[ book tip by Dianne Brown ] I didn’t particularly want to read this book, but it was all there was to hand. Another 'Oh dear, I’m very rich and very famous, but so unhappy' tale, I thought cynically. But within a couple of pages I was hooked and read it straight through. (It’s not long and she writes very fluently and easily.)

I knew nothing about Carrie Fisher but like almost everyone on the planet would recognise her teenage self immediately. Who doesn’t recognise Princess Leia? It’s this discrepancy between image and reality and how difficult it was to cope with, that informs her life and this book. That and her bi-polar disorder, unrecognised and masked by her dependency on drugs and drink. The disorder reflects this problem of duality.

Based on her stage show, Wishful Drinking is funny and moving, odd and domestic. I’m probably not much wiser – who can know anyone else through one book? – but it made me slightly ashamed to think how easily anyone can fall into the trap of thinking that we know a famous person just because we recognise their picture and know a few basic facts. It is a truism to say that we don’t really consider the very famous as people with lives to lead that have nothing to do with our images of them. In a society dominated by images, it’s particularly easy to forget the person behind the picture. Carrie Fisher doesn’t need any reminder of this.

[ Favourite quote ] 'Help me, Obi-Wan-Kenobi – you're my only hope'

[ book info ] Fisher, Carrie: Wishful Drinking. (Book language: English) Simon and Schuster, new York, 2008 (2008). ISBN: 13978-1439102251.