Lauren's Talking

Lauren's Talking

Bruce Von Stiers

Many of you know Lauren Graham from her starring role in the sitcom, Parenthood. Others might remember her in films such as Bad Santa and Because I Said So. But more than that, the majority of the people know Lauren from her role as Lorelai Gilmore in the show The Gilmore Girls. Lauren is also an author. Her novel Someday, Someday, Maybe was a runaway bestseller.

Lauren, besides all of her acting, decided to write another book. This one includes bits and pieces of her life and what it meant to be a Gilmore Girl. And on top of that, Lauren dishes out some insight and information on the reboot of The Gilmore Girls show, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

This new book is titled Talking As Fast As I Can. It has a subtitle of From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls (And Everything In Between). It is hard covered, has 209 pages and was published by Ballantine Books. The book has thirteen chapters with an introduction and acknowledgements.

Two things are evident when you begin to read this book. The first is that Lauren's writing is very humorous. The second is that, while she will be revealing things about her life, Lauren isn't about to dish dirt on other people to the reader. In fact, for the most part, Lauren has nothing but good things to say about the people she mentions in the book. So maybe Lauren Graham is a bit more like Lorelai Gilmore that I thought.

In the Introduction, Lauren attempts to tell the reader why she wrote the book. From a remembrance of the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi in her high school's performances of Hello Dolly to reflecting on what it meant to embrace the role of Lorelai Gilmore once more, it is both funny and poignant.

Then is it on to the reader learning a bit about Lauren's childhood and some humorous dialog between her and her father that was probably, totally made up. But maybe not. Lauren also writes about college and her first roles on stage. Interspersed between the pages are photos Lauren has selected to go along with the subject she's covering at that point in the book. One such photo shows Lauren with a group of friends, one of which is pulling Lauren's hair straight up. The paragraph right before the photo has Lauren writing about the nickname one of her friends had given her.

Not only does Lauren cover things in her life, she also takes on things like diets and how overly connected the world is today. She provides something she calls the “Hollywood Food Chart” that is hilarious and shares tongue-in-cheek health tips titled “Top-Secret-Hollywood-Secrets.” Lauren adopts the persona of “Old Lady Jackson” in a letter that emphasizes how over the top things have become while giving advice borne of age and experience. Not only is this funny, Lauren drives home some very interesting perspective on how dependent we've become on social media and the need to be seen and know what everybody else is doing

Lauren provides a diary of sorts on the seven seasons of the original Gilmore Girls series. She also gives the reader an inside look at the filming of the reboot of the show. Very little of her relationships are written about, with the exception of Peter Krause. Lauren covers some of the things that have intertwined her life and Peter's but not any disparaging details. There are several humorous ones though.

Talking As Fast As I Can was thoroughly enjoyable. Not only did I get a chance to peek behind the scenes at both the original Gilmore Girls show but the reboot as well. I got to learn about Lauren's life in a way the only she could tell it. That is, with a small amount of self-deprecation and a whole lot of humor.

You will be able to find a copy of Talking As Fast As I Can at your favorite book retailer.

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