Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham

Pages: 224

Publisher: Virago

Release Date: 6th December 2016
Edition: UK hardcover, review copy/audiobook

Other Titles by this Author: Someday, Someday, Maybe

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.

I got asked to be a part of the blog tour for Talking as Fast as I Can and share my favourite Lorelai moment and as I’m a huge Gilmore Girls fan, I jumped at the chance to hear from Lorelai herself.

This book was on embargo in the UK so I couldn’t get a copy in time for the blog tour, but I was so excited for it that I nabbed the audiobook which came out a few weeks early. It was the perfect way to read this. Hearing Lauren read her story, talking very fast of course, was completely perfect. It felt like sitting down with Lorelai and having a chat - I completely loved it. Once the book arrived, I did switch between to make sure I got to see all of the photos included. You don’t want to miss out on those!

Lauren talks about her road to acting, her experiences in Hollywood and New York, filming the original Gilmore Girls, finally falling in love, Parenthood and all the way back to Gilmore Girls again. She’s honest and funny and 100% authentic - I just liked her more and more with every page. I especially loved getting an insider’s glimpse into one of my very favourite shows. I’m also now really keen to watch Parenthood! It really sounds great.

I’m sure it’s the same with lots of readers of this book that my favourite parts were about Gilmore Girls, but “What It Was Like: Part Two” was what really got me. Reading from her diary, sharing the process and stories from set was lovely and the excitement I felt for the Revival hit all over again. But it was Lauren’s repeated mentions of the cliffhanger at the end of A Year in the Life that had me eagerly listening while working (whoops) hoping for some news. And though she obviously didn’t say anything concrete, the last words of this book have filled me with hope - maybe we still haven’t seen the last of the Gilmores.

Talking as Fast as I Can has left me eager to re-watch Gilmore Girls from scratch, buzzing with the meaning behind that cliffhanger and a determination to get my hands on Lauren’s novel.

Thanks to Virago for the review copy.

Sophie