The Third Gilmore Girl Kelly Bishop

Has Kelly Bishop been in everything? No. But she sure has done a lot. From starring in the opening of "A Chorus Line" to starring in the seminal "Dirty Dancing" to the namesake of her book's title, "Gilmore Girls." We get to see a lot of the behind the scenes to the production of each of these as well as many more. While she does seem a little blasé about some things (working with Woody Allen) and glosses over other (totally her perogative), even if this book was written by a ghostwriter, you really do get the sense that tone is hers. 

Definitely get this as an audiobook if possible because it is great to hear her words in her voice.

Four and a half stars

This book came out September 17, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg

Goldberg weaves stories of her history meandering through the long past and the near past. Many stories include her mother and brother but not all of them. There are some stories that gloss over some deep issues and some that dig a little deeper. 

It is certainly interesting to hear how Goldberg ended up in Hollywood and how she got her name. There were parts where my mind wandered a bit but overall an enjoyable listen.

Four stars

This book came out May 7, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer

I really enjoy "How Did This Get Made" but wasn't sure I wanted to read about someone else's trauma. I did like that Paul Scheer read his own book. And it was spliced together with clips of Paul reading sections at various podcast shows. 

There was quite a bit of trauma but Paul tells the stories with a bit of humor (thus the title). But there are also a lot of stories just about Paul's life.

Four stars

This book came out May 21, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Sure, I'll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford

Definitely absorb this as an audiobook. Maria Bamford's voice is so distinctive and it's a delight to listen to her. Her tone is wry, her stories sometimes hard to digest but she does, indeed, have a rich history of joining various groups that could be classified as cults whether it's a religion, a diet scheme, or any number of "anonymous" organizations. 

Four stars

This book came out September 5, 2023

Book borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench; Brendan O'Hea

Did you know you needed a book of Judi Dench talking about Shakespeare? I didn't. What a fabulous audiobook has been created here. Brendan O'Hea interviews the icon Dench and it results in what seem to be spontaneous discussions about various plays with sprinkles about her life experiences both off and on stage. It is beyond delightful to hear Dench describe her experiences as various characters. As they talk about each play, describing he remembers quotes from all of the various plays. 
The two seem like old friends who are just having conversations, batting quotes and reminiscences back and forth with a delightful epilogue where they discuss their discussions. 

Four and a half stars

This book comes out April 23, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan Audio and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Through the Wilderness by Brad Orsted

I sort of peripherally know the author having worked with his ex-wife and was curious about the book. I knew a little bit about their story (that they had a child who had died) but didn't know the whys and wherefores. And that story is enough to bring anyone to their knees.

Orsted talks through his life with a bit of a description of his childhood through meeting his wife and kids, his daughter's birth, and death. Interspersed with these stories are his life after it changes irrevocably. He moves to Montana, on the border of Yellowstone National Park. 

More and more studies are showing the healing powers of being in nature and Orsted is certainly proof of that. His story is a hard one to read but hopeful in the end with a great look at Yellowstone and the joys of living in the wild. 

Four stars

This book came out June 27, 2023

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

I Didn't Know I Needed This by Eli Rallo

The cover of this book was pretty and the subtitle intriguing so I decided to borrow the book from the library. I quickly realized that I am probably not in Rallo's main demographic but it was an interesting enough book that I finished it. 

Rallo has collected a number of rules for herself that she is sharing with other people. Most of the lists seem to relate to dating and love but she also touches on friendship. Weaving stories of her past loves and lovers into the story, it is easy to see why Rallo is compared to Carrie Bradshaw. 

I'm not a huge fan of stories that skip around in time and this book does that, identifying characters by name though none of them really stuck with me other than Rallo's best friend.

Three stars

This book came out January 1, 2023

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand

48 hours of listening. 48. hours. It was a very interesting read and really inclusive of all of Streisand's work which, as most of us know, is extensive. I did finish the whole book before it needed to be returned to the library but it did start to drag a bit. In an effort to include everyone she worked with, Streisand name drops everyone. Ev. Er. Y. One. So many names. A really interesting look at her life from her side and most of the stories, especially those that set her up to look like a high strung diva are shown to have been untrue. Like so many women, she was vilified to make others look good. 

Four stars

This book came out November 7, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

For those of us who have seen Britney's Instagram, we can tell that this book has been heavily (HEAVILY) edited. Or the ghostwriter was really good at pulling together a coherent narrative from fractured stories. But it is an interesting glimpse into the life of a woman who, the world is slowly discovering, was done wrong by almost everyone around her. While she may not be completely on her feet, that is probably not completely her fault and what happened to her is given context by what was going on in her own mind versus the narrative being built by people who only wanted to make money off of her. We get stories from Star Search, the Mickey Mouse Club years, her marriages, some of her dating life, and her time being pregnant. Getting to see behind the curtain makes her so much more relatable.

Four stars

This book came out October 24, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Not That Fancy by Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire has had a fantastic life. Singing, TV shows, movies, Broadway... the woman does it all and she shares some of that with her readers. The stories aren't particularly deep but they are entertaining. We get to see teh highs of her life as well as the lows. There's not a lot about her personal life, it's mostly about the professional but what is included is all positive. Definitely worth a listen.

Four stars
This book came out October 10, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

I'm No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts by Kristin Chenoweth

I love listening to biographies when they are read by their authors. This book is not very in depth but skims over a lot of Chenowith's life with additions of various meditations or prayers that you can use in your own everyday life. 

