Joan Didion

These past couple of months I had to research about an author in which my partner and I unanimously picked Joan Didion. Throughout the duration of this project I learned so much about this woman. Not only is she an incredible author, but she's an outstanding person who is very intelligent and considerate.

So much of her work is actually influenced by where she grew up (born and raised in Sacramento). It's pretty neat when she talks about places I have personally been to, but also imagine the places in California where I haven't been to which is a lot. I haven't been to North and East California so reading Joan Didion's books are descriptive which allows readers like myself to picture what these places look like, even though I haven't been there personally.

I read a Paris Review interview which she was being completely and utterly honest. She admitted to being selectively an introvert. The reason why I said selectively is because she will have friends over for dinner or to hang out for a bit, but at times she can be off by herself for a long period of time and just work on a project. In fact she actually has her own routine that she does when she starts a project.

Joan has been through so much in her life, and she seems to still be hanging on. She literally witnessed her husband die right after coming home from a hospital visit seeing their daughter, who at the time was in critical condition with an internal disorder involving her pancreas. Then just a couple years ago her daughter passed away. I don't know what I would have done in her situation, but because of those events, she was able to create two really interesting and successful books- A Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights. Besides John Green, I've never liked an author as much as Joan Didion.