Welcome to Litsy!

In New Orleans the wilderness is sensed as very near, not the redemptive wilderness of the western imagination but something rank and old and malevolent, the idea of wilderness not as an escape from civilization and its discontents but as a mortal threat to a community precarious and colonial in its deepest aspect.

So many people have read Didion but I‘ve never been drawn to her. How can anyone possibly live up to all those superlatives? She certainly doesn‘t for me here. She seems to approach the South as an alien place and there‘s a hint of judgement in her evaluation of it. Then her West section is really just musings on her very privileged (yet this is not truly acknowledged) upbringing. No thanks.

Not as engaging as her previous books

The south part is more developed here - and anyway Joan‘s thoughts on the west are pretty well established. It‘s a journal of a road trip that she thought about turning into a story but never did. My favorite parts were the small period details, like how everyone in the south assumed she was a dirty hippie because she had long hair. More Joan is always a good plan!

Joan Didion makes me forget most of my quarantine problems.

When your friends are always late to boozy brunch, you learn to bring a book 😂

Book haul from two stores: Bottom three are from the used bookstore and the rest are from an independent bookstore. I had coupons, percentages off, and cash for books that I brought in. Didn‘t spend much on these at all!! 📚#bookhaul

When all your holds come in at once! 📚😊 #libraryhaul #bookstack

Didion‘s descriptive and thoughtful writing is ideal for my audio tastes—especially this book because it‘s short.

“In New Orleans the wilderness is sensed as very near, not the redemptive wilderness of western imagination but something rank and old and malevolent.”

It‘s -27 here in Minneapolis (regular temp, not windchill) which has led to the cancellation of my remaining classes this week. Here I am in bed wearing a wool sweater, hat, and flannel pj bottoms under my down comforter. At least I have Joan Didion.

I have a Joan Didion problem. #joandidion

I‘m such a huge fan of Joan Didion‘s writing, she can do no wrong in my eyes. This is such a wonderful book for anyone that romanticizes going on a road trip set in the flat, beautiful land that is the South. She makes acute observations throughout her various notebook entries and it‘s one of those books that stays with you long after you finish it‘s last page. Great book!

How did this book go by so fast?? I put it on while I did chores and suddenly it was over, I had no idea it was so short! Amazing though, detailed, perfectly formed sketches of societies and people. I loved the insight into an area of the states i never normally read about. Frankly Joan Didion could write a shopping list and I‘d give it five stars. Bet she‘d write a good shopping list

I love Joan Didion and I‘m so excited to read more by her. Thoughtful female writers of non fiction about society, why countries are the way they are, give me life. I‘m sure I‘ll read everything she‘s ever written one day, but this is just my third so far

I had only some dim and unformed sense, a sense which struck me now and then, and which I could not explain coherently, that for some years the South and particularly the Gulf Coast had been for America what people were still saying California was, and what California seemed to me not to be: the future, the secret source of malevolent and benevolent energy, the psychic center. I did not much want to talk about this.

Perhaps I‘m biased, given that I have also been a Californian stranger in the South and I found so much of this so terribly familiar, but Didion off the cuff is probably more eloquent and more insightful than many others will ever be with years of deliberation. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As it happens I was taught to cook by someone from Louisiana, where an avid preoccupation with recipes and food among men was not unfamiliar to me. We lived together for some years, and I think we most fully understood each other when once I tried to kill him with a kitchen knife.

The best antidote to one too many bad books by straight men 💅🏻 #readwomen

Came home from a great trip to a clean house with new books 📚 #bookhaul #music #nonfiction #readwomen

Day 30: #readingresolutions South and #West

Joan Didion, ah, and I loved the recent doco about her on Netflix.
@Jess7

#theamericansouth

‘In the south they are convinced that they have bloodied their place with history, in the West we do not believe that anything we do can bloody the land, or change it, or touch it. How could it have come to this?‘

A short book to start the new year . This title is really just notes on the south and California , from projects that never came to be. Because Ms. Didion is so talented, her notes are more interesting and insightful than most writers polished product. But maybe I‘m just prejudiced, I love all I have read by her .#JoanDidion

This was a quick read, especially as an audiobook. I love Didion, but felt like there wasn‘t much of substance here. Also: listening to this book, as opposed to reading it visually, made it difficult for me to retain and follow the threads of what are essentially collected but nonnarrative notes and fragments. Didion‘s observations about the South are still salient, but I felt they were not quite the prophetic insights the foreword described.

