Shirley MacLaine is one of my favorite movie stars and also one of my favorite writers. You can check out another blog about her films in our Movie section. Here I’m concentrating on her memoirs. She was recently interviewed on The Today Show and The View about her newest book, Sage-ing While Age-ing.  Shirley’s earlier memoirs (ten and counting!) are all fun reads. But if you want to avoid the “New Age” stuff, here’s a list of other fascinating stories worthy of your attention:

Don’t Fall off the Mountain—Shirley tells how she got started in show business and then miraculously became a movie star.

My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir—Here she dishes about her costars, directors, and herself.

Out On A Leash: Exploring the Nature of Reality & Love—Terry is Shirley’s dog & coauthor of this book.  A must read for every person who loves dogs!

The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit—Shirley walked this famous Catholic pilgrimage in Spain about 10 years ago.  This is riveting description of her journey, physically and spiritually.

I’ve read all of Shirley’s previous books and was excited to see she had something new out after a four year hiatus. I thought she might be concentrating only on movies nowadays. Shirley will be featured as “Coco Chanel” in a Lifetime miniseries this winter. She actually hit retirement age back in 1999, so she’s pretty active for a septuagenarian!  The latest memoir, Sage-ing While Age-ing, starts out with Shirley raging against her advancing age.  Forgetfulness, new allergies, and problems with teeth are examined in somewhat boring detail, which left me wondering if I could get into this book after all.  I never had difficulty reading Shirley before, so I was disappointed.  

Anyway, I slowly struggled to Chapter seven and all of a sudden, WOW!  The wild & wacky Shirley burst out with the most outlandishly wonderful stuff about Unidentified Flying Objects I have ever read or heard about!  According to this zany redhead’s information, we have a treaty with some 40 ET species who visit Earth regularly.  (Shirley prefers to call them “Star Beings”, which is kind of a clever name, don’t you think?) She says that news agencies in Europe and South America regularly report flying saucer sightings, and everyone discusses them as everyday occurrences. But in the United States, everyone ignores UFOs or explains them as weather balloons. That remark reminded me of some “weather balloon” sightings and news reports from the seventies.   Then I saw the new “Indiana Jones” movie, and I really started to freak out—maybe movies like Men in Black aren’t so far fetched after all?!

What I’m saying is that whether or not you believe Star Beings are hovering nearby, this book is a strange trip worth taking.   Beam Me Up, Shirley!