Then Again by Diane Keaton

This is a book of deeply felt emotion, of good-byes, of sadness at the passing of parents and the reality of one's own mortality. Some of us have been there. Some of us know this searing experience.  For Diane Keaton, who adopted her first child at age 50, then another, there is the brightness of children to propel her into activity and light amidst her sorrow. Children provoke deep, almost painful emotions of deepest love that blends with the sadness of losing our own parents. It is a whirl pool of churning emotions.
While some celebrity memoirs reach to "set things straight" or present "my side of the story", this memoir minimizes Keaton's life and accomplishments and focuses on love and loss. On sorrow. It is interesting to see, so far as she is willing to reveal, her life as a working actress. Her artistic sensibilities are refreshing, even joyful. She writes about her powerful friendship with Woody Allen. She mentions Al Pacino.
I remember swooning over Warren Beatty in "Splendor in the Grass", as Diane did. Can you imagine actually having an adult relationship with your movie idol as she did? She had difficulty with that concept as any of us would. That is the tone of this book--that she is as surprised by her celebrity as anyone would be. That is her appeal. The self-deprecating, talented, artistic, poetic woman, Diane Keaton, is authentic and human and grieving the passing of her sensitive, loving mother. A tearful ending. A beautiful book.