Tag Archives: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

“The ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language.” — Joan Didion

Posted on December 5, 2024 by sheila

It’s her birthday today. Someone said that Didion’s (seemingly) simple sentences are like a perfect puzzle. If you remove one line from a paragraph, everything falls apart. Her writing is that well-constructed. She was a notoriously painstaking self-editor. She would … Continue reading →

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Excerpt from Slouching Towards Bethlehem: ‘John Wayne: A Love Story’, by Joan Didion

Posted on May 26, 2020 by sheila

For John Wayne’s Birthday A second excerpt from the essay collection: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics), by Joan Didion This is one of the best things written about John Wayne. It’s not just an essay about who he was … Continue reading →

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2019 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2019 by sheila

It’s been such a busy year for me as a writer. The busiest. I’ve had to “make time” for reading stuff that has nothing to do with anything writing-wise. I need to read for pleasure. Many of the books I … Continue reading →

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The Books: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: ‘Notes From a Native Daughter’, by Joan Didion

Posted on May 15, 2012 by sheila

A fourth excerpt from the essay collection: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics), by Joan Didion Joan Didion has many topics that obsess her. Crime, narrative, real estate, language, to name a few. One of her obsessions is her home … Continue reading →

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The Books: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’, by Joan Didion

Posted on May 11, 2012 by sheila

A third excerpt from the essay collection: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics), by Joan Didion One of Joan Didion’s masterpieces. It’s unlike a lot of her other writing, which can be quite openly analytical. In this, she only has … Continue reading →

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The Books: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: ‘Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream’, by Joan Didion

Posted on May 1, 2012 by sheila

Moving on from the Hollywood shelf to what I call my Essay shelf. First up, is the Joan Didion section. She is one of my favorite writers of all time. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays (FSG Classics), by Joan Didion Slouching … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Joan Didion

Posted on December 5, 2011 by sheila

From the essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” in the collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem: The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Joan Didion

Posted on December 5, 2009 by sheila

From the essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” in the collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem: The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and … Continue reading →

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