Remembering Maurice Sendak

Man. This PODCAST. I found it last year and by the time I got to the end of the final interview, I was really quite teary. His final line...

But there's so much more, too. Where the Wild Things Are is a book I have on my bedside table and have read maybe thirty times this year. "Read." It's such a complete experience, so beautiful. And then you fall in love with its creator when you hear things like:

You know who my gods are, who I believe in fervently? Herman Melville, Emily Dickinson — she's probably the top — Mozart, Shakespeare, Keats. These are wonderful gods who have gotten me through the narrow straits of life.

And:

Oh God, there are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die but I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready.

One of the best and most lovely minds I've ever met -- paired with Terry Gross, and it's even better.