We do get to learn a little bit about Chenowith's life including the fact that she was adopted and a touch about her relationship and her husband, Josh. She touches lightly on various Broadway and TV shows that she was in though nothing goes into great depth.

Four stars
This book came out January 17, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson

I am a sucker for autobiographies narrated by their authors. This book is no different. Painted as a blonde bombshell from her youth, Anderson tells her side of the story. Even though this designation has brought her great heartache at times, Anderson is matter-of-fact in telling her stories. She weaves in some information that isn't available as part of her public persona, mainly how she grew up and stories from her youth. The stories are short and sometimes rather shallow but it is an interesting book and worth a listen.

Four stars
This book came out January 31, 2023

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham

Lauren Graham is a gifted actress and writer. These essays cover a variety of topics including her work on the Might Ducks television series, stories her father told her (that may not have been completely true), and her time during COVID. Like her other books, this one is quick, witty, all about herself, but doesn't really go deep into any topic. Still, highly enjoyable.

Four stars

This book came out November 15, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Bad Mormon by Heather Gay

Like a lot of other Housewives of Salt Lake City fans, I really related to the brash new star, Heather Gay. She tries to be there for her friends (doesn't always do it in the right way), she's always wanting the tea, and seems down to have a great time. While what we see may not actually be her authentic self, it sure seems like it is and it's something that normal viewers can relate to. Her book is the same way. We get to see Heather's life growing up in the Mormon church (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and how she struggled between wanting to be a good Christian but also having real human urges and feelings. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out February 7, 2023

ARC kindly provided by Gallery Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton

In late 2001, the first adaptation of Harry Potter made its way on to the big screen. The child actors were instantly catapulted into fame. As the young villain of the piece, Tom Felton says that he never got as much press as the actors who played the main three characters, but it did, of course, change his life.

Felton had already been an actor and he walks us through the roles he had and some of the people he met on various sets. He also tells us about working behind the scenes of the Harry Potter films and gives us a lovely glimpse of many of the actors on the films, including those who have since passed away. And they are very short glimpses with very little going too far into depth. 

Read by Felton himself, this book is an interesting look at how the children of Harry Potter grew up on set but also how Felton himself changed both before and after the films. He definitely struggled afterwards but seems to have pulled himself back up by his bootstraps.

Four Stars 

This book came out October 18, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy

Okay, I have never actually watched a full episode of anything McCurdy has been in but social media seems to believe I should watch show clips and so I've seen a bundle of them and thought she was hilarious. This behind-the-scenes look at why she was on the shows... not so hilarious. As the title suggests, this is due to the machinations of her mother. And her mom was not okay. Like, not at all. It's surprising that McCurdy sounds as balanced as she is, even being able to turn down the reboot though it might have made her a ton of money. The "chapters" are incredibly short, more like a series of short stories but really interesting to listen to how a star was made.

Four stars

This book came out August 9, 2022

Audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

Hello, Molly!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon, Sean Wilsey

I've been on an autobiography kick lately and enjoyed all of them, especially when the authors read them on the audiobook version. This book is definitely worth listening to.

Molly Shannon started performing at a young age. Not on the stage, per se, but with other children. It was one way to control her life after her family was in a car accident when she was four and her mother, sister, and cousin all died. There was a lot left out of Shannon's relationship with her father and enough information to know that she had a hard time while growing up. 

We learn about her going to school and really getting into acting, having to scramble in both New York and Los Angeles before finally landing her role on Saturday Night Live. 

There isn't much on her life post-SNL but I get the feeling that she hasn't had as much time process that as she has her early life.

Four stars

This book came out April 12, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Girl Walks Into a Bar... by Rachel Dratch

Most famous for being on Saturday Night Live, Dratch is also known for not having been on 30 Rock even though she started off as one of the stars. In the book, she tries to emphasize that that is just how it works in Hollywood but she was still disappointed that she was replaced. But most of the book isn't supposed to be about her time on television but more about what happened in her midlife when, at 43, having given up hope of having children, she suddenly found herself pregnant by a man with whom she was in what could best be called a friend-with-benefits-when-they're-in-the-same-town. 

I do like autobiographies, especially when they are read by the authors. The book was a little thin but I found myself identifying with Dratch in various places of her life, including being a single, childless woman at baby showers.

Four stars

This book came out March 29, 2012

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu

I had read about this book on a blog site but I forgot to pin which one it was. I do remember the article

was about ways for women to succeed. I don't know if the author described exactly how much this book skews toward assuming that the reader is in a hetero-normative relationship. There is good advice but it won't work if you are single or same sex because so much of it skews on assuming that the partners align along stereotypes. 

I also wasn't expecting dropping the ball to be so much work. Work that still needs to be initiated by the woman.

One thing I did like was the idea of thinking about, "Is what I am working on the highest and best use of my time?"

Three stars

This book came out February 5, 2017

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders

I cannot remember why I added this book to my TBR but I do regret that it took me so long to read it. Sanders (or perhaps his ghost writer) is incredibly witty with a very dry sense of humor. If every story in this book is true, he lived an amazing life. If only half of the stories in this book are true, Sanders still lived an amazing life. 

His life began in Russia where his family wasn't wealthy but they were well-off. At least, they were until they were drummed out of the country. From there, he lived in England and then traveled many places, never holding down a job but having experiences that very few others in life would be able to have. He fell into acting and says that it was mostly because it allowed him to remain lazy. 

His views on women were of the time and probably exaggerated for the book but... eh. 

I will say that the narrator added to the enjoyability.

Four stars

This book came out in 1960

Borrowed as an audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own