Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher – Blogtober

I recently finished reading Carrie Fisher’s book Wishful Drinking which I received as a Christmas present a couple of years ago. I love Carrie Fisher and think she was such an inspirational, wonderful human being. Read on to find out my thoughts!

Wishful Drinking is based on a stage show Carrie did quite a few years back. It’s written very much like I expect the show went which is pretty interesting. I’ve not really read non-fiction like this before. I’m not a massive reader of biographies but this one felt really cool and different.

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything which portrays someone’s voice so specifically – I could hear every word in her voice which was great! It’s written very conversationally. This made it both easy to read yet also a little hard to follow at times! This is because it felt very stream of consciousness – as though she knew what she wanted to say generally but went off on tangents.

Of course this is where I feel it would have been amazing to see as the live show! It definitely still works in a book but just a little disjointed at times, which I think is more apparent and possibly flows slightly less than when it’s spoken.

However I still loved it very much! She truly led a wild life and she often says this – she also comments that everyone of course has strange lives. However she delves a lot into her parents and family life. Since she’s the daughter of two famous celebrities, it was a bit crazy growing up in that environment – something she of course grew up thinking as the norm but is very different to most people’s upbringings. It’s fascinating hearing about her life growing up and as an adult!

Carrie is candid as ever here, about acting, her personal and family life and her addictions and mental health issues. It’s a breath of fresh air in many ways and often very funny. One thing I found super emotional is how much love she had for her family and friends, particularly her mum and her daughter. She talks about them with such clear fondness and deep love – it’s so, so nice to read about.

I have A Princess Diarist on my shelf which I also want to read soon (hopefully!) – have you read any of Carrie’s books? What did you think?