Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge #9: Read a book recommended by a librarian.

I had a discussion with a coworker about books, as one does when they are a bookworm and attempting small talk. The coworker is in the midst of getting their doctorate in english…literature…American Literature… something in that vein. We were discussing American female authors who have had an impact on the development of American literature, and he mentioned Joan Didion. I had never read anything by Didion before, and he recommended starting with this collection of essays. He has a pretty decently sized home library and has a completely different taste in books. (Although we both share a love of Tolkien) so I counted this recommendation for this challenge.

Didion’s essays are written so well that you will be forgiven for thinking that it is fiction. Her style is interspersed with wit and humor. Not only that, but these stories make you feel. Whether its anger or sadness or mirth or joy, you will feel something while reading Didion.

These stories are a reflection of their time and place. Despite never visiting California and not being alive when these stories were originally written, I did not feel out of place as a reader. Everything on the page comes alive. The scenery, the people, it all feels like a window into a world not so different from our own.

Even though this was my first timing reading Joan Didion, it certainly won’t be the last.

Check out this book at the link below or, keeping with the spirit of this challenge, pick it up at your local library. And while you are there, get another recommendation from a librarian.