The Third Gilmore Girl (2025)

Carolyn Marie

339 reviews8,543 followers

September 26, 2024

It was truly such an honor and a privilege to have read this book.

Kelly Bishop is one of those people who, though she doesn’t even know I exist, feels like a great friend of mine. Her passion for dance, art, storytelling, animals, music…etc. speaks to me deeply.

Her confidence, humor, and positivity shines bright throughout this brilliantly crafted memoir.

Emily Gilmore has always been a favorite character of mine, and now she is even more so!

I will, forever and always, feel extremely proud to be an honorary Gilmore Girl.

Millie

3 reviews

Read

September 20, 2024

broadway? nyc? abortion activism? dirty dancing? gilmore girls? icon!

Meagan (Meagansbookclub)

597 reviews4,824 followers

September 20, 2024

Emily/Kelly, I adore you.

If you’re a GG fan, you’re going to love this memoir.

Alwynne

822 reviews1,223 followers

July 26, 2024

I’m a huge fan of Gilmore Girls and Emily Gilmore is probably my favourite character, not least because of Kelly Bishop’s brilliant performances. I also love dance so the fact that Bishop started out as a dancer has always intrigued me. So, I was pleased to have an opportunity to read her memoir covering her early life and long career in show business. Bishop worked her way up from the bottom, her hopes of becoming a ballet dancer dashed after she moved to New York at 18, she took any dancing job she could get. She finally transitioned into acting in the early 1970s aged 30, undeterred by messy divorce proceedings, and desperate for cash to feed her menagerie of rescue animals – something that’s been a feature of her life ever since.

It's clear early on that Bishop is just as feisty as Emily but without the privilege or the family money. Her memoir, produced with the aid of Lindsay Harrison, is forthright and conversational. Admittedly it can be a bit breathless at times but it’s still a fascinating account of what it’s like to work in show business from the bottom up, as well as Broadway in the 1970s and 80s. Her early relationships were mostly disastrous, as was her first marriage to a man who spent all her money on gambling and alcohol. But her big break as a performer came with a central role in the premiere of a new musical, the now-iconic A Chorus Line. A role for which she won a coveted Tony award. Not that her life then became smooth sailing, she had some decent parts, some very minor ones in everything from B-movies to daytime soaps, although she memorably played Baby’s mother in Dirty Dancing. She also met second husband Lee Leonard the love of her life, and they were together for 37 years until his death from the last in a succession of cancer-related illnesses.

Bishop’s next, major break came when she auditioned for Gilmore Girls a pilot created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, kickstarting a lasting friendship and professional collaboration – Sherman-Palladino contributed the foreword for Bishop’s book. Bishop then appeared in Sherman-Palladino’s Bunheads and more recently The Marvellous Mrs Maisel. As you might expect Bishop’s politically liberal, pro-choice, vocal about animal welfare, and slightly woo in time-honoured Hollywood tradition. She’s also amazingly resilient, now close to 80, she’s overcome devastating personal loss, illness and injuries but she's still marching on. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Thanks to Netgalley UK and publisher Square Peg for an ARC

    life-writing netgalley-arc non-fiction

Daryan

315 reviews124 followers

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October 22, 2024

still a queen even though she's team logan

Phoebe (readandwright) Wright

529 reviews300 followers

September 19, 2024

I rarely rate memoirs but this was SO good and had me in tears at the end.

Olive Fellows (abookolive)

725 reviews6,097 followers

January 1, 2025

I love Kelly Bishop so much 😭 This is a beautiful look at a rich life and career and it's filled with wit, wisdom, and sass. If you'd like the best experience, definitely listen to the audiobook!

This was one of my favorite nonfiction books of 2024!
Click here to hear more of my thoughts over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

The Third Gilmore Girl (8)

    memoir

Jan Agaton

1,170 reviews1,233 followers

October 28, 2024

one of the easiest 5 star ratings I've ever given, and I am so honored to have gone to her author event & to live at the same time as this woman.

