Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
The White Album
The White Album | Joan Didion
We tell ourselves stories in order to live. So begins Joan Didions legendary essay collection The White Album, a landmark literary mosaic by one of American writings true greats illuminating in unerring prose subjects ranging from the Manson cult to the Black Panthers, from painter Georgia OKeefe to the authors own struggles with depression and anxiety in the late 1960s. In Good Citizens, we meet the First Lady of California Nancy Reagan. Early in the title essay, we meet lead singer Jim Morrison of the pioneering L.A. rock band The Doors. We meet Oakland revolutionary Huey Newton, leaders of the womans movement, a veteran Malibu lifeguard, a celebrated orchid grower. These and many others come under Didions magnifying lens, her unsurpassed eye for the evocative detail. LocationsHollywood and Berkeley; Hawaii and the Hoover Dam; the authors hometown of Sacramento; Bogatare captured with the same uncanny vividness. A flawlessly executed mix of people and place portraits with fresh-angle consideration of American cultural trends and movements, this deeply influential collection is also a breakthrough work of autobiography. Bravely, with remarkable precision, Didion charts her own interior journey during a tumultuous time: breakdown, recovery, and insights in a life whose roles included wife and mother of a young daughter along with her career as a journalist and novelist. This first-ever digital edition introduces a new generation of readers to a contemporary master, a writer of whom reviewer John Leonard in The New York Times declared, Nobody writes better English prose than Joan Didion.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
quote
ChrisBohjalian
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Late to the party…by decades. But glad I finally got here.

review
anushareflects
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Mehso-so

I returned to my third reading of Joan Didion with The White Album. So far of the other two i had read I loved Year of Magical Thinking & so-so‘d Slouching Toward Bethlehem. I guess my third read also ended up so-so. I really enjoyed a few essays but for the majority this collection underwhelmed me. I was shocked at her essay deriding the women‘s movement & she certainly fell from grace in my eyes. Overall some essays were great but mostly not

blurb
thepostman96
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

a cozy afternoon of reading and halloween lofi 🎃

blurb
JuliaTheBookNerd
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

#JoanDidion 🤍 #WeRemember 🌹💔

#BookNerd 🤓💙📚

Eggs A great choice ! Great book 📖 3y
44 likes2 comments
review
BekaReid
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

I've had the desire to commemorate Joan Didion and picked up The White Album, which contains one of my favorite essays and a couple of my absolute favorite quotes. There's just something about the flow of her sentences and how she stylized the ordinary that draws me in and speaks to me as I linger in the pages.

18 likes1 stack add
blurb
Tonton
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

From The Paris Review interview RIP Joan Didion

Graywacke Great quote, special writer. RIP 🙁 3y
batsy That quote! ❤️ 3y
31 likes2 comments
quote
BekaReid
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live." – The White Album (1979)
Feeling this loss today of such a talented writer. This is one of my favorite quotes (as evidenced by my tagline). I've scribbled so many quotes and thoughts in my journals from Didion's writings over the years.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/23/joan-didion-in-her-own-words-23-of...

review
LapReader
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Mehso-so

1. a) France especially the south so beautiful & calming to me, Riviera a close 2nd, Paris 3rd. b) London c) Samoa despite the stomach bug it was 1 of the more relaxing holidays I‘ve had. 2. Bath, book & a big glass of Shiraz usually has to be topped up by my love. 3. I think the tagged book. 4. Today I‘m grateful for working from home so I‘m better organised for my evil step daughter‘s 11th b‘day and away from covid. #wonderouswendesday @Eggs

Eggs 🇫🇷📚 🛁 3y
32 likes1 comment
review
LapReader
White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Mehso-so

Love the bang it started off with but it has since mellowed in the middle. I always have a second hand book to read in the spa and sauna. I have started my Easter holidays early!

review
LapReader
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

What a revelation! I started reading the tagged book in the spa yesterday & loved it instantly. These 📚 are from the book exchange at my local shopping centre. I visited it 2xs this week. I love me a mag. I don‘t really care if it‘s an old 1 either. The Rainforest 📖 interested me as I studied anthropology at uni 20 yrs ago but never did anything with that degree. The Virginia Andrews book I took due to a ❤️ of the 💐 in the attic series in yr 7.

