Along The Way (2012)

Reading a celebrity memoir can be like taking a tour of the Oscar Mayer factory: All the interesting areas have been cordoned off, and you never see how the sausage is made. Father-son duo Sheen and Estevez's tag-team memoir isn't remarkably different in that regard — for example, very little is said about Charlie Sheen's quasi-estrangement, and 20 years are glossed over in a few chapters. However, it is significantly better written (thanks partly to coauthor Edelman) and more insightful than your average chronicle of actorly self-regard and faux humility. Part travelogue, part familial bonding session, and for Sheen, two-thirds of a pretty good autobiography, Along the Way may not reveal all the secrets of the Hollywood meat grinder, but it doesn't toss in a lot of filler, either. B+