I unfortunately didn't discover Gilmore Girls until after it ended. (This happens to me a lot -- I get around to shows and movies, eventually.) But as a longtime fan of the show and as a lifelong lover of dance and theater, I didn't have to think twice about picking up the audiobook for The Third Gilmore Girl back when it came out in September 2024.
I'm not kidding when I say I might have listened to the entire book straight through from start to finish without stopping. Once I started, I just couldn't bring myself to hit pause. Kelly Bishop's memoir itself is expertly crafted, but her narration of the story is what really sold it for me.
Bishop has lived a fascinating life -- one I admittedly knew very little about before starting her memoir. I made a vow back when Carrie Fisher passed away that I wouldn't wait to read celebrity memoirs (semi-autobiographical or otherwise). This is why I also jumped on Viola Davis's memoir, which I also highly recommend. I've read Lauren Graham's books as well, so this one shot immediately to the top of my TBR list when it came out.
There's just something about getting to sit down and listen to someone tell their life story from beginning to present day. Decades' worth of life, reflection, and wisdom appear in those pages because of it. It's not that younger people can't write memoirs -- they do, and they're often just as good. But The Third Gilmore Girl spoke to me in a way many memoirs I'd previousy read hadn't.
Perhaps it's because I often associate getting older with slowing down -- and in many ways it's not an outrageous association to make. But this is a book written by someone who has seen the toll aging can take on a person -- from both observation and personal experience -- and hs decided that life only stops when she decides it stops.
I don't know if we'll ever get to see Bishop portray Emily Gilmore again -- though I suppose anything could happen with the 25th anniversary of the show coming up fast. Her story ended perfectly in A Year in the Life regardless of how you felt about the project overall, but in so many ways, Bishop's was still just beginning.