Book Review- Lauren Graham's Have I Told You This Already : Stories I Don't Want to Forget to Remember

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group, and Libro FM for both physical and audio arcs of Lauren Graham’s Have I Told You This Already: Stories I Don’t Want to Forget to Remember. I ended up listening to the audio version narrated by Graham.

In her second essay collection, actress and writer Lauren Graham shares more tidbits from her life, including her current television gig on The Mighty Ducks, her break-up with partner Peter Kraus, and how she handled the pandemic. Graham’s memoir is both humorous and reflective, a treat for fans, but truly a book that can be widely enjoyed, even by those unfamiliar with her work.

To me, autumn means Gilmore Girls and as we don’t have any new episodes in the works, a book from Lauren Graham is the next best thing. Graham lightly addresses the desire for more Gilmore Girls, but as she really doesn’t have more info on the subject, she doesn’t linger in Stars Hollow. Graham is expansive in her topics. I enjoyed her take on the importance of making friends both older and younger that oneself as a way to expand horizons. Graham has a very lovely friendship with Mae Whitman, who played Graham’s daughter on the television show Parenthood. Graham offers interesting insight regarding her experiences behind-the-camera, with both directing a television episode and pitching a writing project.The sweetest story involves Graham getting a new dog during the pandemic, while on location in Canada. I always love a good pet/human adoption story.

Have I Told You This Already is a mostly feel-good collection of essays that made me happy during this hectic holiday season.

Book Review- Lauren Graham's Someday, Someday, Maybe

I'm a huge fan of actress Lauren Graham. When I saw that she was making her writing debut, I was onboard to read her first novel. 

Someday, Someday, Maybe is the story of Franny Banks, an aspiring actress in her late twenties, who is chasing her dreams in New York City. Franny is worried about failure, specifically leading a failed life if her dreams don't work out. She has given herself a deadline to "make it" and if it doesn't work out, she will go with Plan B, getting her teaching credentials and marrying her college sweetheart. This deadline is quickly approaching and Franny's life enters a period of upheaval both professionally and romantically. She beings to learn some difficult life lessons.

Graham is a good writer and her story, although predictable, was mostly enjoyable. Franny is a likable and relatable protagonist. I really liked that the story was set in the 1990's, giving me a bit of nostalgia for a time when we didn't have Smart Phones and human interaction was so different. Franny uses a lot of pay phones in the story and she keeps her schedule in a Filofax. It made me miss my Doc Martens. If you're an actor or struggling to be one, the book is filled with theatre/film references and industry tidbits that are amusing. 

There was one part of the story that really, really bothered me. Franny and her classmate are assigned a scene from a play for their acting class and the play is discussed rather extensively. Graham named the play The Blue Cabin, but as I was reading the description of this fictional play, I realized that Graham was describing of one of my favorite plays, Cindy Lou Johnson's Brilliant Traces. Maybe she couldn't get permission to use Brilliant Traces as the real play that her character's were assigned, but in that situation, I don't know why she wouldn't have made up something completely original. There were too many similarities and this one part of the story got under my skin. 

Overall, Someday, Someday, Maybe is an okay debut, but I definitely prefer Graham as an actress, rather than a writer. If she writes a second book, I'm not sure if I would buy it.