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Let me tell you what I mean / Joan Didion ; foreword by Hilton Als.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2021Copyright date: ©2021Edition: First editionDescription: xxxv, 149 pages ; 20 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593318485
  • 059331848X
Uniform titles:
  • Essays. Selections
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Alicia and the underground press -- Getting serenity -- A trip to Xanadu -- On being unchosen by the college of one's choice -- Pretty Nancy -- Fathers, sons, screaming eagles -- Why I write -- Telling stories -- Some women -- The long-distance runner -- Last words -- Everywoman.com.
Summary: "From the universally acclaimed, best-selling author of the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking: ten pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer. Here are six pieces written in 1968 from the "Points West" Saturday Evening Post column Joan Didion shared from 1964 to 1969 with her husband, John Gregory Dunne about: American newspapers; a session with Gamblers Anonymous; a visit to San Simeon; being rejected by Stanford; dropping in on Nancy Reagan, wife of the then-governor of California, while a TV crew filmed her at home; and an evening at the annual reunion of WWII veterans from the 101st Airborne Association at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Here too is a 1976 piece from the New York Times magazine on "Why I Write"; a piece about short stories from New West in 1978; and from The New Yorker, a piece on Hemingway from 1998, and on Martha Stewart from 2000. Each one is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient"-- Provided by publisher.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 814.54 D556 Available 33111009784204
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 814.54 D556 Available 33111010468128
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 814.54 D556 Available 33111009833977
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From one of our most iconic and influential writers, the award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking : a timeless collection of mostly early pieces that reveal what would become Joan Didion's subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt.

With a forward by Hilton Als, these twelve pieces from 1968 to 2000, never before gathered together, offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary figure. They showcase Joan Didion's incisive reporting, her empathetic gaze, and her role as "an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time" ( The New York Times Book Review ).

Here, Didion touches on topics ranging from newspapers ("the problem is not so much whether one trusts the news as to whether one finds it"), to the fantasy of San Simeon, to not getting into Stanford. In "Why I Write," Didion ponders the act of writing: "I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means." From her admiration for Hemingway's sentences to her acknowledgment that Martha Stewart's story is one "that has historically encouraged women in this country, even as it has threatened men," these essays are acutely and brilliantly observed. Each piece is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient.

"This is a Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knoff"-- title page verso.

"From the universally acclaimed, best-selling author of the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking: ten pieces never before collected that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer. Here are six pieces written in 1968 from the "Points West" Saturday Evening Post column Joan Didion shared from 1964 to 1969 with her husband, John Gregory Dunne about: American newspapers; a session with Gamblers Anonymous; a visit to San Simeon; being rejected by Stanford; dropping in on Nancy Reagan, wife of the then-governor of California, while a TV crew filmed her at home; and an evening at the annual reunion of WWII veterans from the 101st Airborne Association at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas. Here too is a 1976 piece from the New York Times magazine on "Why I Write"; a piece about short stories from New West in 1978; and from The New Yorker, a piece on Hemingway from 1998, and on Martha Stewart from 2000. Each one is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient"-- Provided by publisher.

Alicia and the underground press -- Getting serenity -- A trip to Xanadu -- On being unchosen by the college of one's choice -- Pretty Nancy -- Fathers, sons, screaming eagles -- Why I write -- Telling stories -- Some women -- The long-distance runner -- Last words -- Everywoman.com.

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