Not Quite A Topless Robot Book Club discussion

If I had to choose one word to describe Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking, that word would be "Candid." In a good way. In a good, humorous, honest, playful, well-written way.

To be honest, I didn't know much about Carrie Fisher before reading her book. For example, I didn't know that her mom is Debbie Reynolds. I didn't know that she was born into Hollywood. And I didn't know that she was bi-polar. You learn a lot from a book like this.

Fisher's writing about her mental illness was actually pretty eye-opening for me, because that's one particular thing that I'm fortunate enough not to have struggled with in my own life (yet, anyway). And I think it's important for these perspectives to be shared, because in the U.S. at least, mental illness still has one hell of a stigma attached to it. Not to mention a pathetic social safety net.

I think I found Fisher's writing about the convoluted relationships of her parents and friends (as well as her own) to be the most entertaining part. I like how she doesn't pretend that her upbringing was in anyway normal, or that normality is something she missed (how can you miss what you never had?).

I actually thought (based on the book cover, shame on me) that there would be a few more Star Wars-related anecdotes, but the fact that Fisher said that it was Harrison Ford's pot that turned her off the stuff forever was hands-down the best one.

What do you guys think? Which parts did you enjoy? What did you learn that you hadn't before?

And what do you think about reading more autobiographies or memoirs from nerdy celebrities? I quite enjoyed this.

When this book was chosen out of the list, I ran to the library that very weekend and took it out, then read it in a couple hours, which is something I never do with books...
I have to say, I was most shocked (no pun intended) to learn that Carrie Fisher's electroconvulsive therapy was voluntary. That was awfully big of her to basically get her mind wiped so she could be a better (eg not-depressed) parent for her daughter. Still a terrifying idea.

I had never heard of Debbie Reynolds or Eddie Fisher until this book. I do wonder how much of how Fisher's life went was psychic vampire father and seemingly absent mother and how much of it was her role in Star Wars and fame in general. Not to say that there couldn't be other factors but those two things stand out.

"Lagoon of mystery" is a phrase that will stick with me until the day I die. I try to say it in conversation at least once a day. I wonder if it would do Fisher any comfort to know that the toy that showed it off was garage kitted and not (fully) an
official toy. It could be trading one form of disturbing for another, really.

So yeah, that's my shallow-ass random thoughts. It's already fading in my memory but I could not put it down when I was reading it. Let me be the first to say I could stand to do more memoirs, anyway.

Holy crap. I think nobody else read this book...

Joe wrote: "When this book was chosen out of the list, I ran to the library that very weekend and took it out, then read it in a couple hours, which is something I never do with books...
I have to say, I was m..."

Joe, sorry! You're definitely not the only one who read the book. This was a really quick read - I knocked it out in just a few hours as well.

I'm not sure what to make of Carrie's electroshock therapy. She says in the book that her only exposure before going through the therapy was that scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. To be honest, that's my only impression of it, too - so Carrie saying so candidly that she went through it and lost a lot of her memory is actually pretty terrifying.

I do have to say, one of my favorite parts of the book was Carrie's description of Hollywood children trying to figure out if they're related to other Hollywood children they end up dating. How weird!

Nobody other than we two, I mean. I could see of course that you read it from your initial post...

Sorry! I'm here! I loved this book. As someone who is bi-polar and a recovering addict, there was a lot I could relate to. I loved her idea of the emotional fiction changing day to day like the weather. It's so true. My circumstances could be exactly the same from one day to the next but I'd be on top of the world one day and a sobbing mess in my closet the next.

As for electro-shock therapy, sadly memory loss is the biggest side effect. I know two recovering addicts of Carrie's age who also went through it. Mental health sciences still have a long way to go.

In short, loved the book. Would love to see more nerdy bios/autobiographies.