CarolynM Joan Didion is a fabulous writer! Enjoy! 4y
57 likes1 comment
review
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

Whenever you have collected essays, there are a fair amount of hits and misses, and The White Album is no different. Didion tackles more California topics, but also a bit about The Black Panthers, musicians of the 60's, women, & travel. The standouts were those that evoke a time & place more than a larger issue: Many Mansions, In The Islands, On The Mall, and Quiet Days in Malibu.
@Clwojick @Meaw_catlady #readyoursign ♐ prompts 2, 12, & 15

Clwojick Way to go! 👏🏻🥳🎉 4y
36 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
gradcat
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
blurb
Chab256
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

#LibraryHaul
#UpNext

*I may be the only person around who has not watched Game of Thrones...so Season One...
*Re-reading Paper Girls 1 & 2 so I can read the copy of #3 I own and beyond...
*A little Joan Didion to end my #NFFall and a thriller that has been on my TBR...
An ambitious end to 2019!

MyNamesParadise I absolutely love Paper Girls! 5y
Chab256 @MyNamesParadise I did too, but it has been so long since I read 1 and 2 that I have to go back to read the rest lol! 5y
27 likes2 comments
blurb
Kimberlone
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Went to see the new Tarantino on Sunday, and am now really itching for a reread of the tagged book, mainly for the titular essay which is mostly about the Manson murders. I highly recommend the movie for anyone interested in the time period or is obsessed with the Manson murders. This movie was definitely an outlier in Tarantino‘s oeuvre, so if you aren‘t a fan of the violence and language in his other films you might actually like this one!

Centique Im so looking forward to this movie! 5y
BookmarksTheSpot I loved this movie! I saw it on Sunday, too. 5y
Kimberlone @BookmarksTheSpot I really enjoyed it although my boyfriend was very confused because he had no idea the movie was related to the Manson murders 5y
37 likes3 comments
review
Blaire
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

As in any book of essays I ended up skimming some, but the ones that caught me really drew me in. My particular favorites were on Hawaii, migraines, Malibu, okeefe, and relationships. She has a particular way of capturing human experience and is a keen observer of culture and the way people think. Captures life in California and Hawaii I‘m the 1960s. #1979 #publishedin1979 #40thbdaychallenge

janerzy I like her essays too! 5y
64 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
Blaire
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Post-bedtime porch read. Enjoying this lovely night and Didion‘s essays. #1979 #40thbdaychallenge

Bradleygirl happy 40th year! mine was this February. #1979solidarity 5y
Blaire @Bradleygirl yay for 70s babies! My 40th is in October. 5y
Cathythoughts I love where you live ♥️👍🏻 5y
Blaire @Cathythoughts thank you! Trying to take full advantage of it this summer. 5y
57 likes4 comments
blurb
businessmermaid
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Big day at work today, so trying to calm myself by reading. Loving Didion‘s discussion of Georgia O‘Keeffe.

quote
jdiehr
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

I think this is the last quote I had highlighted. So many good ones!

quote
jdiehr
The White Album | Joan Didion

"What I have made for myself is personal, but is not exactly peace."

review
jdiehr
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

A book of essays in which I either really enjoyed the subject matter or was bored to the point of skimmimg.
The book still gets a "pick" from me due to the number of quotable quotes.

quote
jdiehr
The White Album | Joan Didion

"A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his image."

britt_brooke I love her writing. 💚 6y
24 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
jdiehr
The White Album | Joan Didion

"Everything was unmentionable but nothing was unimaginable."

blurb
erinreads
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

I‘m hoping to read all of these and a few more this month. 🤞🏻🤞🏻 for a few more 5⭐️ reads to end the year! #tbr

Jennick2004 Wow thAts quite the stack! 6y
Lovesbooks87 I loved One of Us Is Lying! I hope you enjoy all of them! 6y
98 likes2 comments
review
Victoriahoperose
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Mehso-so

I definitely admire the experiences Joan Didion has had in her life and all of the things she has seen and been through. I just found this to be a bit slow moving and dry. She also jumped around a lot. Interesting life, but the story is a bit slow.

quote
Tonton
The White Album | Joan Didion

Thinking of California and how Joan described wildfire: “Horses caught fire and were shot on the beach, birds exploded in the air.”
Link https://deadline.com/2018/11/few-words-joan-didion-how-report-malibu-fire-120249...

