The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Didion, Joan. Let Me Tell You What I Mean. Alfred A. Knopf, 2021.

Let Me Tell You What I Mean is a collection of 12 essays written by author Joan Didion across several decades.

“Alicia and the Underground Press” posits that the only good newspapers ‘left’ in America are The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Free Press, the Los Angeles Open City, and the East Village Other. Didion says that the tendency among mainstream newspapers to present biased writers’ views as ‘objective’ is reprehensible. She finds that underground papers are far less informative yet far more truthful than the former, since they do not shy away from indicating their writers’ biases and thus allow the reader to know exactly what kind of ‘truth’ they are getting. “Getting Serenity” recounts Didion’s time attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings and listening to the eerie testimonies of people who escaped gambling as an addiction only to find what they claim is ‘serenity’ but which Didion feels is closer to death than to life. “A Trip to Xanadu” is an essay lamenting the loss of childhood imagination when Didion confronts William Randolph Hearst’s mansion in person one day, finally setting eyes on the house she used to see at a distance as a child and daydream about.

“On Being Unchosen by the College of One’s Choice” is an essay recounting Didion’s rejection from Stanford University and the subsequent realization that the early successes and failures of one’s life are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. She pities the youths who plan every step of their lives and leave themselves no room for failure and alternate paths. “Pretty Nancy” describes a day Didion spent with Nancy Reagan and the artifice prevailing not only in the shooting of some television clips of Nancy but also in the family dynamic Didion witnesses later on between Nancy and her son. “Fathers, Sons, Screaming Eagles” describes a veterans’ reunion Didion attended where she discusses Vietnam with World War II veterans and finds that many feel differently about the former war than they do about the latter.

“Why I Write” provides insight into Didion’s motivation for writing: she says she writes because it helps her to know what she thinks or feels and why certain images stay with her. Didion says that her ideas for novels do not come fully formed, but it is only when she begins the process of writing that she finds out where her narrative is headed and what means the most to her therein. “Telling Stories” is an essay recalling Didion’s various attempts at short fiction writing and the lack of success she perceives in those attempts.

In “Some Women,” Didion writes about Richard Mapplethorpe’s photography and the unique way he captured women in photographs. She finds his style to be full of contrasts and tensions between the subject as the person and the subject as he perceives them or wishes to portray them. “The Long-Distance Runner” mourns the loss of Didion’s close friend, director Tony Richardson. She is haunted by his posthumously published memoir which she did not know he had written and wonders what more she did not know about the man.

“Last Words” laments the unfortunate publication of posthumous works which Ernest Hemingway never intended to be read by the public. Didion dwells on the deliberateness of Hemingway’s writing and the way in which writing is an act of vulnerability in that it exposes one to the possibility of publication and to the intrusion of the public on unfinished, deliberately hidden works. Finally, “Everywoman.com” discusses Martha Stewart’s growing empire and the misogyny prevalent in commentary about her success. Didion finds Stewart’s ‘everywoman’ persona to be behind her financial success and thinks that American woman feel rightly empowered in seeing a homemaker turn previously undervalued skills into the sort of tangible power and money which has been held out of reach of women, historically.