For the Morbid: Marilyn Johnson at Harvard Book Store

Marilyn Johnson will read from The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries tomorrow, Tuesday, March 6, at Harvard Book Store, 6:30 pm.

You may have asked yourself how papers get obituaries published so fast. Easy. They write 'em in advance. A whole army of journalists are posted on a death watch of sorts, waiting for the moment to release the words that sum up the lives of the recently deceased so perfectly.

Marilyn Johnson will read from her book that describes the art of the obituary and how obituary writing has evolved over the years. Now, obituaries can be a showcase for some of the finest writing.

Pop-culture experts Jane and Michael Stern have heaped praise upon Johnson. She makes what could be something incredibly distasteful and morbid highly entertaining.

In an except available on her website, Johnson writes of Elizabeth Taylor's unbelievable ability to survive with a hint of impatience:

The first million-dollar actress dusted herself off from another near-death experience and went back to work, flashing her exquisite world-class jewels then tossing them on a sink cluttered with dried squirts of toothpaste and old lipsticked liquor glasses. I suspect she’s immortal.

Taylor's obituary is on deck and ready to go, yet Taylor stubbornly refuses to cut the obit writers a break. Such is the life of someone who writes about the transition from life to death.