23 likes1 stack add
blurb
Leftcoastzen
White Album | Joan Didion
post image

#littleredcorvette OK, so it‘s not red , Joan‘s was Daytona Yellow.The right writer in the right place at the right time to own this car. The White Album essay calls the L.A. freeway system the only secular communion Los Angeles has.As to the song, It always makes me smile,dance , and I love to sing along.Double Hibiscus from my backyard.
#Princeofjuly

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks So pretty!!! 💛💛 6y
Suet624 I love this post. 6y
47 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
callielafleur
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

My first Didion, and holy socks you guys, this lady can write an essay. Her sentences flow like music, and her topics are fascinating, even at their most mundane. I'm so excited to read more. ❤️

erinreads I have this but haven‘t read it yet. I‘ve absolutely loved everything else by her so I should move this up my list! And btw, I got @kamoorephoto‘s book this week. 👌🏻 6y
callielafleur @erinreads Excellent! 😁 6y
8leagueboot I just read my first Didion, too! It was Slouching Towards Bethlehem and I loved it! 6y
callielafleur @8leagueboot I have that very high on my TBR pile! I read a sample of Slouching, and that's how I decided I needed to read everything she wrote. White Album just got to me a little quicker in the mail! 6y
89 likes2 stack adds4 comments
blurb
shareyourghost
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Some recent finds at one of my favorite local shops, Nice Price Books & Records. The Springsteen box set comes with a book of lyrics and photographs so I‘m lopping it in with the pile. Not pictured, the Raising Arizona dvd I scored for $2. Good haul.

10 likes2 comments
blurb
m.galehuxley
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

I can‘t get enough of Joan Didion lately. My husband is at a friend‘s bachelor party, so I‘m partying my way by finally getting around to this.

Vansa I absolutely loved it. She's an incredibly compelling, brutally Frank narrator. Fascinating. 7y
m.galehuxley @vansa I did too! I really admire Joan Didion. 7y
42 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
m.galehuxley
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

If I could be any writer, I think I‘d want to be Joan Didion when she wrote The White Album and Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

39 likes2 stack adds
review
britt_brooke
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Pickpick

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

I love the ease with which Joan Didion writes, or at least it appears as such. It‘s borderline conversational yet flawless. Here, she presents us mostly with snippets of 60s and 70s America. Such a fascinating time period. My favorite essay was the Georgia O‘Keefe. I‘m a fan. This was only my second Didion and I can‘t wait to read more.

merelybookish Have you watched the Netflix movie about her? I enjoyed it. She is a fascinating person. 7y
britt_brooke @merelybookish No, I haven‘t, but thanks for bringing it to my attention! (edited) 7y
JanuarieTimewalker13 Sold!!! I‘m stacking! Thanks! 7y
See All 17 Comments
BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘m a new fan of hers also! 7y
britt_brooke @BarbaraTheBibliophage It‘s so exciting to discover new-to-you-authors! She‘s amazing. 💚 7y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @britt_brooke She is! Quite a few of her books are on Scribd, so I‘m all about it. 7y
Megabooks I have this on audible. I should listen! 7y
britt_brooke @Booksandcooks Yes! I enjoyed the audio. 👍🏻 7y
Leftcoastzen She‘s something! That photo, one of my favorites of her,cigarette, corvette and the freeways of L.A. 7y
LazyDays If you ever are in New Mexico, stop in Santa Fe. Georgia O'keeffe lived in New Mexico and became very popular. They have a museum,and a school, in Santa Fe. She is extremely loved there. 7y
LazyDays If you don't already know that 😊👐 7y
britt_brooke @LazyDays Thanks! Seems like I did know that, but I forgot all about it. I appreciate the reminder. 7y
britt_brooke @Leftcoastzen It‘s such a cool photo. 💚 7y
LazyDays @britt_brooke of course you do you're a fan💜😊😊 A lot od people forget about NM, there happens to be a lot of interesting stuff here.😊🎉💕 7y
Reviewsbylola I need to read this. ♥️ 7y
britt_brooke @Reviewsbylola I‘ve only just started reading her, but I‘m definitely a fan! 7y
128 likes7 stack adds17 comments
blurb
PagesOfKate
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Some love for women in music and the women writing about music.
#soundsofthen
#MarchintoOz @Cinfhen @Lizpixie

