The Didion Project
On honeymoon in Mexico, in Quintana Roo coincidentally, the auction of Joan Didion’s private collection was taking place in New York. Being a huge Didion fan, I couldn’t help but check in on it and catch bits here and there, while still staying mostly disconnected throughout our trip. I made note of a photo of books being auctioned and saved it to my phone for later, planning to look into it. When we got home, I investigated (i.e. googled) and it turned out to be 15 of a list of Joan’s 19 favorite books. This list became my latest reading project: The Didion Project.
It’s like Julie and Julia but with reading and no pie or wine.
Over this next year, I plan to read all 15, and if you’d like, I’d love for you to join me. You don’t have to buy the books, as they’re all still in print (I checked, although we had a close call with Speedboat, but it’s back and it’s SO GOOD) and they’re available at libraries. I’ve also had some great luck finding a lot of them used over the past month. Some of these books are classics, some are poetry, some are short, some aren’t, some are hard and some have no plot (intentionally!) and everything in between.
I believe we become better readers by reading, just like kids do, and that we can go slow or fast or stop and go again, but that reading is always good. I also believe that when a book is too hard for where you’re at right now, it can totally break your spirit (I’m looking at you, Crime and Punishment, when we get there), and that is not what this project is for. Joan was tough and was always up for a good challenge, but definitely doesn’t want to ruin us. So keep that in mind, or give yourself permission to skip around. There are no rules! I made this up! And always, for Joan, enjoy a good ice cold glass bottle Coke when you have the chance.
The books:
Collected Shorter Poems 1927 - 1957, W. H. Auden
Wonderland, Joyce Carol Oates
Guerrillas, V. S. Naipaul Knopf
Speedboat, Renata Adler
The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer
Collected Poems, Robert Lowell
Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell
Notes of a Native Son, James Baldwin
Crime and Punishment, Fydor Dostoyevsky
Poems by Wallace Stevens
Victory, Joseph Conrad
Appointment in Samarra, John O’Hara
Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Berlin Stories, Christopher Isherwood
The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford
Here is a google doc for you to copy and save and do whatever you want with.
Happy reading! Except for Crime and Punishment!
Who is Joan Didion? Start with Netflix: The Center Will Not Hold.
