You can probably find this essay online, or you can buy the Kindle version of the book, Slouching Toward Bethlehem, for about two dollars at Amazon. This is an essay worth reading for all who write.
My notebook these four years has been this blog. It's presumptuous of me to think that anyone would want to see my family pictures, read by movie and book reviews and political rants, but I know a few of you do and I appreciate it! This, however, is not the kind of "notebook" Didion keeps--a notebook for herself only, with snippets of overheard conversations and details that only she would understand and that could be fodder for more shapely writing. She writes to remember, to discover what she thinks and feels:
"I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind's door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who's deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends....
"We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forgot who we were...."
Having had a stomach bug, I've isolated myself from people these several days so as not to spread the joy. When I look up from a book, I feel lonesome. Today I have several choices narrowed down to two--either stay near bed and read some more or get out of the house into the rainy streets and do something out in the world.
I love rain! It's my favorite weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment