I Don't Know What You Know Me From

February 15, 2014
A memoir by a rare breed of Hollywood actress: happy, well-adjusted and working. Greer, who has appeared in nearly 100 movies and TV roles (this is her first book), knows she is lucky. Her unconventional parents--her mother was fired from a convent before she could take her final vows as a nun--wholeheartedly supported her teenage ballet and acting aspirations, and she got cast, after her first audition, in a movie with David Schwimmer. This is not a Hollywood roman a clef; Greer doesn't dish and is amazed by and grateful for her good fortune. She embodies the role she calls "the ultimate movie best friend...funny, cute, sassy and approachable." She is so approachable, in fact, that people who believe they recognize her routinely ask, "What do I know you from?" Her initial response: "First of all, hi." During her 15-year career, she has become proficient at what she calls "fan profiling." Eager to help, she asks, "What are you into?" and intuits by the questioner's clothes, age and sex which productions they may have seen her in. It could be from one (or several) of her wide-ranging roles, such as Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men, The Wedding Planner or 13 Going on 30. Greer is an engaging and witty storyteller, at turns wistful (of her beloved hometown, she writes, "Detroit is America's sad family member who can't catch a break") and unsparingly honest ("I used to be more ugly"). She is also willing to laugh at some of her more absurd can-you-believe-it stories--e.g., when she finally got the apartment she always dreamed of, beneath the iconic HOLLYWOOD sign, it turned out to be full of cockroaches and thieves and constantly under the watch of police helicopters. Readers will wish Greer was their conspiratorial best friend.

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April 1, 2014
Greer, who has had a good deal of success as a working actress in movies, including 13 Going on 30 and The Wedding Planner, as well as a memorable recurring role in the TV series Arrested Development, is a recognized face if not quite a household name. Her charming memoir is a series of vignettes covering her childhood in Michigan, her adventures in stepparenting, and her experiences on film and television sets. The title comes from the question Greer is often asked by people who approach her, knowing they have seen her somewhere, but they can't recall the movie or TV show they saw her in. Occasionally, they insist they have seen her in a movie she wasn't in, such as Bridesmaids. Greer also shares her hilarious trip to the Oscars for The Descendants, which involved her dress unraveling and her initially being unable to find anyone to talk to before the ceremony. Greer's bubbly best-friend personality and self-deprecating anecdotes will have readers rooting for her, and will likely win her new fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)