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The Folded Clock
Heidi Julavits
In this diary out of sequence, Julavits subverts the childhood urge to record daily events. Entries begin with “Today I” and morph into essays on marriage, academia, motherhood, cocktail parties, Internet shopping, travel, fear of sharks, and so on. Like a collection of linked stories, themes reemerge in smart, unexpected ways.
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What I Talk about When I Talk about Running
Haruki Murakami
With a titular nod to Raymond Carver’s story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Murakami delves into another kind of obsession. In this memoir adapted from diary entries, the novelist and runner reveals—among other secrets—his training regimen for a 62-mile ultramarathon. So much for the inert “writer’s life.”
My first diary (at age 9) came with a pink cover, a flimsy key, and irritatingly small spaces to fill in. It’s no longer in my possession, and for this I’m grateful. If you’ve ever been tempted to rifle through such a journal, you’ve probably also been tempted to light a match and watch the pages disappear. This roundup of published diaries, however, will have the opposite effect. Fiery in tone, inventive in form, containing unexpected insights and revelations, their authors illuminate hidden worlds. And as readers, we time-travel across centuries and continents to enter their intimate daily spheres.
Featured Image: Francesco Zorzi
