What I Read -- After Henry

I have read only one Joan Didion book prior to After Henry, and it was The Year of Magical Thinking.  I may be entirely making this up, but it feels to me that Magical Thinking constituted a rediscovery of sorts vis a vis Joan Didion.  I read it, when it was popular.  I didn't make any notes about it, but I recall thinking at the time that it was an insightful look at love and loss.  It was published in 2005.

Somewhere along the way, I picked up After Henry at a used book shop, hoping for more of the same.  It is not.  It's a collection of essays, short memoirs, but many of them I found dull and vapid to the point of skipping on to the next one without even finishing.  

There were a few gems -- I particularly enjoyed "Girl of the Golden West," "Times Square Mirror," and "Sentimental Journeys" -- but for the most part I found them to be sort of a meh who's who collection of excuses to name drop.

This one was originally published in 1992, 13 years prior to Magical Thinking.  Perhaps that explains some of the difference in style?  I also have her book Slouching Towards Bethlehem on my to-read list (published in 1968).  Now I'm not sure if I want to read it.  Any thoughts?