I did not hear about actress Diane Keaton's memoir until after her passing in October 2025. I admired her performances in some of her later movies: Something's Gotta Give, Book Club and Book Club: The Next Chapter. I wanted to learn more about her. And I wanted her to share the details with me, in her own voice. So I listened to this book on CD, and I let Diane unravel her story, personally, in my car, twice a day. I'm glad that I did.

Although her family moved around a lot when she was young, Diane was always a pure California kid. We hear about her family life and what it has been like to be the oldest of four siblings. Yes, Diane talks about the beginnings of her acting career, including some backgrounds of Annie Hall, the Godfather movies and more. Yes, she speaks in general terms about her relationships with Woody Allen, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino. She addresses the ups and downs of her movie projects and photographic creations. She is also brave enough to admit and to reveal more personal facts than maybe we wanted to know, or that we expected to learn. These topics include the choice to adopt two children, on her own, later in life.

Yet Diane always returns to a main focus here, and this is her relationships with her parents, Jack and Dorothy Keaton Hall. She especially focuses on her connections with them at the ends of their lives. And especially, on the ties with her mother. This book is practically a dual memoir for Diane and Dorothy. Diane often includes excerpts from the journals that her mother kept throughout her life. She re-delivers some of her mother's phone messages. Dorothy's prolonged decline as a victim of Alzheimer's disease is difficult for Diane to bear, and it's tough for us to hear, too. Those of us of a certain age who have experienced similar situations can empathize with her. But at this stage, and with both of the women now gone, we can only listen and cannot offer help. Nevertheless: this memoir reflects many of the comedies and tragedies that life can bring.

For the audiobook, Diane doesn't just narrate her manuscript. She speaks naturally. She laughs, she sighs, she gets emotional. She sometimes does her signature, semi-clueless stammering that many of her on-screen characters do, when they're not sure of their next moves. It's great to hear her, "in real life," so to speak. Hah! So to speak.

We read biographies, in part, to search for connections with others. And what we learn here from Diane Keaton is that being famous doesn't cushion someone from facing and dealing with real-life issues and challenges. None of the big stuff goes away, simply because you've shown up on a movie screen, from time to time. It's a worthy and sobering story to hear.

I have also learned that Diane has another memoir, Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty, which was released in 2014. This time, Diane focuses on the cultural craving for beauty, especially in women, and how she fits (or doesn't fit) into those expectations. I just borrowed the CD set through our local library system. Soon enough, Diane will be riding with me again.