Wishful Drinking

   Oh, Carrie Fisher... if you are too young to recognize (and I ought to be) she is the actress best known for her role in Star Wars as Princess Leia... and if you're also a woman, she played Meg Ryan's sassy sidekick bestie in When Harry Met Sally.
   I have a confession to make. I'm a closeted fan of celebrity memoirs - but only if it is a humorous memoir. This, as I've recently explained to a friend, is because I feel like I know these famous people better. I know their lives more intimately, I've heard their funny antidotes, I know about their origins... It feels more like they're telling me stories about their lives over coffee. It feels like we're friends. I love that. It's best when it's humorous because no one wants to have coffee with a wallowing and sad stranger.
   Carrie Fisher is sort of an idol for me, and I'm sure she is for many other Nerdy Girls. Not only because she's an iconic woman in the Nerd industry, but because she's got a smart mouth. I've never met a nerdy girl who isn't as snarky as the day is long. (Have you?) This is all the reason in the world that we need to look up to her. But she's also had a rather interesting, rocky life - I, personally, love and respect women who have lead difficult lives. Her parents (Debbie Reynolds and "Crooner" Eddie Fisher) were the sweethearts of Hollywood in their time. They were also dear friends of Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Michael Todd - even walked in their wedding. Then when Todd died suddenly in a plane crash, Eddie Fisher went to console Elizabeth ... "with his penis." He never went back to his family, but Elizabeth did dump him not long after during the filming of Cleopatra for Richard Burton. (When news of these developments caught up with Debbie, quote: "I Laughed.")
   Marriage and dating in Hollywood, as we all know, is a very slippery slope. Carrie herself wedded and bedded a few men herself, one of which being Paul Simon - she even says she's the inspiration for his song Graceland.
   But, of course, we all know and love her for her role as Princess Leia. Can you imagine being this woman? Can you imagine being "Graceland," every geek's wet dream, and having famous parents? She has such a great sense of humor. But what she's learned is that she needed to. She was also manic depressive, alcoholic, and addicted to drugs. Carrie Fisher's life wasn't exactly a stroll through the park. All the more reason why I desperately want to be her coffee buddy.

   I realize, of course, that this memoir (released in 2008) coincided with a HBO special of the same name, which I also have not seen but have heard something of. All the same, this book was a fun romp.