Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion

The other day my ex-husband texted me and asked, “How tall are you?” Of the many texts I have received from him over the last 25 years this one actually amused me. How tall was I? We were married for 18 years and this was not something he knew? Had he forgotten? He is more than 6 feet-tall, so couldn’t he remember me standing next to him? Instead of posing questions, I quickly responded to him, as I have learned over the years is the most efficient thing to do. I would, however, fathom a guess that if someone asked him who my favorite author is, he would have said, without hesitation, Joan Didion. He would know this because a framed, autographed picture of her used to hang in our Sea Cliff home, along with all of her books, which I still treasure. “Let Me Tell You What I Mean” by Didion was recently published containing a dozen, previously uncollected stories written between 1968-2000. I listened to the book on audio tape, and loved every essay. In this collection, Didion crafts unique profiles on celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway, Nancy Reagan, Tony Richardson, Robert Mapplethorpe and Martha Stewart. In addition, she turns the spotlight on herself in the essay titled, “Why I Write” and describes studying at Berkeley in the 1950’s and discovering her true passion for writing. Thank goodness she did become a writer because we now have her essays and novels to read, and re-read for years to come. She once wore a dirty raincoat to a writing class at Cal because she wanted to feel invisible. She found the other writers more interesting and more experienced. But little did those other writers know that the invisible undergrad in the dirty raincoat was observing all of them, and taking notes for the future. At 86 years old, she keeps on writing because, “I’m totally in control of this tiny, tiny world right there at the typewriter.” To buy this book on Amazon click here.