The Book Wench

Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.

Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.

Full of witty insights and featuring a special collection of personal and professional photographs, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down.

The first time I was working on The Book Wench, I told myself I would never review memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies because how can I accurately review a life? I kept to that rule rather closely. Then I found Bishop’s memoir.

Any fan of Gilmore Girls ought to read Bishop’s Memoir. While she talks about much more than her time and character on Gilmore Girls, I feel like an GG fan would just be enamored with her story and the road that lead her to that fateful day when she was cast as Gilmore matriarch Emily Gilmore as well as her life during and since the show first ended.

As I do with most memoirs these days, I listened to the audible edition of the book because Kelly Bishop read it herself and I believe it is infinitely better to hear the voice and connect them to the words. Bishop’s reading was fresh and inflected and she literally gave life to the story of her life. I empathized with her difficult relationship with her father and the yearning that she had from a young age to make something of herself in dance. I felt the same way with my own parents and that absolutely translated into my personal ambitions with reading and writing. Being able to identify with Bishop just added to the experience and I believe that anyone interested enough to listen to (or read) her memoir will have no issue connecting with her.

Bishop was very matter of fact about everything in her life, from her first relationship to her last and everything in between. The same goes for her career as a dancer and an actress. She opened my eyes to the world of dance. Not as a dancer, per se, but as someone who enjoys dance. Getting to know the life on the other side of the curtain was more than entertaining. It felt like learning a new language for things I thought I already knew.

If you love dance, Gilmore Girls, or strong woman role models, pick up Bishop’s book (I recommend the audiobook wholeheartedly). I still talk about this book over a year later. Clearly, I loved it enough to make it one of the reviews I wrote for my leap back into book reviewing.