Janssen

1,749 reviews6,575 followers

Read

January 3, 2025

This was such a fun, quick listen. Almost made me want to go watch Gilmore Girls again.

    2025 audiobooks best-sellers

Christy

4,321 reviews35.4k followers

October 9, 2024

4 stars

Anyone who knows me knows that ‘Gilmore Girls’ is my all-time favorite show. It came out my freshman year of high school and I was around the same age as Rory, and my mom was just a bit younger than Lorelai. We had so much fun watching it together. I always had a soft spot for Emily Gilmore. I was interested to know more about her. I loved hearing her stories about Gilmore Girls, but also loved hearing about her time with ‘A Chorus Line’. I’m such a fan of that musical and I had no idea that so much of ‘At the Ballet’ was based off of her and that she was Sheila from the original cast.

Audio book source: Libby
Story Rating: 4 stars
Narrators: Kelly Bishop
Narration Rating: 5 stars
Genre: Memoir/Non-Fiction
Length: 6h 49m

    2024-audio 2024-new-to-me-authors

Traci Thomas

763 reviews12.4k followers

December 5, 2024

This was a solid celeb memoir. I loved the early parts but found the back half to mostly be a resume. I found her so likable and loved listening to bishop tell her own story. I barely knew anything about her and still found it overall good but not outstanding.

Jonetta

2,421 reviews1,215 followers

December 15, 2024

the setup…
First of all, before she was Kelly she was Carole Bishop, a chorus line dancer working on Broadway. The story behind that name change is just one of the many anecdotes shared here. She gained national fame as Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls but she had a magnificent career before that iconic role. Kelly tells her story in her own words, one that spans decades and is massive.

the heart of the story…
I’ll admit that initially my interest in Bishop’s story was mostly because of the Emily Gilmore role. But after seeing such glowing reviews from friends, I knew there had to be much more and there certainly is. I had no idea that she was so deeply connected to the genesis of A Chorus Line, a play I got to see on Broadway and the one that breathed new life into theater. I found her career to be highly interesting but it’s the woman I found fascinating. Her work ethic and life views are admirable in any era but especially during the time she was a dancer. Her transition to acting is a separate story in itself. And, her recollections of her time on Gilmore Girls was everything I’d hope to hear.

the narration…
There’s nothing like hearing a memoir in that person’s voice and Kelly brought such vibrancy to her own. It’s conversational, like she was sitting across from me sharing her life. She is wonderful.

the bottom line…
Kelly Bishop has lived a life…full of love, heartaches, unbelievable success and low moments…and she doesn’t hold back on anything other than names that shouldn’t be shared. I have a completely different view of her and won’t ever see her the same way as I rewatch Gilmore Girls for the umpteenth time. Bravo, Ms. Bishop!

Posted on Blue Mood Café

    2024-audiobook-challenge 2024-library-love 3500-2022

Laura Silvey

166 reviews7 followers

September 30, 2024

I was really excited for this book, and while it delivered wonderful stories of Kelly’s journey to being on Gilmore Girls, it fell a little flat to me. It felt less like a story and more like an excuse to make political, social, and spiritual stances. She only spent 1.5 chapters on Gilmore Girls, which was disappointing to me, and again, she told her life story almost as if it was a news article or history textbook and not a memoir. It’s a short book so I’m still glad I read it, but it didn’t live up to my expectations.

Elizabeth (Plant Based Bride)

590 reviews7,396 followers

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January 24, 2025

Read for my annual Goodreads Choice Awards Winners video, coming soon!

Lilly

227 reviews37 followers

October 10, 2024

I loved this SO much. Review to come soon!

For now--I HIGHLY recommend the audiobook.

    audiobooks nonfiction-recommendations

Kyleigh | alltheroseyreads

164 reviews569 followers

September 25, 2024

Nearly perfect.

