"Wishful Drinking" by Carrie Fisher

I saw this book on the shelf the other day and the cover intrigued me (Princess Leia passed out over a martini).  My local library had the audio book so I snagged that and have been listening to it in my car.  I'm just through the first disc (of three) so I can't give a full review, but here are some impressions.

It's odd to hear Princess Leia drop the f-bomb.  And so casually too.

In part of the book, she compares her mother's dressing room to Superman's phone booth.  She entered the dressing room as Carrie and Todd's mom and exited as Debbie Reynolds.  She talks about her three fathers... Eddie Fisher the TV personality, Eddie Fisher in "Real Life" and Mr. Normal from Burbank (imaginary "Father Knows Best family).  I think it's funny when actors go through the cycle of wanting to separate themselves from the characters they play (Leonard Nimoy's "I am Not Spock!") and then eventually realize that's the only legacy they really have (Leonard Nimoy's "I am Spock!").  She spends some time in the early part of the book talking about Public vs Private personas and how confusing all of that is to the movie-watching public and how it's even more confusing to celebrities and their kids. 

At any rate, someone decided against putting Carrie Fisher on the cover of her semi-biography and decided instead to put Princess Leia on it.  So I made the mistake of realizing that while I have immensely enjoyed Carrie Fisher's portrayal of Princess Leia, that I have no idea who she really is.  It seems to be a common problem as the book itself (and the show it's based on) is dedicated to showing you that Carrie Fisher has nothing in common with Princess Leia.  Not even a voice or a face anymore. 

Anytime I learn more about a celeb's personal life, I usually find that I wish I hadn't.  That, or I simply don't care.  I love movies, and what I think Mz. Fisher is telling me is that I don't want to know Carrie Fisher before she enters the phone booth.  I only care to watch her after she's exited as Princess Leia.

The End.

(P.S. I wanted to mention this earlier but didn't work it in.  She likes to say the word "penis" a lot, and she takes some obvious pot shots at Bush, Palin, and Republicans in general.  Nice!)

Penis!

Thanks for the review. The nine year old living inside me who has watched the Jabba the Hutt scenes from Return of the Jedi several hundred times more than the rest of the move, has been somewhat tempted to give that book a flip through. However, the adult inside of me always stopped him, realizing that she is more chemical than woman now... Kind of sad, she more closely resembles Jabba the Hutt now than the does that brilliantly gorgeous thing he had chained to his thrown (and no, I am not talking about the Kwakian Monkey Lizard). Penis. (I can see the appeal. You have to admit, it is one of the more fun words in the English Dictionary to say).

I think they assume all of those who are intelligent enough to read will agree with them.  But I fooled her!  I got the audiobook!

C3PX said:

Penis ! ... I can see the appeal. You have to admit, it is one of the more fun words in the English Dictionary to say.

 Curious, it is one of the most serious words in the french dictionnary to say.

Anyway, don't need a dictionnary to understand what she means...

C3PX + Frink:

You would really like minute 52 of (500) Days of Summer.

she takes some obvious pot shots at Bush, Palin, and Republicans in general. 

I don't object, in principle, to the Bush-bash. Hell, he did too much wrong for my tastes, that's for sure. My problem with the Bush-bash is that...well...the man has been out of office for over a year. And Bush jokes are just easy applause lines now. It's hack comedy, right there with those damn airline peanuts and the shopping cart with the bad wheel. I just want new material. You want to go after Palin? She's out there, go for it. So is Cheney. Bush jokes are tired old hack lines. New material, please.