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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be...
...I think we are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.
3,5✨ some essays I really enjoyed but most of them didn’t interest me that much
reflective
medium-paced
finally finished arguably one of her best works. i cannot emphasise how much i love didion and her writing. does that make me insane? there's a magic to her words that i too want to capture. it makes me want to write, it makes me want to be something. as always, when it comes to a collection of essays, there will always be a few misses. however, i think that those i thought were "misses" were still beautifully written as compared to those in say, Let Me Tell You What I Mean. this book is pure magic and just shimmers in a way that i will never be able to forget.
a note i took while reading the book : my top 3 joan didion essays will always be slouching towards bethlehem, on keeping a notebook and on self-respect. my god i love her so much. there's something about her writing that is so pointed and resonates so deeply with me. i can only aspire to write like her.
a note i took while reading the book : my top 3 joan didion essays will always be slouching towards bethlehem, on keeping a notebook and on self-respect. my god i love her so much. there's something about her writing that is so pointed and resonates so deeply with me. i can only aspire to write like her.
2.5 ⭐️
my first Didion– really dug the first essay and the personal essays, particularly On Going Home. made me miss California immensely.
my first Didion– really dug the first essay and the personal essays, particularly On Going Home. made me miss California immensely.
Great book but it’s hard to feel like you’re grasping anything when Didion constantly references other media and I’m not the intended audience. Wow the sixties seemed awful
reflective
medium-paced
I enjoyed being in Didion’s mind for a little. In particular I liked “John Wayne: A Love Song,” “On Keeping a Notebook,” and “Goodbye to All That”
Joan Didion is an incredibly gifted writer who probes her subjects, whether they are persons (including herself), places (California, NYC), or movements (visiting Haight-Ashbury in the 60's). Beautiful prose and a smart, critical eye. Yes, it is very much a piece of its time (the 1960's), but it captures that zeitgeist of that time, as this country and its people try to find themselves.
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced