FrizzLit presents
Joan Didion Book Club
Three works of late nonfiction
Mondays, 6-7:30 pm Pacific, July 7 to September 15
Joan Didion was a genius at stylized nonfiction — and her style was directly inspired by Ernest Hemingway.
She writes about that in the first book we'll read in this book club, Let Me Tell You What I Mean, which also includes her thoughts on F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nancy Reagan, self-doubt, California, the writing life, and more.
After that we'll read the play adaptation she wrote of her own memoir The Year of Magical Thinking — which is quite a bit different than her memoir of the same name. The play, the only one she ever wrote, combines material from The Year of Magical Thinking (about the death of her husband) and the last book published in her lifetime, Blue Nights (about the death of her daughter).
Then we'll read a new release — rare in the FrizzLit universe — which happens to be one of the most controversial titles of 2025. It's called Joan Didion: Notes to John, and it's controversial because it's a collection of the author's notes on her own psychiatric appointments, written for her husband, saved in files on her desk, and discovered after her death. Whether these notes were meant to stay private, or it's okay that they have been published, is one of the many issues we'll tackle together.
This is a 10-week class, and along the way, we'll also sample highlights of the best of Joan Didion from the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s.
NOTE: In observance of it's Labor Day, we will not meet on Monday, September 1.
Will meetings be recorded?
Yes, all meetings will be recorded and sent out automatically to everyone who's signed up.
Who is leading this club?
Christopher Frizzelle is the founder of FrizzLit, the host of the Silent Reading Party, and the former editor-in-chief of The Stranger. He recently announced the formation of a new small press called FrizzLit Editions.
Recommend editions of our books
These are the three books you need for this class:
- Let Me Tell You What I Mean
- The play adaptation of The Year of Magical Thinking
- Joan Didion: Notes to John
What to read before the first meeting?
Read the foreward by Hilton Als in the book Let Me Tell You What I Mean before our first meething, and come ready to discuss it.
Portrait of Joan Didion
Spendidly illustrated by Kathryn Rathke
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