Review // Talking As Fast As I Can - Lauren Graham

Published - 29th November 2016
Publisher - Ballantyne Books
Format - Audiobook
Synopsis - In her first work of nonfiction, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood recounts her experiences on Gilmore Girls - the first and second times - and shares stories about life, love, and working in Hollywood. This collection of essays is written in the intimate, hilarious, and down-to-earth voice that made her novel, Someday, Someday, Maybe, a New York Times best seller.
"This book contains some stories from my life: the awkward growing up years, the confusing dating years, the fulfilling working years, and what it was like to be asked to play one of my favorite characters again. You probably think I'm talking about my incredible achievement as Dolly in Hello, Dolly! as a Langley High School junior, a performance my dad called 'you're so much taller than the other kids.' But no! I'm talking about Lorelai Gilmore, who, back in 2008, I wasn't sure I'd ever see again. Also included: tales of living on a houseboat, meeting guys at awards shows, and that time I was asked to be a butt model. A hint: all three made me seasick." (Lauren Graham)

This came up on my facebook newsfeed on average, 4085725 times a day. I had a handful of messages & tags from friends who knew I would want to know about it. I was in a bit of a quandry. I don't read biographies/autobiographies as a general rule of thumb. Not because I don't enjoy them, but because I'm very aware that the characters I love are not the same people as those who portray them and I'm always ruined that the 'illusion' will be ruined. In my mind i've always imagined that Lauren Graham was Lorelai Gilmore. The complete and honest embodiment. However, could I really miss out on more Gilmore Girls? Well, no. Of course not. So when umming and ahhing over whether to read or listen, I had to jump at the chance to hear Lauren tell her Lorelai story herself. I'd been waiting for a long time to activate that Audible free trial, and now I had the perfect opportunity.

As you would expect, the audiobook was incredibly fast paced! I listened to the entire thing in just 1 day, with 8 hours sitting at my desk at work (sorry, boss!). Naturally, I loved hearing about all of the Gilmore Girl stories. My particular favourite story was hearing Lauren describe her first meeting with Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore, her on-screen daughter). Of course, a lot of what you're listening to is common knowledge, but hearing it with Lauren's voice made it all the more interesting. I learned early on that choosing the audiobook was 100% the right decision. I'll admit, I was disappointed at the lack of Gilmore Girls in the book though. The name of the book says 'from Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls', so I obviously got the wrong end of the stick. The majority of the book was what happened in between, whereas i'd somehow convinced myself it would be all of the GG goodness tucked away inside. In saying that though, it was hilariously funny and I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm sat here giggling at the reminder of Lauren's time on America's Next Top Model...

I'm going to end this one soon, as i'm not sure how ethical it even is to "review" somebody's real life story, but I just wanted to take a minute to appreciate Lauren's comments on the late actress, and fierce woman, Carrie Fisher. It was a beautiful moment and of course since the release of this book, Carrie has sadly passed away. I think we can all agree with Lauren's comments. Carrie was a strong and inspiring woman and I myself looked up to her as a Star Wars fan from childhood. I only hope that young girls growing up can find their own Carrie Fisher to be inspired by.

Rest in peace, Carrie.