I am finally reading The Year of Magical Thinking. Paul is wondering why I keep clinging to him tearily when he is just walking past me in the kitchen.
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Speaking of books, if you have not yet purchased LIFE The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, I advise you NOT to. I pre-ordered it before there was even a description of it, still caught up in the unexpected happiness of re-watching the wedding three times when I’d thought I’d only be half-interested in seeing it ONCE. I figured that if it was by LIFE it would be pretty much guaranteed to be good. I imagined page after page of gorgeous photos, like other LIFE books I’ve read.
Or maybe I’m misremembering that the other books were by LIFE? Because in fact the book is almost worthless. It’s something like 125 pages, and about a dozen of them are about the wedding. All the rest is regurgitated photos of Diana, and of Will and Catherine as children, and of Kate in the sheer dress AGAIN FTLOG. And you know, that kind of thing is interesting TOO, but in a book ABOUT THE WEDDING, I want it ALL and ONLY about the WEDDING, and I want photos of EVERY MOMENT.
Furthermore, the writing quality is…iffy. Iffy AT BEST—as in, I kept TRYING to read it, and kept thinking, “No, never mind; I will just look at the photos.” Really, VERY disappointing. I put it in the library donation pile so at least maybe someone ELSE won’t have to pay money for it.
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I did not think that a CHRIS ROCK documentary about black women’s hair was going to make me burst into tears not once, not twice, but MANY TIMES—-but there it is. And this was BEFORE I started reading The Year of Magical Thinking. (Though, now that I think of it, AFTER the wine.)
I actually couldn’t finish The Year of Magical Thinking.It’s a great book but I was just like, enough sad.
I loved the Year of Magical Thinking, I just – what a writer she is, to be able to articulate such crazy and awful and amazing feelings. I also loved that Good Hair movie, I’ve seen it several times. I am a big Chris Rock fan and it just blew my mind.
I read The Year of Magical Thinking shortly after I got engaged; at one point my (then soon-to-be) husband came in to the room to find me sobbing and I said “I don’t think we can get marrieeeeed WAH!” I still think of lines and scenes from it to this day.
I loved the Year of Magical Thinking. I read it on the plane flight I was on when my mom died. It is amazing and requires many, many hugs.
I cannot even discuss the Year of Magical Thinking, because I love her but I have thus far not been able to finish reading it. This might have something to do with the fact that every time I’ve started reading it my dad has been in the midst of one of his 3 very serious cancers or having another surgery. But perhaps that’s neither here nor there.
For wedding stuff, I stole the People special from the vet a couple weeks ago and very much enjoyed it. Those flower girls! I wanted to pick them up and squeeze them!
Dear Swistle,
You are quite possibly the most hilarious person. EVER. I can say this because I have had my wine allotment for the evening. (one-ish slash two-ish glasses) And now we are LinkedIn friends, so all is right with the world. Oh, and pretty please? GO. TO. BLOGHER. FTLOG. Please! That is all. Thank you for never failing to make my day.
XoXo,
Jenny in MD (MommyJennyBlog on Twitter)
I loved “Magical Thinking”. It made me a little sad/emotional, but mostly I found it thought-provoking and wonderful and surprising NOT depressing, considering the subject matter. It’s one of those books that I think I’ll re-read every 5-10 years or so.
I bought “Magical Thinking” because I lost my mom, my grandmother (who I was EXTREMELY close to), and three other close relatives in a very short period of time.
I’m afraid to read it. I am finally feeling a little better and I’m afraid it will make me backslide into my sorrow.
I’m not trying to hijack your comments but any advice would be so so so appreciated.
I haven’t read Magical Thinking, but now I think I should.
I bought the Time magazine and the Macleans special royal wedding issues (do you get Macleans in the US? It’s the Canadian equivalent of Time, I think). The Macleans one was much better, well written and more thorough. I found the photos a little better, although not a lot more than the ones on the Royal Flickr site. If you want a copy, send me an email and if I can still buy it, I’ll send you a copy.
I got “The Year of Magical Thinking” after my father in law suddenly passed away. I found it incredibly helpful, as did my husband (well, the passages that I read aloud to him), especially in helping to understand my MIL who had similar reactions to things.
I agree with Marie Green, I imagine I will reread it from time to time, just to keep it fresh in my mind.
I love Joan Didion, but I don’t know if I can read that book. My ability to read/watch sad books/movies has greatly diminished since I had children. I think I just want to spend my extremely limited free time NOT crying. This is how my husband talked me into spending date night (our first night away from the kids in 6 months) watching The Hangover 2.
Also–hilarious that you bought the wedding book! I DVR’d the wedding (all 6 hours of it) and have watched it…let’s just say more than once. It does make me cry, but in a good way!
May 29, 2011 11:27:00 PM- I can’t say, so I hope others will have input. I’ve finished it and I’m glad I read it, but there haven’t been any recent deaths near me, so I had more of a “filing away for future reference” feeling—which would be entirely different. You may find it comforting, if you are someone who likes that feeling of recognition when someone else writes/says what you feel/think. You also may find her somewhat detached and analytical style a comfort: she’s STEEPED in the feelings, but is also interested in observing and evaluating them.
But I think what we really need is people saying “I read it when ____ died and found it ____.”
I read A Year of Magical Thinking after my daughter died (soon after birth). I liked the book and found comfort in many of Dideon’s thoughts, but I also liked that it was a different enough experience that I could easily ‘write off’ anything that didn’t click with me because the cause of the grief was so different. My sister sent me her copy of the book not long after it came out and I’ve never given it back and assume I will reread it at some point.
I didn’t really like The Year of Magical Thinking, but I know a lot of people found it helpful and comforting. I don’t know why, but I assumed you would be one of the people making fun of the royal wedding rather than ordering a book about it – so much for thinking I have an accurate picture of someone through reading their blog. :)
I had the same hubbin-hugging reaction to The Year of Magical Thinking.
Also, I was surprised at how informative that Chris Rock documentary was. So much I did not know!
Hi this is the anonymous with lots of death in her family. I think I’m going to give the book a pass for now. I think I may try it after a little more time has passed. Thanks, Swistle.
I have not read that and now think I will skip it altogether at this point in my life. I am afraid of sad, lately.
LOVED Good Hair. Loved it. Wanted to talk about it with people and nobody I knew had watched it, except my husband who had watched it with me so we’d already discussed it.
I’m so glad to see this post – I *just* finished “Magical Thinking” over the long weekend, and I can’t quite stop thinking about it. Fortunately for me, I haven’t experienced any recent deaths of close family/friends, so I’ve been considering it more from a straight literary point of view – and I find it absolutely extraordinary that Didion, who, as someone else wrote, was so “steeped” in all that grief, was able to write about it from a relatively detached, analytical perspective. She never judges her own feelings (or herself) as right or wrong, even as she evaluates them – she just presents them as the truth of what she’s going through. It might be the most honest book I think I’ve ever read. It was refreshing to me to read a (female in particular) author who could be that self-aware without being overly self-indulgent, you know? Anyway, it’s a remarkable piece of writing, not just about death/mourning, but about marriage itself…certain sentences and turns of phrase are quite haunting.