Monday, May 13, 2013

I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections  by Nora Ephron

Several years ago I read Nora Ephron's "I Feel Bad About My Neck" and loved it.  However since then, she became ill with leukemia and has since passed, so it was with trepidation that I decided to read this. It includes many personal memories and anecdotes. . . and lots of name-dropping. She grew up in Hollywood among stars, producers, and screenwriters, & it was all she knew. In 1962 with an Ivy League degree, she started out in the mailroom at Newsweek while her male counterparts were sent to the newsroom. Lots of history about her parents, marriages (one to Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame), and successes as a screen writer for such mega-hits as When Harry Met Sally & Sleepless in Seattle. But the book is less comedic and more wistfully sad.  Less mid-life hilarity, more mid-life reflection on aging.  Don't get me wrong - women of a certain age are sure to find themselves in this book, and smile at the relevancies - "I have no idea who anyone in People magazine is".  Bittersweet for anyone who admired her life.