Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

Review by Between The Covers

About This Book

South Kensington’s Foreign Exchange is a hidden gem for cortados, aesthetically placed art house magazines, and nursing a minorhangover. & as a complete Joan Didion stan, stumbling upon an original print version of Slouching Towards Bethlehem felt like a Godsend.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a book of essays highlighting the zeitgeist of the 1960’s (barbiturates, anyone?) citing her interactions with runaway Hippies who drop acid in Golden Gate Park, housewives convicted of first degree murder, and musings on California’s Golden Era in contrast to the country’s less-alternative coast. No H8 to my Greenwich Girlies.

Didion’s ability to introduce documentary-esque vignettes through her observations on people, places, and pop-culture moments are almost akin to flipping through a carousel of Don Draper’s innermost memories. Honorable mention to my personal favorite, South and West— a highlight reel of her travels through the segregated South during the Civil Rights Era.

Perfect For:

A rainy day, Solo Coffee Breaks, introspection