As familiar and comforting as the sound of her voice was, as funny and hopeful as her face was across our TVs, as much as we watched her every movement since the Betty White Show, her life was somewhat of a mystery to me when I cracked the pages of Here We Go Again. I had no idea that her parents were as loving to animals as they were to humans. I had no idea that Betty White began her career in radio. And more than that, I had no idea how soothing it would be to hear her voice grace another medium than my movies and shows. If you need to feel warm, listen to this book.
Or, listen to any of her books. Betty White, along with an incredible career in television, has had an incredibly career in books. In 1983, Betty White wrote Betty White’s Pet Love: How Pets Take Care of Us. In 1987, there was Betty White: In Person. In 1991, Betty White collaborated with a friend to document the life of a beloved golden retriever who served as a seeing eye dog for eleven years and then a companion for the rest of his days, The Leading Lady. And on and on the publications went for each year, until 1995 when the aforementioned title, Here We Go Again, was published.
While it may be too presumptuous to say that my mission will be to listen to all of her books, children’s excepted, I will say my next listen will be, If You Ask Me, the 2011 addition to her memoir from two decades ago. And if my memory serves me on Betty White’s timeline, this will be the book on her comedic reawakening with the younger generations, her time on Hot in Cleveland and roles in The Proposal. So here’s hoping the next title is as comfortable as the blanket that was Here We Go Again. Will you be reading it?