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EXPLAINED: 2 | Vintage Vibes

I’ve never kept a diary. But if I had, I’d want it destroyed when I die

From Samuel Pepys to Joan Didion, many literary greats wrote for no one but themselves – then found posterity pawing through their secrets. Trust me: you don’t want to know my innermost thoughts

The Guardian - UK

The Guardian view on posthumously publishing Joan Didion: goodbye to all that

Editorial: Would the legendary American writer have welcomed the publication of her therapy notes? It seems unlikely

The Guardian - UK

‘I dealt with everyone at a distance’: what do Joan Didion’s therapy diaries reveal about guilt, motherhood and writing?

The writer’s previously unpublished notes from her sessions with a psychiatrist offer an incredibly intimate insight into her relationship with her daughter, depression and creativity

The Guardian - UK

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“Sacramento” captures the city's majesty

As Joan Didion said, "Sacramento is the least typical of the Valley towns," and this film is a testament to why

Salon

Without Woodstock, There'd Be No ID.Buzz

The Volkswagen ID.Buzz might come from Germany, but it may not exist if not for what happened in Bethel, New York over half a century ago.

Motor1

If someone published my diary after I died, I’d die again – of shame…

COMMENT: With the announcement that Joan Didion’s deeply private therapy notes are being released, Helen Coffey questions the ethics of putting out artists’ work posthumously when it was never intended for a public audience

The Independent UK

First Thing: Zelenskyy hails ‘three years of resistance’ on anniversary of Russian invasion

It follows Russia’s biggest ever aerial attack on Ukraine. Plus, far-right AfD doubles support in German election

The Guardian - UK

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Literary gold … or betrayal of trust? Joan Didion journal opens ethical minefield

Soon we can all read the late author’s private notes about her therapy. But should we?

The Guardian - UK

Joan Didion’s ‘astonishingly intimate’ diary to be published

The author recorded her thoughts on alcoholism, depression and her complex relationship with her daughter Quintana in the book, Notes to John

The Guardian - UK

‘I’m literally Joan Baez right now’: gen Z women relate to Bob Dylan’s toxic situationship

The film A Complete Unknown has sparked interest in the folk singers’ doomed romance, and with it the realization that a similar dynamic is ‘happening to girls everywhere’

The Guardian - US

Secret twins? A casually brutal biography of Joan Didion and ‘soul mate’ Eve Babitz blurs ethical boundaries, but exhilarates

Lili Anolik admits her first book on Eve Babitz, Hollywood’s Eve, was a way of “driving a stake” through her subject’s heart, hoping to end her self-confessed “unbalanced, fetishistic” obsession with the bohemian LA writer.

The Conversation

The best biographies and memoirs of 2024

Salman Rushdie’s account of his near-fatal stabbing, a 360-degree view of Queen Elizabeth II and Al Pacino’s rags to riches career are among this year’s most compelling personal histories

The Guardian - UK

Joan Didion and Eve Babitz: The uneasy bond between two very different literary ‘it girls’

THE READING LIST: A new book explores the friendship and rivalry between two very different chroniclers of Sixties and Seventies Los Angeles – and shines a light upon why a new generation of readers are still obsessed with Didion and Babitz decades later, writes Katie Rosseinsky

The Independent UK

Eve Babitz and Joan Didion may be dead. But their feud isn’t

A new book on the Los Angeles authors leaves no petty stone unturned as it explores their fraught friendship

The Guardian - US

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The Guardian - UK

Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik review –the seductress and the sphinx

This account of the purported bond between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz, two fascinating chroniclers of late 20th-century America, is titillating but diminishes both writers

The Independent UK

The best biographies and memoirs of 2024: Literary It-girls, art world intrigue and sociopathy

THE LIST: Catch up on 2024’s most illuminating life stories, encompassing tales of recovery, literary feuds and devastating betrayal, with Katie Rosseinsky’s edit of the best memoirs and biographies

The Guardian - UK

Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik review – friendship and rivalry in LA

The journalist and author of Hollywood’s Eve makes no pretence of impartiality as she charts the difficult relationship between two chroniclers of California

The Guardian - UK

The big picture: Marvin E Newman’s Californian dreamers

A retrospective of the work of the prolific US street photographer reveals a singular gift for investing everyday moments with lasting drama

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Evening Standard

Joni Mitchell's LA homecoming: a glorious night that no one there will ever forget

The 17,500-strong crowd knew this would be a momentous show – they were not disappointed

Marie Claire

What to Know About Dominick Dunne and His Connection to 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story'

The late actress' crime writer father Dominick Dunne greatly influenced public opinion of the Menendez case.

The Independent UK

'Demon Copperhead' author Barbara Kingsolver to receive National Book Award for lifetime achievement

The National Book Foundation has awarded Barbara Kingsolver a medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters (DCAL), which has previously been given to Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Joan Didion among others

The Guardian - UK

‘Writing this book was like a drug high’: Rachel Kushner on her Booker-listed novel

The author on her party years in San Francisco, why she loves getting older and her most ambitious novel yet

The Guardian - UK

How many clothes do you actually need? There’s a magic number …

The ultimate capsule wardrobe is sustainable, stress-free and stylish. But what should you put in it?

The Guardian - UK

What I learned about loss and joy from Joan Didion, my mentor 60 years my senior

In Manhattan, I was in her orbit for nine years – quietly, she passed on a lifetime’s wisdom about grief, fear and hope, says author Cory Leadbeater

The Guardian - UK

‘A spy in the land of the privileged’: why Eve Babitz’s cult Hollywood memoir still matters 50 years on

In 70s LA, Eve Babitz partied with everyone from Salvador Dali to Jim Morrison, but she was also a trailblazing writer. As a new generation discover her work, her sister and agent celebrate her originality, ambition and lust for life

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