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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Some self absorbed fluff, but mostly we have a strong and extremely well articulated journalist muse on whatever is getting to her lately. These words may as well be gospel
File under books about California
File under books about how nothings as good as it used to be
File under books about California
File under books about how nothings as good as it used to be
funny
reflective
fast-paced
It was my goal to read something new to me from Joan Didion since she died late last year. And my, how I have been moved by her words again and again in this collection of essays.
In “Notes from a Native Daughter,” she writes a gorgeous homage to life in Sacramento: her California, where her family has lived for generations. She writes journalistic pieces on Joan Baez and her Institute for the Study of Non-violence during the Vietnam War, John Wayne and homages to Old Hollywood, true crime before it was cool with the story of murderess Lucille Miller, and Haight-Ashbury at the height of counterculture. This collection is a love note to the 1960s brimming with heartache and joy, triumphs and imperfections, the brutal and the beautiful.
One of the things I love about Didion is she is truly an adept author of place, often the location becomes a character itself in her work. This was no exception, as she focused on places and spaces that have stayed with her in the last section of essays titled “Seven Places of the Mind.” Didion crafts tributes to the Ozymandian opulence of the Newport homes of the fin-de-siecle, the crystal shores and wars of Hawaii, and the rocky landscape of Alcatraz, among others.
I’ll end with a new favorite quote of hers from her short essay about writing in notebooks:
“It is a good idea, then, to keep in touch (with yourself), and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about. And we are all on our own when it comes to keeping those lines open to ourselves.”
In “Notes from a Native Daughter,” she writes a gorgeous homage to life in Sacramento: her California, where her family has lived for generations. She writes journalistic pieces on Joan Baez and her Institute for the Study of Non-violence during the Vietnam War, John Wayne and homages to Old Hollywood, true crime before it was cool with the story of murderess Lucille Miller, and Haight-Ashbury at the height of counterculture. This collection is a love note to the 1960s brimming with heartache and joy, triumphs and imperfections, the brutal and the beautiful.
One of the things I love about Didion is she is truly an adept author of place, often the location becomes a character itself in her work. This was no exception, as she focused on places and spaces that have stayed with her in the last section of essays titled “Seven Places of the Mind.” Didion crafts tributes to the Ozymandian opulence of the Newport homes of the fin-de-siecle, the crystal shores and wars of Hawaii, and the rocky landscape of Alcatraz, among others.
I’ll end with a new favorite quote of hers from her short essay about writing in notebooks:
“It is a good idea, then, to keep in touch (with yourself), and I suppose that keeping in touch is what notebooks are all about. And we are all on our own when it comes to keeping those lines open to ourselves.”
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
So. Excellent. I devoured this and I’m left licking my lips.
reflective
medium-paced
"it is easy to see the beginning of things and harder to see the end" joan I love you, maya was perfect, need to watch lady bird asap
This audiobook is fantastic—Maya Hawke’s narration truly brings it to life. In her interviews, Hawke has mentioned that in narrating this, she wants younger readers to connect with this collection, and I think this audiobook is a perfect way to make that happen. I’m so grateful I got to a chance to review this advance copy!
I’ve been a Joan Didion fan since I first read On Keeping a Notebook years ago (back then, I’d only read that essay, not the whole collection). Now, after living in Southern California, I’ve either visited many of the places Didion describes, or know of the lore. I could hardly believe the original book was written nearly 80 years ago—it feels as fresh and relevant today as ever.
I’ve been a Joan Didion fan since I first read On Keeping a Notebook years ago (back then, I’d only read that essay, not the whole collection). Now, after living in Southern California, I’ve either visited many of the places Didion describes, or know of the lore. I could hardly believe the original book was written nearly 80 years ago—it feels as fresh and relevant today as ever.