Joan Didion

Slouching Towards Bethlehem
A classic collection of essays capturing California in the 1960s by Joan Didion
11 people recommend this
Recommended by
Brandon WernerFirst to rec
ZOË ZIECKER“essays are always a perfect plane read”
4
Nicole Anderson“No words. Just the best.”
3
arbela“an essay that genuinely changed my life”
3
Kelsy CARLEEN“Everyone loves Didion, but especially 18 year olds from California doing assigned reading at NYU (complementary).”
1
Nick Spain“Didion notoriously wrote this to the exact character count on a tight deadline after another writer dropped out”
1
HB“The high a woman gets recommending this…men will never know.”
1
Jeanine Nault“I've been meaning to read this book for years, but I'm glad I waited - "Goodbye To All of That" means more to me now than it would have 10 years ago. But I wish I had read, "On Self Respect," 20 years ago.”
grayaelc“Perfectly encapsulates the nadir of the Postwar Era.”
mag“read in january. a true masterpiece i'd been seeking for a couple years since reading this passage for my architecture thesis: 'I sat next to one such wedding party in a Strip restaurant last time I was in Las Vegas. The marriage had just taken place; the pride still wore her dress, the mother her corsage. A bored waiter poured out a few swallows of pink champagne ("on the house") for everyone but the bride, who was too young to be served. "You'll need something with more kick than that," the bride's father said with heavy jocularity to his new son-in-law; the ritul jokes about the wedding night had a certain Panglossian character, since the bride was clearly several months `regnant. Another round of pink champagne, this time not on the house, and the bride began to cry, "It was just as nice," she sobbed, "as I hoped and dreamed it would be."' - from Marrying Absurd”
Louisa
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