Tag: Lauren Graham

Have I Told You This Already?: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember by Lauren Graham: The Actress-Essayist Does It Again

Have I Told You This Already?Have I Told You This Already?:
Stories I Don’t Want to
Forget to Remember

by Lauren Graham

DETAILS: 
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: November 15, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 186 pg.
Read Date: December 12, 2022 
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It’s almost as if I’m sending mixed messages, like valuing privacy whilst also being the author of a second book of personal essays.

What’s Have I Told You This Already? About?

This is a collection of essays—mostly personal—about Graham’s career (or things surrounding it) during various stages, some thoughts on filming a TV show and directing, and there’s one essay that’s devoted to just being funny.

She reflects on aging, friendship, making marmalade, and the ridiculous things that women in Hollywood have to do to maintain certain standards of appearance. She opens the book talking about memory and story-telling—where accuracy is necessary and where details can fudged because it makes a story better, and ends up with a tribute to New York City.

Whoops

I should’ve been patient and waited for the audiobook to become available. There’s nothing wrong with reading the paper version of this book—it’s perfectly charming and Graham’s voice shone through.

But.

Hearing it in her actual voice (not just what I assume it would sound like)—a few passages in particular—would be so much better. I listened to her previous book of essays (and the graduation speech) and I think this would’ve been more entertaining in audio format.

So, what did I think about Have I Told You This Already??

He said this as if his memory of the matter was not at all disturbed by something as inconsequential as fact. For years, my father told the same story about how a momentous occasion felt to him; the facts had faded over time, maybe because they weren’t the most relevant part of the day. Sometimes we polish an experience to make facts line up more closely with feelings or exaggerate moments to make a better dinner party tale. And sometimes, mercifully, details become blurry over time, maybe because the sharp reality is too painful to carry.

This was a fast and breezy read. Graham’s really skilled as a writer and her prose sings. She’s funny as you want her to be. The closing paragraph of the second essay is a work of comedic art, a string of puns that I couldn’t believe she was able to keep going as long as she is. I’m never going to quote any part of it—but I’m telling you, it was great.

There were a couple of chapters that didn’t do much for me—the chapter on various health retreats or the chapter on NYC as a friend (although I thought it was some of her strongest writing). And a couple that I was surprised I enjoyed as much as I did—like the chapter about her relationship with the department store, Barney’s. The chapter where she uses Nora Ephron’s essay, “I Feel Bad About My Neck,” to talk about aging in the Entertainment industry, was particularly effective.

Even the essays that underwhelmed me were well written, and I could see what she was trying to do—they just didn’t connect with me–but I found something to grin about or chuckle at in them. The essays that did click with me made me laugh (sometimes a lot). The rest fell somewhere between—but they were all funny (when intended to be), and I’m glad I read them all.

At the same time, I need to stress that this is not all comedy. There are some real emotions and some thinking behind some of these essays—and it’ll provoke some, too. I think in the end you get more comedy than anything else, but it wouldn’t take much for the balance to go the other way.

She has a real gift for a killer last line, too. Openings are important, but with essays of this length (especially if you’re going for comedic), a great last line is essential, and Graham knows what she’s doing there.

In the end, this was a very pleasant and engaging read that makes me really want to see more from her (which goes for pretty much everything she’s written). When her novel was published, I picked it up because I was curious about what this actress could do—I’ve picked up the 3 works since because I like the way she writes. This collection works as evidence that we should maybe think of Graham as a writer who can act.

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Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

Talking as Fast as I CanTalking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between

by Lauren Graham
Hardcover, 205 pg.
Ballantine Books, 2016

Read: December 12 – 31, 2016

This book isn’t a proper autobiography or anything (doesn’t claim to be, either); it’s stories, memories, thoughts and humorous bits that Lauren Graham shares about her life and career.  She uses the revival of Gilmore Girls as an excuse to look back on her both to this point, as her career is marked by looking back this year. I haven’t seen the new Gilmore episodes (still working my way through the series with my kids), so I could’ve read the material discussing that a little closer — although I did think the tributes to Edward Herrmann fitting and touching.

The book covers pretty much what you’d expect from an actor’s memoirs — discussion of her childhood, paying her acting dues, education, her big break and so on. All told with wit and charm. Graham’s personality shines forth and really draws you in. She spends a good amount of time talking about the original run of Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, and her novel. I was glad to see that she did that — so many actors/celebrities don’t give that much time or space to the things that made someone want to read their books in the first place.

A few of the highlights of this book are from the parts that aren’t de rigueur. There’s a section on eating and health tips, that made me laugh out loud — Graham learned the same lesson Jim Gaffigan and Weird Al did — food jokes work 99.6% of the time. There’s some really good writing advice that Graham was given by a friend that helped her to finish this book — and seems like the kind of thing that could help many authors. There’s some recurring jokes about Ellen DeGeneres and the cast of Today. I don’t want to suggest those are all the highlights, but they’re are good sample. 

Most of the book feels like Graham set her phone to “Voice to Text” and cut loose. But there’s no way that it would’ve come out as good if that’s what she did — that kind of feel is the result of a lot of hard work and planning. It all paid off, this was one of the more enjoyable books to read that I’ve tackled recently — don’t get me wrong, the content was good, too — but the writing was as smooth as silk. Unlike that sentence. Between this and her novel, it’s clear that Graham’s really quite a writer, I hope to see more from her.

This was a fast, breezy read — a lot of fun with plenty of heart. Pretty much everything you want from/would expect from Graham. A sure fan pleaser.

—–

3.5 Stars

Dusted Off: Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

Someday, Someday, MaybeSomeday, Someday, Maybe

by Lauren Graham
Hardcover, 344 pg.
Ballantine Books, 2013

Lauren Graham’s as entertaining a writer as she is an actress. Which makes her too talented for any one person to be. Her protagonist, Franny, is a struggling actress trying to get her break in New York in the mid-90s. And it’s nearly impossible to not see Graham as Franny — it’s beyond impossible to not hear Graham in the narration (frequently) and in the dialogue (always).

That’s not a complaint, it’s an observation.

This is fun, heart-warming, and laugh-inducing. A breezy read that’s well worth the time.

Heck, the last paragraph said by Franny’s agent about being faster, funnier and louder is alone worth reading the book.

—–

3.5 Stars

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