Memoir Armoire

I love the Queen. No, not that Queen. Queen Latifah. She’s so talented and self-confident, and she flies the self-esteem flag for all women in Hollywood (and elsewhere) who aren’t the stereotypical deal (which must be harder to do in Hollywood than elsewhere, let’s face it). So she seems like the perfect choice to write Put on your Crown, a guide to self-esteem for young women using examples from her own life. I’d still prefer to worship at her feet while she dispenses her wisdom, but I guess this is the next best thing.

McMillan, now 45, is a TV writer in Los Angeles. [Her credits include] “United States of Tara” , the fourth season of “Mad Men” and her current job on Jerry Bruckheimer’s upcoming NBC series, “Chase.” What makes this roster even more impressive is that she didn’t start what she calls her “dream job” until just a few years ago, when she scored her first show, NBC’s now-canceled “Journeyman.” McMillan recalls one day while working on the drama about a time-traveling reporter, the show’s writers went around the table and talked about what their dads did for a living. “Out of the nine writers, six of them had dads who were doctors,” says McMillan on the phone from her home in Los Angeles. “And I said, ‘My dad’s in federal prison.’ That’s why it took me 20 years to get here. I ran a marathon before I got to that table.” That marathon is documented in her new Advertisement Quantcast memoir, “I Love You and I’m Leaving You Anyway”.

Via

For seven years, Alison Arngrim played a wretched, scheming, selfish, lying, manipulative brat on one of TV history’s most beloved series. Though millions of Little House on the Prairie viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character — and the freedom and confidence Nellie inspired in her. In Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Arngrim describes growing up in Hollywood with her eccentric parents… [and] she also bravely recounts her life’s challenges.

Via

This sounds great to me.

Hillary Carlip is a bit of a female Forrest Gump. She’s been on the edge of so many pop cultural moments, from stalking (sorry, “befriending”) seventies songbirds Carly Simon and Carole King, to having a bit part in Xanadu with Olivia Newton-John, seeing John Cusack with his zit cream on and being all but ignored by Oprah. Hillary’s seen it, done it and taught herself to juggle and breathe fire (yes, really). I simply loved this book. Part of its charm is, to be honest, that Carlip has a lot of quirky celebrity stories to share (I guess growing up in L.A will do that). But she’s also not afraid to make herself look stupid or insecure if it makes her story more honest and true, and that’s what I responded to most. There are moments of almost unbearable poignancy, especially towards the end of the book, which made me cry. But more than anything, this book made me laugh.

Get it, read it, love it.

I loved her deliciously gossipy first book (apart from the chicken sacrifice) (no, I’m not making that up) and liked the second, but even I’m getting a little weary of the Tori Spelling memoir machine now. A book a year? How much more can there be to tell? Her latest release Uncharted TerriTORI has mostly had reviews of the “this is getting thin now” variety but even though I hate myself a little for it, I’ll probably stick it on my Amazon wishlist all the same.

In the mid-’80s, when she was 19, Hansen moved to L.A and accepted a post looking after three children whose father just happened to be one of the most powerful men in Hollywood: super-agent Michael Ovitz. John Travolta and Tom Cruise would regularly call the house, Dustin Hoffman and Paul Newman would drop by for private screenings and the family went on vacations with the likes of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. So far, so fabulous. But what seemed like a dream job quickly became a nightmare: too shy to negotiate a fair contract, Suzanne found herself on call at all hours of the day and night — except for her weekends off, when she was stranded in her room. She also found her employers had very little respect for her, the work she did, or even their own children. But when she thought about quitting, things turned even nastier… Deliciously gossipy proof that truth is stranger than fiction.

Get yours.

Wishful Drinking (fabulous title!) is a one-woman stage show that has been turned into a (very slim) memoir. We learn about Fisher’s first marriage to Paul Simon, her electroshock treatment, and why both her parents thought that Cary Grant would teach her about the dangers of drug addiction (one of the funniest parts of the book). What we don’t get is a lot of depth: it would have been great to have learned more about growing up as the daughter of a movie star, although we do get a few choice snippets, which are sweet and poignant. But Fisher makes clear that she has lost a lot of her memories as a result of the electroshock and she’s also not one to dwell on tough times. It won’t take long to read it, but read it you should.

Getcherown.