I was reading something online recently, and the website did that thing where instead of a list of links at the bottom of the page, they have the next article right underneath the first. It’s just there waiting for you, and you can see it before you’re even done reading the first article. The bait article was a list of celebrity memoirs you just have to read.

I’ve read a few memoirs, but they aren’t my favorite genre. I’m not into celebrity culture or the lives of famous people. Being famous sounds like my worst nightmare, so why would I want to read about someone else’s experience with it?

But one of the top images in the bait article was the cover of This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare, by Gabourey Sidibe (gei·br·ee si·duh·bei). I’ve heard the name before, but I’ve never seen any of her work. I just saw her face on the cover and thought, I have to read that book.

I requested it from the library immediately, and it came in just a few days later. I finished it in about a week. I totally could have done it on a lazy weekend, but I don’t have lazy weekends.

When I started it the first time, I only read a few words of the first page and as usual when I start a new book, I wasn’t feeling it. Then I tried again a few days later, intending to read the first chapter or so before going to sleep for the night. Five chapters later, I finally peeled myself away and stashed the book for the night.

I don’t know how to explain it. I guess the best memoirs are like this, but early on in the book, I thought to myself, if she weren’t famous and living on the other side of the country (at least I think she does. I don’t even know for sure, and I’m NOT Googling it), we could totally be friends. I loved her writer’s voice. I identified with a lot of her sentiments. I especially loved how the universe determined the trajectory of her life and she knows it.

Sidibe did a great job of telling the story, an origins story, while looking ahead to see what was next. With her writing style and unique voice, there will probably be more books at some point or another. At least, I hope so.

The way I came across the book felt a little random – I certainly wasn’t looking for a celebrity memoir to read, but it came at the right time and fit right into my reading schedule – I had just finished a book on spirituality, and the next one up is science-related. Celebrity memoir seems like an appropriate way to transition between those two. I don’t mean to make it sound like this book is flaky or lite, it isn’t. It’s just a completely different flavor from the book I just finished and the one I’m about to start.

Like my first instinct told me when I saw the book (and I totally judge a book by its cover), Sidibe is a force to be reckoned with. I enjoyed getting a glimpse at the spirit inside the confident, glowing person on the cover.