She’s definitely one of my favorite writers but I’m more into her non-fiction than her fiction (although Play It... I do love). I’m a fan of Hemingway too; I think it was the Brontes and then Hemingway that were the first writers I really admired. I came late to Didion despite having grown up for a short, formative time in LA. And I’m no stranger to criticism of her work; for every friend I have who loves her there is another who hates how precious she is, or a professor who told me that Didion is a hypocrite because she left so much truth and reality out of her so-called personal essays. I just don’t care, frankly. I love her writing. I wish I had mastery of a tone like that. She’s instructive. But whenever a “cult” forms around somebody... it’s like you said, it renders the person or thing quite boring. (I also really like Babitz’s writing, although it’s so much less affected and precise; maybe I like it for exactly those reasons.)
aspirational lifestyle porn … a life long New Yorker but after reading Magical Thinking I thought maybe I need to live in Brentwood? I was a new wife in my mid twenties … Vanessa Redgrave was finishing her run on Broadway and I started doing this thing where I read books that made me sob on airplanes. I still do it. It was the tone I fell in love with. But also why are we so obsessed with out street cred? Of being above the fray? Why do we have to justify that our favorite is irreproachable? I love the books and the movies and the Celine ads and the way I sobbed on a transcontinental from NY to San Fran.
Also, I loved Sweetbitter because it took me back to being twenty and lost in my self and more in love with New York than anyone or anything. That makes you a favorite. I hope that doesn’t make me boring :)
I'm still very new to Didion, and honestly wondered what I was missing when I finished The White Album and didn't feel the epiphany I was all but promised. But as someone who has fallen in love with/been shaped by authors with whom I have this complicated relationship, reading your words inspired the possibility that perhaps I approached her differently than I should have. I can see the inherent value to her writing style, and I enjoyed certain essays, but because I approached her as literary divinity, her humanity and her self-investigation, the two things that bring color to her writing, were obscured to me.I'm actually excited to try again now, and I should probably start with her fiction since that's home to me.
Like all good things, I agree and disagree. And think neither way is wrong or right. And this was wonderfully delightful. I love how your put your thoughts into written word. Super excited to see where this goes. ✨
I love Quiet Days in Malibu, but I’m not sure why:
“Dick Haddock, a family man, a man twenty-six years in the same line of work, a man who has on the telephone and in his office the crisp and easy manner of technological middle man- agement, is in many respects the prototypical Southern California solid citizen. He lives in a San Fernando Valley subdivision near a freshwater marina and a good shopping plaza. His son is a high-school swimmer. His daughter is ‘into tennis.’”
What a layered look at Joan and what we (many and faithful) have done to her, especially since December 2021. That even as my or your or anyone's relationship to her changes over time, she'll always occupy some territory of the mind is certainly worthy of reflection. I love how Caitlin Flanagan framed Slouching in last summer's Atlantic piece: “Here was a book that said even a troubled woman, or a heartbroken woman, or a frightened woman could be a very powerful person.”
Very excited to have more of your writing and book recs hit the inbox soon!
She’s definitely one of my favorite writers but I’m more into her non-fiction than her fiction (although Play It... I do love). I’m a fan of Hemingway too; I think it was the Brontes and then Hemingway that were the first writers I really admired. I came late to Didion despite having grown up for a short, formative time in LA. And I’m no stranger to criticism of her work; for every friend I have who loves her there is another who hates how precious she is, or a professor who told me that Didion is a hypocrite because she left so much truth and reality out of her so-called personal essays. I just don’t care, frankly. I love her writing. I wish I had mastery of a tone like that. She’s instructive. But whenever a “cult” forms around somebody... it’s like you said, it renders the person or thing quite boring. (I also really like Babitz’s writing, although it’s so much less affected and precise; maybe I like it for exactly those reasons.)
aspirational lifestyle porn … a life long New Yorker but after reading Magical Thinking I thought maybe I need to live in Brentwood? I was a new wife in my mid twenties … Vanessa Redgrave was finishing her run on Broadway and I started doing this thing where I read books that made me sob on airplanes. I still do it. It was the tone I fell in love with. But also why are we so obsessed with out street cred? Of being above the fray? Why do we have to justify that our favorite is irreproachable? I love the books and the movies and the Celine ads and the way I sobbed on a transcontinental from NY to San Fran.
Also, I loved Sweetbitter because it took me back to being twenty and lost in my self and more in love with New York than anyone or anything. That makes you a favorite. I hope that doesn’t make me boring :)
Love love love this. I’m so excited you’re writing a newsletter 💕 can’t wait for the next one.
Also: I really hope the Hammer exhibition comes to New York.
I'm still very new to Didion, and honestly wondered what I was missing when I finished The White Album and didn't feel the epiphany I was all but promised. But as someone who has fallen in love with/been shaped by authors with whom I have this complicated relationship, reading your words inspired the possibility that perhaps I approached her differently than I should have. I can see the inherent value to her writing style, and I enjoyed certain essays, but because I approached her as literary divinity, her humanity and her self-investigation, the two things that bring color to her writing, were obscured to me.I'm actually excited to try again now, and I should probably start with her fiction since that's home to me.
Like all good things, I agree and disagree. And think neither way is wrong or right. And this was wonderfully delightful. I love how your put your thoughts into written word. Super excited to see where this goes. ✨
I love Quiet Days in Malibu, but I’m not sure why:
“Dick Haddock, a family man, a man twenty-six years in the same line of work, a man who has on the telephone and in his office the crisp and easy manner of technological middle man- agement, is in many respects the prototypical Southern California solid citizen. He lives in a San Fernando Valley subdivision near a freshwater marina and a good shopping plaza. His son is a high-school swimmer. His daughter is ‘into tennis.’”
Then they hang at Zuma.
What a layered look at Joan and what we (many and faithful) have done to her, especially since December 2021. That even as my or your or anyone's relationship to her changes over time, she'll always occupy some territory of the mind is certainly worthy of reflection. I love how Caitlin Flanagan framed Slouching in last summer's Atlantic piece: “Here was a book that said even a troubled woman, or a heartbroken woman, or a frightened woman could be a very powerful person.”
Very excited to have more of your writing and book recs hit the inbox soon!