Random Readings 9

I have been a writer my entire life. As a writer, even as a child, long before what I wrote began to be published, I developed a sense that meaning itself was resident in the rhythms of words and sentences and paragraphs, a technique for withholding whatever it was I thought or believed behind an increasingly impenitrable polish.

– from The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Comments

[Beth]

Wonderful quotation.
And what a fabulous book.

[patricia]

Yes – she is an amazingly talented writer. I don't want to read it too fast, but it's just so rivetting, so engaging, so deeply personal, I can't put it down. It's like trying to eat something delicious when you're really, really hungry.

I picked up this book because you and my favourite bookseller both raved about it. So thanks so much!

[Kerry]

Though what she wrote about loss and grief was so astounding, I especially enjoyed reading more in general about the life she has led. An amazing one, and she tells it so beautifully.

[Gail]

She and her husband were joined at the hip in both their personal and professional lives. I don't know how she has kept her sanity, having witnessed his death and lost her only child a short time later. She is truly a remarkable woman. Though she looks like a fragile little bird, she's a fighter. How else could you explain the stamina required of her to write the play "The Year of Magical Thinking"?

[ragdoll]

I loved that book so much and it haunted me for months after I finished reading it. Most of all, it shows such a spirit of character to take an experience like losing your husband and then, later, your daughter, and turning it into a beautiful piece of work that inspires so many people.

It actually made me consider taking a trip to NYC to see the stage production.

[Coll B. Lue]

From the book review and the comments made, I'm riveted and will look to get hold of a copy at some point.