When Bethanne Patrick, AOL's Book Maven these last two and a half years, sent word early yesterday evening that she was a victim of the company's most recent round of layoffs, my mouth dropped and stayed open for a good long while. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, as pre-Christmas layoffs are hitting people especially hard this season, but it boils down to this: it's damn unfair when good people are cut loose. And Patrick is one of the good ones, someone who is so genuinely excited to share her love of books, to interact with readers and industry types alike and spread good humor wherever she goes. And for AOL to lay her off is yet another blow to an industry already facing profit slashings, decimated newspaper book coverage and little recovery time from one scandal to the next.

Hyperbole, perhaps, but why disguise how pissed off I feel? Still, this too shall pass. Patrick's Book Maven blog may be no more, but she'll still be "actively writing, editing and reporting in and around the publishing industry" at her new online home, The Reading Writer. And I've every confidence that Patrick's combination of enthusiasm, publishing know-how and perspective will land her many great opportunities, whether by someone else's hand or of her own creation. AOL's loss is the publishing industry's gain.