Idiosyncratic and interesting notes —not finished essays— by Joan Didion.

Observations of people and places as Joan travels with her husband through the South while gathering information to write a story. Haunting at times. Insight into her upbringing. Again, I realize that I should only choose a certain kind of book to listen to while driving. Couldn‘t really appreciate the writing.

New car “read”! Loved the Netflix documentary about Joan Didion.

This book and the show #Orville just got me through a tough week. The writing was very calming. #thankfullyreading

I needed a break from #IT and south and west is exactly how I‘m currently feeling. This book looks to be set in New Orleans and San Francisco- my two favorite cities! Has anyone seen the documentary on Netflix? Excited to jump on the #joandidion train.

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."
~Joan Didion
I watched the Joan Didion documentary on Netflix last night. This lady had quite the life! She is one of my favorite writers and it was great to hear her speak about her life.
Have you read any of her work?
__
____
#joandidion #femaleauthor #books #bookish #bookworm #booklover #bookcollection

Really good!!

Super interesting notes from the 1970s. Didion records ideas and observations and conversations in her particular voice.

Me and Emmie liked Joan Didion's South and West. I love the idea of traveling to learn and write about different places as Joan did. Her observations were interesting and timeless.

I think I was expecting more deep thoughts and consideration of the areas, less play by play clips with varying description.

Very mixed reaction to this one. On the one hand, Didion's accounts from her notes on travels in the American South in the 1970s seem to have something important to say about today's cultural divide in American politics and the political bubbles we all inhabit. But I don't think these kind of journalistic depictions speak for themselves. They deserve some analysis that explores where the line falls between cultural critique and exploration.

Reading outdoors is like sitting outdoors and taking in a view, while reading. That's exactly what it is. The only difference being that you get absorbed into two worlds, whereas merely sitting outside without a book in hand only allows you to be a part of one.

~blankpagesofmine

#amwriting #writing #reading #books #southandwest #joandidion #bibliophile #bookworm #fourthofjuly #city #view

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means."

#writerslife #writer #books #morning #coffee #reading #mug #southandwest #joandidion #bibliophile #bookworm

An interesting little book. I appreciate the way everything was left unpolished. It was a nice book to read in small chunks at the end of the day.

I picked this one up for the travel memoir task for Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge because it was short and I figured it would be good because it's by Joan Didion. She's a great writer, but the tone seemed condescending and the book felt flat.

Trying to figure out how I feel about Joan Didion.

So, I grew up in Alabama and she mentions this country club in Mountain Brook, a stupidly expensive suburb outside Birmingham, my home town. What's crazy is the country club is still there and STILL has mostly black servers wearing white gloves to appeal to the "old south" vibe. I went there for a cousin's wedding and a friend's birthday and it's downright creepy if you know anything about history and social justice.

It reads like a meandering notebook of observations because that's exactly what it is, and they tell you that in the beginning. No one's first drafts, much less notes, are riveting, so I wouldn't recommend starting your first Didion with this one. But if you're already a fan and familiar with her other nonfiction works, you'll probably like this.

A bunch of my library holds came in at the same time, which is a good problem to have. :) I'm on vacation, so I thought this short travelogue would be a good choice. I'm usually opposed to notebooks/first drafts of things being published, but I feel like Joan Didion at her worst is still better than most people at their best. Let's see if I'm right.

I'm feeling so torn about the rating I provided for this book. I've heard nothing but amazing things about the great Joan Didion. The writing is amazing, but just not sure the content made me feel anything. This was my first Joan Didion; I have a feeling that maybe I shouldn't have picked this as a first read. Any recommendations on what to read next by her?

I have an insatiable urge to read about California in the springtime. This hit the spot. I find Didion cannot be read in long stretches, only in bite size chunks. I enjoyed it, but it is very rough, clearly notes, without a cohesive thought process.

From the foreword to South and West. I feel like so many of the books I read now have this as an undercurrent. #belletrist #belletristbookclub

Nope. The condescension is unbearable.

Took advantage of the Audible half price sale to pick up a few I wouldn't want to spend a credit on (i.e. they're under $15)!

Karah: “These days a lot of people have an ‘I-share-therefore-I-am' mentality. Joan Didion reveals her true self only as much as she wants to. I think that‘s why she has such a cult following. There is always something new to discover. Once you start reading about something, you keep seeing it in your world. It makes you think and contextualizes little moments in your life. If you don't want to think, don't read."