Monday, October 2, 2017

Book #99: Where I Was From by Joan Didion

I read this book in 2011, before I started keeping this blog. And I got the idea for a "family book club" (from a friend who does it with her sisters), and this ended up being the first one we picked for our family discussion. Although only a few of us ended up reading it, I'm glad to have revisited it again--it reminded me of what a great writer Joan Didion is, and how I feel like her ideas are so much deeper and more thought-provoking than my thoughts usually tend to run. This book is basically different essays dissecting Didion's relationship to and understanding of California, her home of her childhood. She writes about the many contradictions of California as a whole, as the supposedly picture-perfect place but with many issues hidden beneath the surface that I think surprised her as she grew up and became aware of them. She writes a lot about different ways the federal government has supported and then pulled out of California, such as the railroad and the aerospace industry, and about the growth of the prison system, and the Lakewood Spur Posse gang issues of the 1990s. I really enjoyed her discussions of the pioneers who first came to California in the 1800s, and thinking about the difference between her pioneer ancestors/heritage vs. our Mormon understanding of ours.

All in all, it wasn't probably the best book club choice for our first book. But it was still fun to try and discuss with my mom and Camille, and I'm excited about the next one we chose. I think this is a fun experiment. We'll see how it continues.

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