever she had to say about a book.

I hope her account stays live on LT. It would be a real loss to the site to have all her contributions disappear.

27SassyLassy
Sep 24, 2017, 1:11 pm

It's difficult to describe how much rebecca's reading, reviews, comments and encouragement PMs meant to me, so I'll go along with avaland's suggestions in >3 avaland:. Perhaps the most major effect her recommendations had on my reading is my current summer interrupted effort to read through Zola's Rougon Macquart series. She also resurrected my interest in South American fiction. However, in terms of where I wander most in her library, it is probably in the Russian section, where I always find inspiration, even if only from a review. Then there's one of my all time favourite fun books which I discovered through reviews by both rebecca and japaul, The Long Ships. In terms of recommendations going the other way, perhaps the most successful was An Armenian Sketchbook, while Walter Scott's The Heart of Midlothian not surprisingly didn't really work for her.

Perhaps we should each make our next book one from her library, which I really hope stays on LT.

28Trifolia
Sep 24, 2017, 2:11 pm

I'm very sad to hear about Rebecca passing away. She was one of the people I admired immensely here on LT. She was so well-read and wrote such intelligent and fascinating reviews. Her influence on my reading-choice was huge. She introduced me to world-literature and showed me a whole new world of literary territories. Other than that, she was such a gentle member of this community. She was one of the first members to react when I was grieving for my father and when I was struggling with my own health-issues. It saddens me that I was not able to comfort her when she was fighting her own battle but apparently it was her personal wish not to burden anyone of us.
Her reading-legacy is impressive and will be be an inspiration to me for years to come, as I am sure it will be for many of us who have had the privilege to have known her.
Rest in peace, my friend. You will not be forgotten.

29EBT1002
Sep 24, 2017, 3:31 pm

So sad. As so many others have said, I loved reading any of rebeccanyc's posts, reviews, and comments. She was thoughtful, wise, creative, and steady. If she recommended a book, I was pretty sure it would be a great read --- not always an easy read but always a worthwhile endeavor.

Rest in peace, our friend and sister literature lover.

30tiffin
Modifié : Sep 24, 2017, 5:47 pm

Wise, warm, wonderful. I remember how delighted she was when she discovered the Camilleri series, just devouring them one after another. She got me hooked on them too, and we both went through a spell of saying "Rilly!". I have many more memories but this is a tender one.

31laytonwoman3rd
Sep 24, 2017, 10:29 pm

I've just found what may be the last time Rebecca posted on on my thread...last June, after I read and favorably reviewed an old favorite of hers, The Straight and Narrow Path by Honor Tracy. I had searched it out on her recommendation, and was delighted by it. She was still visiting the 75 Book Challenge Group threads at the time, and she said she was glad I had enjoyed the book. She and I are the only LT'ers to have reviewed it as of now. It's a bit lighter than her usual fare, but I gathered it was a book she'd been reading and re-reading since she was young.

32avaland
Sep 25, 2017, 2:45 pm

>31 laytonwoman3rd: That's a lovely post to cherish, Linda.

33Rebeki
Sep 28, 2017, 5:56 am

I'm so sorry to hear this news. I was off LT most of last year, but, in preparation for my return this year, I began catching up with the threads of those Club Read members whose reading I followed most avidly. It is perhaps not surprising that I started with rebeccanyc, and I was very sad to read about her ill health.

Like rebeccanyc, I have an interest in central and eastern Europe and just this year read The Burning of the World on her recommendation. Her reviews also encouraged me to read Miklós Bánffy's Transylvanian Trilogy, which I loved. Other books I have read as a direct result of reading rebeccanyc's thread are The Dud Avocado and An Ermine in Czernopol, while I still have Barbara Comyns to look forward to. I also remember she had a phase of reading various works by Hilary Mantel, and it was her excellent reviews that finally prompted me to start reading beyond Wolf Hall. I have no doubt I will be referring to her old threads for reading ideas for a long time to come and I'm so glad she didn't delete them.

Thank you, Lois, for sharing this news with us and for providing a link to Sybil's obituary. I'm astonished that someone could have achieved so much in one lifetime and I feel honoured to have been - in this small way - in the company of someone of such wisdom and talent.

34VivienneR
Oct 6, 2017, 2:24 pm

I'm so sorry to hear about Rebecca/Sybil's passing. From her infrequent posts recently it sadly appeared imminent. When I first joined LT her name always appeared in the most interesting conversations and below the most articulate reviews. In 2013 when I joined Club Read, I was most impressed because she was such a welcoming administrator.

We both enjoyed many of the same authors. I have two books on the tbr shelf by Amy Bloom and Stacy Schiff that I purchased on her recommendation. They will be my next reading.

Thank you, Rebecca, you will be greatly missed.

Thank you, Lois, for sharing the news and obituary.

35detailmuse
Oct 10, 2017, 10:22 am

I'm so saddened to learn this, and appreciate your posting it, Lois. What a fine person Rebecca was "in real life," and an equally fine and substantial person here. It will be bittersweet to pull The Ladies' Paradise from my TBRs.