And now for a little comic relief

It's been a little morose around here lately so here's a diversion. Or rather, here's a post in keeping with why I started this rag in the first place.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher.

I remember seeing Debbie Reynolds (As a female born in the 1950's, naturally I'm named for her) on the Tonight Show after the first Star Wars movie, which I saw numerous times back when you had to go to a theater to see a movie. She said how pleased she was to be known as Carrie Fisher's mother.

Then Carrie Fisher grew up and began writing books. I wonder if Debbie is still as happy?

Actually, in Wishful Drinking, Fisher writes lovingly of her mother (most of the time), how she and her brother loved her so much, they would quietly sneak into her bedroom while she slept to be closer to her, Carrie sleeping on the rug next to the bed and Todd on the sofa.

Fisher's memoir, an expanded version of her one woman show, is full of hilarious observations of the movie star life, of marriages and divorce and the absurdity of celebrity. You must remember the scandalous affair between Eddie Fisher and Liz Taylor? How the popular singer ditched his sweet, lovelywife Debbie for the steamy, sexy raven-hair, violet-eyed Elizabeth? (Imagine Fisher as Brad Pitt, Debbie as Jennifer Anniston and Taylor as Angelina Jolie for those of you too young to remember, Fisher says). This was after Mike Todd's tragic death (whom some believe was Liz's only true love). Fisher writes that her father "flew to Elizabeth's side, gradually working his way to her front." LOL!

This sort-of-memoir (Fisher calls it a really long personals ad) is extremely funny, even when Fisher also writes about her own problems with depression and addiction. Within that lifestyle, I am in awe of anyone who manages not to become depressed or addicted. My hat is off to her for living to write about it and entertain the rest of us. I found myself forcing my family to listen to parts of it while I read out loud.

I truly enjoyed this brief but scathing expose of the celebrity life.