Still foolin' 'em

I have read/listened to a number of celebrity autobiographies. I have started to see a pattern. Make yourself sound like an ordinary person, talk about your childhood struggles, begin to elaborate on your success. Make yourself sound humble. Share your worldly advice. Talk about the struggles of aging in hollywood/friends getting sick. You are now blessed with superior wisdom.

Ok, maybe that's a little unfair. I actually enjoyed Billy Crystal's book. Some parts strongly followed the celebrity autobiography pattern, but his book is filled with some great one liners that had me laughing aloud. I also learned about another side of America that I rarely encounter. Prejudice. I had no idea that you could be dismissed from a golf course just because you were Jewish. Really!? Muhammed Ali could golf there, but Billy Crystal couldn't because he was Jewish?.... It was extremely eye opening.

The book had some slow parts, but had some great moments too. I think what gets me about these autobiographies is that the celebrities feel they need to put their entire lives into their books. I'd must rather have a more focused look at a certain time frame in their lives. (Ex: As You Wish by Cary Elwes focuses on his time filming the Princess Bride with some guest narration from the cast. This was a fantastic book because it was more focused. That's what I wish some of these celebrity books were like). Aside from that, this was still a strong audiobook and in my top 1/4 of celebrity autobiography books.