If I could only read one category of book for the rest of my life it would probably be memoir. I’ve always been a fan of the genre whether they’re written by regular folks with a sense of humor, survivors of strange upbringings and of course celebrity memoirs. During Cannonball Ten I have been revisiting a few of these old favorites by listening to the audio-book to glean any additional insights narration may offer. I read and reviewed Carrie Fisher’s 2016 memoir The Princess Diarist last year for […]
Vocabular Degeneration
Wishful Drinking This is a tough book to read. It’s really funny and really interesting, but you can feel as you’re reading, with it’s repetition, it’s constant reminder that she’s had electroconvulsive therapy, memory loss, years of drug abuse, and all that that she’s just not all there anymore. But, if she weren’t so honest about everything, then it would be unbearable. Instead, there’s just a lower-lying scrim over everything knowing that so much has been lost. Regardless, the book is really funny. I read […]
I waited a few months, and it still made me sad
I am still sad about Carrie Fisher dying. I thought I would wait a few months until I felt ready to read the Princess Diarist, but it wasn’t long enough to keep me from feeling wistful while reading it. Fisher’s newest book was inspired by her rediscovery of journals she kept while shooting the first Star Wars movie – she began to reflect on her life as it was as her acting career began, when she was about seventeen years old. She briefly discussed what […]
“I’m afraid that if I stop writing I’ll stop thinking and start feeling.”
It is hard to know how to review this book. I had planned to read this before Ms. Fisher passed away, but following her death it seemed somehow imperative to read it as soon as I could muster my strength to do so. It was time to say goodbye to Carrie, and to the character that defined her career. However, the very structure of this book limits its possible impact; it exists at all because Fisher discovered the journals she kept during the filming of […]