౨୧˚avonna ⟡.•

78 reviews20 followers

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November 19, 2024

no rating because i think it’s odd to rate the entertainment value of someone’s life story, but i thought this was a very quick and charming read (read it in one day) and makes me think about how much we really can do with our lives. don’t let “getting old” discourage you from pursuing your goals and loving your life.. it even has her perspective being in new york during 9 11 and of course her time on gilmore girls :) i also love that she includes her faults as well as all of her accomplishments.. it feels real and vulnerable

Patricija || book.duo

796 reviews568 followers

October 19, 2024

5/5

Kaip patiko! Kaip ir daugelis, Bishop žinau iš Gilmore girls – na, taip turbūt jau yra, kai neaugi su amerikietiškuoju teatru. Tačiau nors ir knyga toli gražu ne tik apie GG, gal net trečdalio nesudaro pasakojimai apie šį puikų serialą, tai man nė kiek nesutrukdė mėgautis istorijomis, nes Bishop jas pasakoja gyvai, įdomiai, nevyniodama į vatą, o svarbiausia – su labai tvirtu stuburu ir aiškiu žinojimu ką nori pasakyti, kas jai svarbu ir pagal kokius moralės principus ir įsitikinimus ji nugyveno savo ilgą, spalvingą, iššūkių ir įdomybių kupiną gyvenimą. Jos meilė gyvūnams, teatrui, šokiui, savo sutuoktiniui ir tiesiog gyvenimui buvo vienos iš esminių temų, bet nuoširdžiai nė sekundei nenuobodžiavau – kad ir ką ji pasakotų.

Žinoma, kad patirčiai žavumo pridėjo ir tai, kad klausiau pačios autorės įskaitytą autobiografiją. Ji pripažįsta, kad žmonės dažniausiai ją viešumoje atpažįsta iš balso, todėl be jo knyga tikrai prarastų jei ne pusę, tai vis tiek daug charakteringumo. Ir skatinu skaityti – net jei jūs, kaip ir aš, matėt tik Gilmore girls nu ir dar Dirty dancing.

    audio nepamirštam-negrožinių

bookbestiebenny

81 reviews808 followers

January 18, 2025

Inspiring. I love this woman so much.

Océane Andréa

68 reviews

September 25, 2024

A beautiful memoir. Love you Kelly-Emily🍂🍁💛

Tara

12 reviews

October 1, 2024

If you love your current view of Kelly… don’t pick up this book. Very disappointing to learn of her behavior. She comes across very arrogant and with a “I am owed this” attitude that I wasn’t fond of. Only a brief 20 pages (or so) of her Gilmore Girls salute. It was the only bright spot. I also have to wonder about her apt timing of this release. Her book hit quite a few political hot topics. Another disappointment. I wish I hadn’t read the book.

Lisa

262 reviews10 followers

August 8, 2024

I was so excited and honoured to have my ARC request accepted for Kelly Bishop’s memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl. I dove right in, eager to learn more about the incredible actress that brought the complex character Emily Gilmore to life.

That being said, I find memoirs very hard to rate. I’m a big believer that celebrities don’t owe us anything besides what they are willing to give. In this age of social media, where every little action is posted and analyzed by thousands (or millions) of people, celebrities can be picked apart for the most minuscule reason, and sometimes I think we forget that they are humans with feelings that can be hurt and families that can be affected.

Kelly’s memoir walks the fine line between letting us into her life, and maintaining her privacy, and I think she pulls it off. While I’d say we learn much more about her career than we do her personal life, we are still left with a great overall picture of who Kelly is and what she values. This is an immensely readable book, that never once left me bored. Kelly’s long and varied career in show business was extremely interesting. The writing style came across almost like discussing memories with an old friend. Once published, I’ll be torn between purchasing the audiobook (assuming Kelly herself is narrator) or a print copy (I’m honestly hoping for lots of pictures of Kelly through the years).

