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Memoirs

I DREAM OF JONI

Henry Alford

A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots

In this nationally bestselling "delightful compendium of everything you ever wanted to know about" (The Washington Post) Joni Mitchell, the eternal singer-songwriter is seen anew, portrayed through a witty and comprehensive exploration of anecdotes, quotes, lyrics by Henry Alford, "the most graceful of humorists" (Vanity Fair) and a writer for The New Yorker.

Joni Mitchell's life, psyche, and evolving legacy are explored here in "the greatest Joni book ever" (Francine Prose, New York Times bestselling author of Lovers at the Chameleon Club). From her childhood in Saskatoon, Canada, to her transformative years in Laurel Canyon that turned her into, as Alfred puts it, "the bard of heartbreak and longing," this definitive biography examines an artist celebrated by Rolling Stone as "one of the greatest songwriters ever." Each period of Mitchell's life is observed via the artists, friends, family, and lovers she encountered along the way, including James Taylor, Leonard Cohen, Georgia O'Keefe, Prince, and, most significantly, Kilauren, the daughter Mitchell gave up for adoption at birth but then reconnected with decades later.

Presented in the impressionistic vein of Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margret, I Dream of Joni explores in fifty-three essays, with the author's critically acclaimed trademark wit and verve, the life of the legendary singer-songwriter.

Henry Alford is a humorist and journalist who has written for The New Yorker for more than two decades. A former columnist for The New York Times and a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, he is the author of six books including And Then We Danced, How to Live, and Big Kiss, which won a Thurber Prize.

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Book Published 2025-01-21 by Gallery

Comments

The greatest Joni Mitchell book ever! Witty, gossipy, smart, it hits the perfect notes of understanding and respect for the music.

I came for Henry and stayed for Joni. Which is to say, one can have almost no interest at all in Joni Mitchell (and I'm ashamed to say I was one of those cultural lunks) and enjoy the crap out of this book the gorgeous turn of words, the humor, the tireless pursuit of delicious detail. Alford, long a favorite of mine, captures the artist in all her zesty contradictions. He doesn't seek to resolve them, to draft some overarching theory of Joni, but rather to simply as he puts it 'spill them out on a tabletop and watch them sparkle.' That they do.

Henry Alford gathered everything there is to know about Joni Mitchell and then distilled it all into the most fascinating, entertaining, and significant stories. Like its subject, I Dream of Joni is artful and inventive. Alford leaps from decade to decade, backwards and forwards, making the reader a (happy) captive on a carousel of time. The result is exactly what a genius like Joni Mitchell deservesa biography that feels unfettered and alive.

[Alford is] a wry, cleareyed chronicler whose obvious affection for his subject doesn't keep him from acknowledging the acutely human flaws and peccadilloes of an artist who has too often been written about with Mach 10 earnestness.

This stylish consideration of the folk-rock-jazz legend by magazine veteran Alford is.thoughtful and informed.. [A] heartfelt reconsideration of an iconic artist.

What [Alford] has accomplished is nothing short of a wonder.. The book is an artfully designed collage of fact and feeling, and worthy of its subject.

Having read Henry Alford's dreamy meditations and investigations into Joni Mitchell, I realize that all those hundreds of hours lying prone on my green shag carpet listening to Court and Spark in high school did not make me the Mitchellologist I thought I was. I am so glad Henry Alford filled in many of her mysteries. He even went to Saskatchewan; God's work.

[A] delightful compendium of everything you ever wanted to know about Mitchell, broken down into 53 anecdotes.. Based on exhaustive research and myriad interviews.. [Alford] has a deliciously witty prose style.

Witty and comprehensive.Mitchell's life, psyche and evolving legacy are explored here in vivid technicolor.with the author's trademark wit and verve.

Alford's smart prose will captivate readers and leave music fans with thoughtful questions about Mitchell and her musical influence.