Joan Didion RIP

[Michael_ Gee]

Renowned author, screenwriter and essayist dead at 87 from complications of Parkinson's. She wrote a lot of really good stuff.

 

[Spartan Squad]

Damn. Mrs Highlander-Spartan loved her books. Think she always secretly wanted to be her. RIP

 

[OscarMadison]

A Book of Common Prayer was brilliant.

 

[Azrael]

The tiny giant to her rest.

 

[Octave]

a force of energy

 

[Songbird]

Didn't read Play It As It Lays but it seems the movie, which is great, stays true to the book.

 

[misterbc]

I bought her book “The White Album” thinking it was about “The White Album” but it, of course, wasn’t. I kept flipping through the pages to try and find some reference to the ashram and perhaps some insight into “Dear Prudence”. I decided to read it anyway and it completely changed my approach to reading. It was a slog at the start but then I found my way through the material and became a fan. I’ll be buying a couple of her works in the next few days I’m sure.
A game changer for me.
RIP.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Enjoyed Miami when it was required reading for my Latin American History class at Pitt a million years ago.

 

[dixiehack]

Enjoyed Miami when it was required reading for my Latin American History class at Pitt a million years ago.

The only thing I ever read of hers was an excerpt of that in an anthology of Florida-themed stories. Her evocation of the city as liquid was one of those moments when you realized as a writer what a major league fastball looked like and that you didn’t have one.

 

[User 150927]

I regret that I was never able to finish "The Year of Magical Thinking"

 

[DanOregon]

Started reading her in college for an assignment - and I don't know if it's a sexist thing to say, but she wasn't a "woman writer" she was a "writer." She cut to the heart of things. She was funny, sarcastic, witty and wrote serious stuff - didn't seem to be trying to "prove" anything. She let it all hang out. Wrote some decent screenplays as well with her husband. Probably one of the first writers whose style I tried to emulate.

 

[garrow]

The Doors' John Densmore remembers Joan Didion, Eve Babitz and Jim Morrison

 

[Fdufta]

Started reading her in college for an assignment - and I don't know if it's a sexist thing to say, but she wasn't a "woman writer" she was a "writer." She cut to the heart of things. She was funny, sarcastic, witty and wrote serious stuff - didn't seem to be trying to "prove" anything. She let it all hang out. Wrote some decent screenplays as well with her husband. Probably one of the first writers whose style I tried to emulate.

What books of hers should I read or start out with?

 

[Azrael]

What books of hers should I read or start out with?

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a good place to start.

A Guide to Joan Didion’s Books

The New York Review of Books has also taken her work out from behind their paywall.

Joan Didion

 

[garrow]

Also a fine documentary on Didion (directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne) is available on Netflix--Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold.

 

[Songbird]

Of all the names why am I not surprised that it's Griffin Dunne.