SHIRLEY, I JEST! A STORIED LIFE - Cindy Williams (with Dave Smitherman)

While never particularly enamored with "Happy Days", to this day I can quote entire passages of dialogue from the hilarious, charming, and wholly re-watchable "Laverne & Shirley" - and to this day as well, wish I still had my own Boo Boo Kitty!  Shirley was always my favorite, so when I saw Cindy Williams had a memoir coming out, I was anxious to find out more about her ... and while Shirley, I Jest! is far from a biography (it's really more anecdotal notes and stories that Williams recalls from her life and work, more or less in chronological order), you can still feel a bit of Shirley Feeney on every page as Williams humbly discusses growing up with an alcoholic father, her first obsessions with TV and acting, and how - after achieving success with films like American Graffiti and The Conversation, a downturn in her career (along with a seemingly unreliable Penny Marshall) nearly caused her to turn down the role of Shirley Feeney.  While this reader would have liked more of a biography - Williams touches on her grandma's death, her hippie days, and marriage to Bill Hudson with zero detail, for example - when I settled into the idea that this brief (200 pages) memoir was more like sitting with Cindy as she tells you tales from her life, the book was a treat and Williams comes off both grateful and even almost surprised by what she's achieved.  Boo Boo Kitty would be proud.  ***1/2

Note: I received a free ARC of this book via Netgalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.