Let Me Tell You What I Mean

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From one of our most iconic and influential writers: twelve pieces that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary figure. These essays from 1968 to 2000, which have not been gathered together until now, showcase Joan Didion's incisive reporting, her empathetic gaze, and her insights on writing. They touch on subjects ranging from newspapers ("the problem is not so much whether one trusts the news as whether one finds it"), to the fantasy of San Simeon, to not getting into Stanford. In "On Being Unchosen by the College of One's Choice," Didion ponders the fraught parent/child dilemma: "I wonder if we had better not find some way ... to extricate our expectations from theirs...to let them work through their own rejections." From her admiration for Hemingway's sentences to her acknowledgement that Martha Stewart's story is one "that has historically encouraged women in this country, even as it has threatened men," these pieces are acutely and brilliantly observed. This timeless collection of Didion's mostly early writing reveals what would become her subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, the act of writing, and her own self-doubt. Each piece is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient--From dust jacket