Her translator Goldstein told me on the phone, "I have started feeling that she is very present as a person in some way in her books.
Work is very present in her stories, as are the ravages of daily life.
And Max, of the title, is very present in the shop as well, with this potty-mouthed, gregarious charm.
She worked as a high-school teacher, a switchboard operator, receptionist, cleaning woman and emergency room nurse ("I like working in Emergency", she writes in the perfect miniature My Jockey, "you meet men there, anyway"). Work is very present in her stories, as are the ravages of daily life.
It's in the introduction to a book that I'm writing about the literature of this period, and so it's very present to my mind as a sort of piece of a larger argument about religion and the American novel in this period, so that's what I'm giving you.
They, of course, are very present in mainstream books as well, but you typically know what you're getting into when you pick up one of those.
I watched you win the Olympics, and as I recall, your wife was very present!" Bruce's whole demeanor changed as he sadly responded, "No, I'm separated, and it's really not a lot of fun".
Other than that we're very traditional: presents as soon as we wake up, a buck's fizz, and perhaps a pint of Guinness in the pub while we're waiting for the turkey to cook.
"This was very much presented as, 'The State Department is having a party, you're going to host it and you're in charge of cleaning up afterward.' ".
Hayley Atwell: Hettie would come and go 'I just don't quite believe why you go and pick up that shawl over there on that line.' And you think, how fantastic, and you go that's not necessarily a big deal but that kind of specificity in a take means that we're all very present as to what every movement, every intonation, every inflection means and it's there for a reason.
