Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Joan Didion is a phenomenal writer and this collection of essays includes some of my favorite work of hers that I’ve read so far. Some of these essays were a perfect 5/5 such as “some dreamers of the golden dream”, “on keeping a notebook”, and “goodbye to all that”; I found myself having to reread some of her writing because her prose is just too good to read once. I also can’t believe this was written in 1968 and she is somehow able to capture my exact emotions that I thought no one else could relate to more accurately than any piece of current writing I’ve read. Her writing is so beautiful and emotional, I both laughed and cried while reading this. My only complaint is that some essays I had to force myself to get through but maybe I’ll have a different opinion after re-reading in a bit
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
I loved a few of these essays, especially her more personal ones. Towards the end it dragged on for it and lost me in references I didn’t understand, so I’m probably just not the best audience. She does captures the specific time and place of California is the 60s incredibly well.
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
One of the best-written books I’ve ever read. I held off starting it because I thought it would read like an essay collection. It doesn’t really—California is present as a through-line in nearly ever story and the writing is unique and uniform enough to allow narrative qualities.
Everything Didion describes feel mundane. Or, Didion’s writing is so believable that the read feels already familiar with each of her topics. Her prose is moving and throughly captures its subject.
I have never read something that more encourages me to write. This is an all-timer.
Everything Didion describes feel mundane. Or, Didion’s writing is so believable that the read feels already familiar with each of her topics. Her prose is moving and throughly captures its subject.
I have never read something that more encourages me to write. This is an all-timer.
A few of these essays, particularly Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream, I really really enjoyed, but the majority weren’t a good fit for me. Didion’s style is polarizing - I think if you find her as a person interesting, you’ll find her personal reflections interesting, but to me they’re too self indulgent.
That being said, this essay collection does have one of my favorite lines I’ve read this year, from the titular essay that profiles a number of teenagers in the hippie movement.
“One day Norris asks how old I am. I tell him I am thirty two. It takes a few minutes, but Norris rises to it. ‘Don’t worry,’ he says at last. ‘There’s old hippies too.’ “
Also from this essay is a child calling his mother an all-American bitch, and I remember reading in an interview that was Olivia Rodrigo’s inspiration for her song. Didion is the original cool girl, and Olivia is absolutely today’s cool girl, and while I am not a cool girl, the pop girl lover in me does love to trace cool girl history ❤️
That being said, this essay collection does have one of my favorite lines I’ve read this year, from the titular essay that profiles a number of teenagers in the hippie movement.
“One day Norris asks how old I am. I tell him I am thirty two. It takes a few minutes, but Norris rises to it. ‘Don’t worry,’ he says at last. ‘There’s old hippies too.’ “
Also from this essay is a child calling his mother an all-American bitch, and I remember reading in an interview that was Olivia Rodrigo’s inspiration for her song. Didion is the original cool girl, and Olivia is absolutely today’s cool girl, and while I am not a cool girl, the pop girl lover in me does love to trace cool girl history ❤️
challenging
reflective
I always feel like I’ve been dropped into wherever she’s writing about
reflective
medium-paced