65 likes2 stack adds
blurb
erinreads
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Mini #bookhaul from Politics & Prose today. #dc #shoplocal #obligatorymetroshot

readordierachel Cool photo! 7y
CherryPie Excellent! 7y
Leftcoastzen yay Politics and Prose!When I visit the area it‘s a must.📚👏🤓 7y
99 likes3 comments
blurb
Eggs
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Printed in 1979, this book's essays cover 1968-1978 during her time in California as a young writer/journalist. Her political neutrality and straightforward style is appealing.

46 likes2 stack adds
review
Asma.AlMarri
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
Mehso-so

If I listened to the whole audiobook, it‘s due in part to Susan Varon‘s spare, dry yet dreamy narration. White Album can be full of white noise due in part to the book magnifying certain cross-sections of society from bygone times, signifying nothing to contemporary readers. Her strongest essay is a comment on the Women‘s Movement, which alone is worth reading. #JoanDidion #TheWhiteAlbum #Essays

RaimeyGallant Welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon And here's a compilation of Litsy tips that some of us put together:
https://raimeygallant.com/2017/10/31/litsytips/
7y
3 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
Kathrin
The White Album | Joan Didion
Bailedbailed

My first Didion and I don't want to say it's my last, but this one just didn't work for me. The essays just plain didn't interest me.

blurb
Valeka
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Al fresco lunch and some reading.

Megabooks Nice! 7y
4 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
Valeka
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

Learned a new word today. It's always exciting to come across something I haven't seen before!

blurb
Valeka
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

#Sunday morning reading. #Didion

blurb
MallenNC
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image
quote
Bookalong
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
~Joan Didion, The White Album
Beach Read ??
#books #bookish #joandidion #beachread #reader #currentlyreading

4 likes1 stack add
blurb
emilyhaldi
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

I finally dragged myself through the rest of this book, skimming some unbearable parts, and my opinion hasn't changed from before. I love some of Didion's other books but these essays are trying too hard to over-intellectualize mundane life events. Didion is way over-analyzing and showcasing her narcissism...she is her own worst enemy 😝
#myownworstenemy
#90sinjuly

Cinfhen Love this honest review 🙌🏻 7y
Reviewsbylola Yep I'll be skipping this! 7y
AmyWrites I know Didion is a literary darling but I just do not like her stuff. Like at all. 😕 7y
See All 7 Comments
Mdargusch Ugh. That sounds tedious. 7y
Meredith3 I LOVE THAT RUG 7y
AmyWrites @Joyfulmimi you are not alone 😃 7y
103 likes1 stack add7 comments
blurb
blankpagesofmine
White Album | Joan Didion
post image
quote
Hemingweight
White Album | Joan Didion
post image

We tell ourselves stories in order to live.

blurb
MrBook
The White Album | Joan Didion
post image

#TBRtemptation post! First published in '79, this is Didion's reportage of American life in the '60s and '70s with California as her spiritual center. She wittily and fluidly writes about bizarre artifacts, the impulses of the Manson family, a Black Panther Party press conference, John Paul Getty's museum, Georgia O' Keeffe, Hollywood, the women's movement, the Hoover Dam, etc. Calling all Didion fans 😁! #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

Melkyl I haven't read this one, but it's on my list. Her writing is so smooth. 8y
ApoptyGina69 Definitely a favorite, as is 8y
LitsyGoesPostal 😊👍🏻 8y
100 likes13 stack adds3 comments
review
Jehlish
The White Album | Joan Didion
Mehso-so

The usual lucid Didion prose and slightly hallucinatory and remote ultra-privileged perspective. The Lowell poem about Caracas in the middle of the essay on Colombia pissed me off. Scenario: essay about San Francisco and L.A. with random poem about Vancouver in the middle of it. Wut?

blurb
Sandersjasmine1
The White Album | Joan Didion

Started the white album yesterday and Didion is brilliant as usual

quote
GoneFishing
The White Album | Joan Didion

We tell ourselves stories in order to live...We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the "ideas" with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.

Ericmanciniwriter Just read this a few months ago, one of the best essays I've ever read! 8y
32 likes5 stack adds1 comment