Shelfology Book Pairing

A Play by Joan Didion Based on Her Memoir

by Joan Didion

In this dramatic adaptation of her award-winning, bestselling memoir, Joan Didion transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter into a stunning and powerful one-woman play. “This happened on December 30, 2003. That may seem a while ago but it won’t when it happens to you....” Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times called the memoir that was the basis for the play, “an indelible portrait of loss and grief ... a haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage." The first theatrical production of The Year of Magical Thinking opened at the Booth Theatre on March 29, 2007, starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by David Hare.

by Colson Whitehead

This urban thriller introduces black heroine, Lila Mae Watson. It is election year in the Elevator Guild and the Empiricists would love nothing better than to bring down an Intuitionist. As Lila Mae seeks to uncover the truth she is sucked into a violent whirlpool of conspiracy and deceit.