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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This book spoke to me in a way few others have. I've recently developed an affinity for essay collections and this was, of course, no exception.
Whils I found Slouching Towards Bethlehem a bit slow at the start, I returned to it and was almost immediately enthralled.
I am not from California and have barely even been there, but I still found myself connecting deeply with Didion. I am certain I will be returning to many of these pieces again.
Whils I found Slouching Towards Bethlehem a bit slow at the start, I returned to it and was almost immediately enthralled.
I am not from California and have barely even been there, but I still found myself connecting deeply with Didion. I am certain I will be returning to many of these pieces again.
Wasn't overly impressed. This is a generous 3 stars from me. Think I had in my mind it would be something great from the past, and while it had some interesting stories to start, part of it felt just like her random musings, and just in general, I'm more looking for a good narrative. Thinking the pieces would have been good to read in their time as part of the magazine or wherever they were printed, and interesting from a look back at the 60's now, but not overly of interest to me in general.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Enjoyed the middle section “personals” the best - want to read more of Didion’s perspective
Didion’s diction and storytelling is marvelous. The only question I have is why I haven’t read this sooner?
Favorites (likely suspects, but they’re all good)
- on keeping a notebook
- on self respect
- goodbye to all that
- some dreamers of the golden land
Favorites (likely suspects, but they’re all good)
- on keeping a notebook
- on self respect
- goodbye to all that
- some dreamers of the golden land
Just simply terrific. Didion's writing is just exquisite, and she has such an eye for the ordinary, the peculiar and the nostalgic. The audiobook voiced by Maya Hawke felt like walking into a dream, and I could feel the California sun on my skin as she spoke Didion's dreamlike prose.
Her essay on leaving NYC in particular put me on my ASS-
“I remember walking across Sixty-second Street one twilight that first spring, or the second spring, they were all alike for a while. I was late to meet someone but I stopped at Lexington Avenue and bought a peach and stood on the corner eating it and knew that I had come out of the West and reached the mirage. I could taste the peach and feel the soft air blowing from a subway grating on my legs and I could smell lilac and garbage and expensive perfume and I knew that it would cost something sooner or later—because I did not belong there, did not come from there—but when you are twenty-two or twenty-three, you figure that later you will have a high emotional balance, and be able to pay whatever it costs. I still believed in possibilities then, still had the sense, so peculiar to New York, that something extraordinary would happen any minute, any day, any month.”
JOAN!!! QUIT!
Her essay on leaving NYC in particular put me on my ASS-
“I remember walking across Sixty-second Street one twilight that first spring, or the second spring, they were all alike for a while. I was late to meet someone but I stopped at Lexington Avenue and bought a peach and stood on the corner eating it and knew that I had come out of the West and reached the mirage. I could taste the peach and feel the soft air blowing from a subway grating on my legs and I could smell lilac and garbage and expensive perfume and I knew that it would cost something sooner or later—because I did not belong there, did not come from there—but when you are twenty-two or twenty-three, you figure that later you will have a high emotional balance, and be able to pay whatever it costs. I still believed in possibilities then, still had the sense, so peculiar to New York, that something extraordinary would happen any minute, any day, any month.”
JOAN!!! QUIT!
Really enjoyed the style of writing - the following were highlights for me and chapters I resonated with (in no particular order): On Self Respect, On Going Home, Where the Kissing Never Stops, Marrying Absurd, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, On Keeping a Notebook, and a strong finish with Goodbye to All That.
reflective
medium-paced