Speedbumps: Flooring It Through Hollywood

This dishy memoir may be about "speedbumps"—obstacles that slow a person's journey in life—but Garr's delivery is smooth as glass, with no jarring notes. Garr's performance highlights her wonderfully edgy sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. This audio version is often better than the print book, particularly when Garr launches into funny digressions or catty parenthetical comments about people in Hollywood. She seems to have a marvelous time poking fun at herself, from her drama-queen tendencies to the ways she used to pad her résumé. Her behind-the-scenes commentaries about some of her more famous roles, such as the buxom German nurse in Young Frankenstein , are delicious. The last third of Garr's book is devoted to multiple sclerosis, which she was definitively diagnosed as having in 1999, after 20 years of strange, on-again, off-again symptoms. But even here, her humor is in full sway, as she describes her new role as a celebrity spokesperson for the disease. Listeners will cheer her on as she invites us along for an exciting ride, speed bumps and all. Simultaneous release with the Hudson Street hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 22). (Dec.)