“Character – the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life – is the source from which self-respect springs.”

—Joan Didion, “On Self-Respect”

As we mourn Joan Didion’s recent passing, what she meant to her fans is a resounding chorus of praise and respect. As a journalist, essayist, novelist and memoirist she’s a writer’s writer, a Californian’s writer, a New Yorker’s writer, and finally a reader’s writer: Consider her keen observations and lack of sentimentality, whether addressing social movements or personal grief, in the following books by Joan Didion, national treasure. Continue reading →