Biblio File

Remembering Carrie Fisher, the Author

IMAGE ID psnypl_the_4330

​First things first: Let’s begin by remembering Carrie Fisher the way she wanted to be remembered.

In her 2008 memoir, she wrote about a conversation with director George Lucas on the Star Wars set:

George comes up to me the first day of filming and he takes one look at the dress and says, “You can’t wear a bra under that dress.”

So, I say, “Okay, I’ll bite. Why?”

And he says, “Because… there’s no underwear in space.”

What happens is you go to space and you become weightless. So far so good, right? But then your body expands??? But your bra doesn’t—so you get strangled by your own bra.

Now I think that this would make for a fantastic obit—so I tell my younger friends that no matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.

That quote alone proves Fisher’s books are well worth reading.

The one it comes from, Wishful Drinking, is a bold, honest, funny work of self-reflection that stands among important literary memoirs of addiction and mental illness. It also established Fisher as a vocal advocate for mental health, working to remove the stigma of diagnosis and treatment.

Her second memoir — Shockaholic, published in 2012 — offered another honest look into another stigmatized topic: electroshock therapy as treatment for depression and bipolar disorder.

In her most recent memoir, The Princess Diarist, Fisher republished sections of the journals she kept while working on the Star Wars set. The new book gave millions of fans a place to turn for some dishy fun as Fisher confirmed her romantic relationship with Harrison Ford and offered up some on-the-ground insights into the production. But even this book further established her writerly credibility; as one reviewer noted, even though she was only 19 when she penned these diaries, her “signature ironic humor and a sad honesty” were already in evidence.

Her four semi-autobiographical novels get less attention now, but their dry honesty earned Fisher a comparison to Dorothy Parker and Elaine May from John Scalzi in the Los Angeles Times. Scalzi praises her prowess as a Hollywood script doctor as well as a novelist; in his words, Fisher was ”witty but vulnerable, willing to push her readers to the edge of their comfort zone with the same lines that made them laugh.”

Much of Fisher’s work is available from the Library; check out the links below and see her full author catalog for ebooks, films, and more.

book covers

The Princess Diarist (2016)

Shockaholic (2012)

Wishful Drinking (2008)

The Best Awful (2003)

Delusions of Grandma (1994)

Surrender the Pink (1990)

Postcards from the Edge  (1987)

 

Our Digital Collections also hold some gorgeous portraits of Carrie Fisher by Kenn Dunn from the 1970s, around the time when she took on her iconic role as Princess Leia Organa.

carrie fisher

IMAGE ID psnypl_the_4790

carrie fisher

IMAGE ID psnypl_the_4789

carrie fisher

IMAGE ID psnypl_the_4772

carrie fisher

IMAGE ID psnypl_the_4330

---

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!