Often called a Scream Queen or Queen of the Bs, Adrienne Barbeau has risen above and beyond the boxes people want to put her in. I’ve always been a fan of her work, particularly Creepshow (Call me Billie, everyone does!), Escape From New York, The Fog and the wonderful Carnivale. Her autobiography breaks her life into chunks that basically relate to the projects she worked on and the men in her life. In the beginning she freely admits that her lifetime of journals were about relationships more than anything. She laughs that almost nothing is noted about her work on the original stage production of Grease, the sit-com Maude or any of her other jobs (and she’s had a lot, it seems she’s never stopped working and I’m really tempted to watch Sons of Anarchy just because she’s in it).

Rather than read this with my eyes, I listened to it as an audio because Adrienne narrates it and who better to tell her story? A lot of writers can’t act and a lot of actors can’t write, but she can do both. She’s got a great voice for narrating (The Fog anyone?!). As a person, I think I’d like her, but wouldn’t really relate to her well. She goes in for the woo-woo side of life a bit too much, with psychics and weird healers and believing in ghosts. But aside from that, she’s a very practical person who sets goals and plans to achieve them in logical steps. Acquiring a new manager late in her career, tackling voice lessons, finding an agent, preserving a marriage. All of it done with a clear idea of what she wants. And what she wants is pretty much what she gets. She seems happy, content and challenged which suits her just fine. ( )

Adrienne Barbeau is not only a gifted actress and singer, but a gifted writer as well. There is early proof in the excerpts from her journals starting in fifth grade and her ninth grade term paper., "To Be Or Not To Be: Acting as a Vocation". She writes with honesty, strength, humility and humor. This book will make you laugh, cry and just root for the skinny little girl with glasses and bushy hair that became a beautiful woman, mother, wife and a darned good actress. ( )