At one point, Kelly mentions that she’s extremely proud of her career, in large part due to the fact that it was on her own terms, without comprising her dignity or privacy. I hope she feels the same way about this delightful memoir.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for providing the ARC of this book. This review is my honest and voluntary opinion.

    2024 2024-52-book-club arcs

Diane

1,095 reviews3,066 followers

November 18, 2024

As a longtime fan of the TV shows Gilmore Girls and Bunheads, I was eager to read Kelly Bishop's book. And I wasn't disappointed — she shared great behind-the-scenes stories from those shows and her movies, including Dirty Dancing, and I especially loved the stories about her role in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line.

I listened to this on audio, which Kelly narrates herself, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy Hollywood or Broadway memoirs. Kelly has had such an interesting life, and I'm so glad she took the time to write out her experiences.

    audiobooks hollywood

BPC

115 reviews

September 29, 2024

DNF @ 46%. Didn’t hear a word about Gilmore Girls, but a whole chapter about her abortion. Ironic, isn’t it? Considering the premise of Gilmore Girls?

    dnf

Mediaman

1,201 reviews79 followers

September 24, 2024

Breezy outline of a memoir, not deep storytelling, as Bishop skips through life and avoids dealing in detail about many significant situations. It's the CliffsNotes version of Carole (Kelly) Bishop's story.

Much of this (probably too much) is about her dancing and theatrical career. Barely enough is about her Gilmore work to make fans somewhat happy but still she never really goes deep. It seems like she's always putting on airs, trying to avoid stopping long enough to really focus on anything that may make her look bad or take down an emotional wall she has built up.

Her private life is a mess. She constantly picks losers to shack up with and keeps her thoughts to herself until she explodes and ends things. This pattern happens often, and despite her claims of being bluntly direct when dealing with strangers, she has some very deep inabilities to communicate in personal relationships that she doesn't seem to worry about. Like everything else in her life, she just quickly moves on and gives little thought to her selfishness or who she hurts along the way.

Then in the middle of the book this seemingly intelligent but undereducated actress, who sleeps at will with men and invites a few to live with her at various times of life, gets pregnant and indignantly spends over two pages telling us why she had zero emotional or mental guilt about her abortion. She even unnecessarily says, "I was very grateful that abortions were legal when my need for one came along in 1978, but to be perfectly honest, I'm sure I would have found an illegal way to terminate this pregnancy if it had come to that, since as far as I was concerned, it was my only responsible option." Responsible? Killing a life?Responsible to whom?? Certainly not the separate DNA that was a human being inside her. That's idiotic justification, claiming to be righteous when doing something morally wrong. She wouldn't think of killing an animal or litters inside pregnant animals, but she has no problem pretending that baby isn't a real life so she destroys it?

This may feel like I'm going off on a tangent, but her lack of logic and need to defend her bad choice sticks out in this book.

She claims, after already saying she "never felt any religious or spiritual guilt," that she did feel "sadness because I'd be ending a potential life." Um, Carole/Kelly, you weren't ending a POTENTIAL life, you were ending a LIFE. You killed a child that was housed inside you. If you had wanted the baby your perspective on what to call it would have been the opposite.

Then she flippantly adds the twist, "My body, my responsibility." She accepts the blame for failing to use birth control, calling herself stupid for letting her bed partner go ahead inside her without a condom. So she'll feel guilt and "anger at myself" for being stupid when having sex but feel no remorse about ending a life? Correct, because "It was a nonnegotiable statement of fact. I wasn't going to have this child, or any other child, ever." From childhood she hated the idea of having kids and even her wild mother had supported her anti-child stance early in life.

Doesn't that make her as evil as her famous TV character? What little respect I had for her up until that point stopped and I realized that she was as cold, mean, and distant as Emily Gilmore. I'm sure many feminist Gilmore fans will applaud Bishop for what they'd call her "brave" retelling of killing her unwanted child or failing to talk her lover about her decision, because it fits right into the truly irresponsible storyline of all three Gilmore Girls that they can make their own selfish decisions without considering how they impact others.

