Now I Know Why Lauren Graham Is So Darn Likable....

TITLE: Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls and Everything in Between
AUTHOR: Lauren Graham
PUBLISHER: Ballantine Books
PUBLISHING DATE: November 29, 2016

FROM GOODREADS: In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.

In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, “Did you, um, make it?” She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (“Strangers were worried about me; that’s how long I was single!”), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway (“It’s like I had a fashion-induced blackout”).

In “What It Was Like, Part One,” Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay “What It Was Like, Part Two” reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

Some more things you will learn about Lauren: She once tried to go vegan just to bond with Ellen DeGeneres, she’s aware that meeting guys at awards shows has its pitfalls (“If you’re meeting someone for the first time after three hours of hair, makeup, and styling, you’ve already set the bar too high”), and she’s a card-carrying REI shopper (“My bungee cords now earn points!”).

Including photos and excerpts from the diary Graham kept during the filming of the recent Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, this book is like a cozy night in, catching up with your best friend, laughing and swapping stories, and—of course—talking as fast as you can.

MY THOUGHTS:  I have come to the conclusion that I need to be best friends with Lauren Graham. That probably makes me sound a tad stalkerish, but hey, so be it. This book was such a fun, quick read and if you enjoyed her on Gilmore Girls, I'm convinced her and Lorelai are pretty much the same person. It was nice to learn how she got her start in the acting business as well as see some of her family dynamics growing up. In addition, the chapters she included about her experiences while filming Gilmore Girls and the reboot were a lot of fun. It's nice to know a lot of the characters are friends off-screen as well.

This book is written as if Graham was having a conversation face-to-face with the reader. In fact, I almost dare someone to try to read this book slowly because just like the fast talking Lorelai Gilmore, the chapters are paced just as quickly. I've now started watching Parenthood on Netflix because I need more Graham in my life. If you are a fan, then read this book!

RATING: 5 Paws