A new collection of old Didion essays, called "Let Me Tell You What I Mean," has been published. Here's where to rediscover the essay "Why I Write," a spark of earnest hope behind the writer's distant cool.
Column: Connect with one another with a good book
Amy Wilson Sheldon/Special to the Crier
We’re isolated, we’re hunkered down because of the weather – and maybe we’re a little bored too? Winter during a pandemic: It can be the pits. Our hypothetical watercoolers may be obsolete (not to mention non-sanitary), but I propose we try to bring watercooler culture back with…books. So often, we view reading as a solitary activity. Yet well into the 17th century, reading was actually a communal activity. In fact, 18th century England was a high point for the parlor “read aloud,” as greater access to current fiction led to “elocution” as a popular pastime.
A BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK A masterpiece. - R.O. Kwon
The Crucible meets
True Grit in this riveting adventure story of a fugitive girl, a mysterious gang of robbers, and their dangerous mission to transform the Wild West.
In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.
The day of her wedding, 17 year old Ada s life looks good; she loves her husband, and she loves working as an apprentice to her mother, a respected midwife. But after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are routinely hanged as witches, her survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.
“To me, reading is a great adventure. I’ve loved it since I was very small and I’d love everybody else to enjoy it as much as I do,” she said. “You can escape and you can travel and you can laugh and you can cry. There’s every kind of emotion that humans experience in a book.”
Among her first recommendations are acclaimed children’s book
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy;
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel; Delia Owens’s
Where The Crawdads Sing, which was also chosen by Reese Witherspoon as her book club pick, with the A-lister working to adapt it for the big screen; and