But at least in the fictional TV world, teen Lorelai chose to raise her unplanned baby. So next time you watch the show, ask yourself, if you're so pro-abortion, why are you so happy that Lorelai Gilmore kept her daughter's life going outside the womb instead of doing what Kelly Bishop would call the "responsible option"? And how much more happiness there could be in the world if others made that truly responsible decision in real life to raise more Rory Gilmores.

    abortion acting actress

Samantha | samanthakreads

219 reviews55 followers

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September 20, 2024

I'm not going to rate this memoir. If I did, it would likely be 3⭐️

I had high hopes for this book as a Gilmore Girls fan. I enjoyed getting to know more about Kelly Bishop and what led her to play the role of Emily Gilmore. She is as outspoken, fearless, hardworking, and feisty as similar to Emily (minus the negative qualities of being about money and riches). Kelly shared her highs and lows in life, from her successful dance career to hardships in her family life, struggles with dyslexia, losing loved ones, her first marriage to a man with a gambling problem, and her 2nd husband's fight against cancer.

My favorite parts of this book were all about Gilmore Girls, which doesn't come up until 60%+ into the book. I loved hearing her thoughts on getting the part of Emily, her memories of filming, and her close bonds with Lauren Graham and Edward Herrmann.

Her love for her husband, Lee, was beautiful, and the way she stayed strong, standing by his side through his years fighting cancer, was admirable.

There were aspects incorporated into this book I wasn't expecting, including some political aspects and topics that were hard to read at times, which did impact my overall enjoyment level.

I listened to the audiobook, which was lovely, as Kelly narrated it herself.

Content discretions: mention of an affair, abortion/planned parenthood, psych medium/talking to a loved one, 3-4 H, 10+ God's name in vain, gambling, alcoholism, brief mentions of drugs, cheating, mentions of sex (not explicit), cancer, loss of a loved one

annie ☁️

150 reviews40 followers

October 7, 2024

rtc.

oh kelly, the woman that you are!

sana ୨୧

601 reviews68 followers

January 9, 2025

4.5

ahh, this basically cured me from a mini reading slump + this is my first book of 2025. i had been waiting in line for this on libby for a while now, and i’m so glad i started the year off with such a good note. i loved kelly bishop’s writing and hearing about the entirety of her life and, especially, career. this was such an insightful read and i feel like, overall, just a good read for life lessons and things like that, too.

also.. this has inspired me to rewatch gilmore girls for the first time. i’ve tried to several times but, honestly, some of the episodes with rory’s aggravating behavior just gets on my nerves too much (and i know those episodes will be coming my way so i always end up stopping). i’m not sure why, like, i’m sure if i rewatch or rewatch it enough times, i’ll be able stand it ? if that makes sense, because some of my favorite shows are pll and gossip girl and i’ve rewatched those multiple times. then again, they’re a bit more “nostalgic” for me, having first watched them like 5-8 years ago or something like that.

that was such a long rant about rewatching gilmore girls, but, all this to say, i loved kelly bishop. and this just made me love her more.

    libby-and-apps

Cassandra ♏︎

5 reviews2 followers

January 8, 2025

this was a perfect read to start off the new year. this book had me bawling like a baby at times & laughing at others. kelly bishop is an inspiring women & this memoir is truly a beautiful piece of writing i could not give any less than 5 stars.

    5-star-reads

Brianna - Four Paws and a Book

856 reviews378 followers

January 7, 2025

As a big fan of Gilmore Girls, and as someone who grew up right alongside with Rory, I loved this story. But I also loved the parts of this book before Gilmore Girls. Definitely recommend the audiobook as Kelly narrates it, and it truly feels like you're having a conversation with Emily.

See my current thoughts in this vlog! -

The Third Gilmore Girl (2025)

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