the princess who went to the stars at war and came back a comedienne!
I have always been a Princess Leia fan before I discovered Carrie Fisher! I still have action figures of her Princess Leia likeness from 1 ½ “ to 12” (my favorite being the vintage 12” and at one stage, I thought she looked like Linda Blair where you can turn her head 360 degrees)! They are my prized possessions and some of them date back to the late seventies along with the other Star Wars action figures.
A long time ago, I was in an impressively sized bookstore with my friend Kelvin (Iowa City for the weekend) that I saw Carrie Fisher’s name printed across a book cover on a table displaying all the new releases. It was “Postcards from the Edge”. As I was reading the synopsis on the flap of the book dust-jacket, the thirty-something shaven head sales person (well ahead of its time in “scalp fashion” and the only other white person I knew then that had the same “scalp-style” was Yul Brynner. No, Patrick Stewart had trimmings on the sides!), kept on reading aloud passages from the book to me! The whole bookshop came to a standstill and people around us stopped and stared as if he was courting me or something! After grabbing the book and heading for the cashier, I was still being followed and he had this dejected look on his face as I left the bookstore with Kelvin! Kelvin saw everything and commented on what a weird guy the sales assistant was, while during that experience, I was literally hoping that I was in a galaxy far, far away!
Anyway, I have been following her literary career since “Postcards”, and lately, read her blog that relieved me during the most frustrating moments at the office. This girl’s sense of wicked humor is the kind that I love and when my copy of “Wishful Drinking” came in from Amazon this morning, my colleagues thought I had somehow lost it due to work pressure because I couldn’t stop laughing (and I obviously couldn’t let my colleagues know that I was actually reading instead of slogging to meet work deadlines)! I couldn’t wait so I read half the book and couldn’t put it down!
I love the cover! I love her work! I love the family tree featured on her book that I found amusing! The funniest book I have ever read in a long, long time and I highly recommend it! The only minus point is the length of the book being very thin and could be read in just one sitting! Nevertheless, this Princess rocks!
Above: Two of my favourite Princess Leia action figures in my collection. The one on top is the 12″ (I have it boxed and loose), and the bottom is the 3″ version (also have it carded and loose). Circa 1978-9. Images picked up from eBay.
