Tag / Lauren Graham

by admin

Prolific Authors – Two Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We begin today with the 40 authors I’ve read two times, one fewer than two years ago.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away in 2020, leaving behind a back catalog of fourteen novels and two non-fiction books.

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Ready Player Two – Ernest Cline

Ernest Cline

The man responsible for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two.

Bill Clinton

The former president has co-written two novels with James Patterson.

Michael Connelly

The creator of Harry Bosch makes his first appearance thanks to his Renée Ballard spin-off series.

Laura Dave

I read my second novel from her, The Night We Lost Him, earlier this year.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

David Fisher Continue reading →

by admin

Prolific Authors – 2 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we start things off with the now 41 authors I’ve read twice, an increase of six over two years ago.

Max Barry

An Australian author, I’ve enjoyed the two novels of his I’ve read, Jennifer Government and Company.

Laura Caldwell

I have no idea how I came across the work of this local author, but I must have enjoyed it enough to go back for seconds.  Unfortunately, she passed away in 2020.

Michael Chabon

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the most recent of the two works of his I’ve read.  I have another, Wonder Boys, waiting in the to read pile, so he rise up some day.

Fate Of The Union – Max Allan Collins with Matthew V. Clemens

Matthew V. Clemens

The co-author, with Max Allan Collins, of the final two chapters of the Reeder and Rogers trilogy.

Ernest Cline

The man responsible for both Ready Player One and Ready Player Two.

Bill Clinton

The former president has co-written two novels with James Patterson.

Felicia Day

The first author here that I’ve happened to meet in person.

Cameron Dokey

She makes the list based on two entries in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series.

Diane Duane

Living in Ireland, she is responsible for a Star Trek: The Next Generation book and a Spider-Man novel, of all things.

Warren Ellis

The comic writer, currently in exile after being called out for abusing women, makes the list thanks to two prose novels.

David Fisher Continue reading →

by admin

Book 25 (of 52) – Have I Told You This Already?

Have I Told You This Already? Stories I Don’t Want To Forget To Remember – Lauren Graham

Lauren Graham, star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, returns with Have I Told You This Already?, her third book of essays containing stories from her personal life and about aging in Hollywood.  Her stories cover the gamut, from her childhood and beginning years in New York, working at Barneys, to her pandemic puppy and the health issues he faced while moving back and forth from Los Angeles to Vancouver.

Graham has a breezy style that matches the comedy of the characters she has played over the years.  She provides an interesting insight into her career and how she got to where she is today.  I see she has another book of essays that I have not read along with a novel, so I’m sure she’ll be back in my life sooner rather than later.

 

by admin

2018: The Year In Books

Another year has come to an end and it is time to take a look back at the 22 books I read over the past year, 6 less than last year.  Of those 22, 7 were non-fiction and, of the 15 novels, only 1 was a TV show tie-in.  Only one of the books came out of my dwindling “to-read” drawer, and 12 were e-books.  I read over 7,000 pages, my lowest total since at least 2013.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 15 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Mamrie Hart
Dan Harris
Ginger Zee
Krysten Ritter
Karin Slaughter
Michelle West
Paul Ruditis
Michelle McNamara
David Ross
Don Yaeger
Araminta Hall
Amber Tamblyn
Laura Lippman
Lauren Graham
Drew Magary

There was not a single author that I read multiple titles from during 2018.

6 of the books I read were released this year, while 1 of them was released last century, exactly 60 years ago

Finally, the breakdown by month.  My vacation in September certainly helped pad its totals a tad bit.

Continue reading →

by admin

Book 19 (of 52) – Talking as Fast as I Can

Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls To Gilmore Girls (And Everything In Between) – Lauren Graham

With the Netflix revival of Gilmore Girls dropping on Thanksgiving in 2016, this memoir from series star Lauren Graham hit the streets the following week.  In it, she details some of her early life, her road to stardom, experiencing the hit that was Gilmore Girls, revisiting the series (and the character) 9 years later, and a smattering of Parenthood and its impacts on her personal life.

Graham has a breezy style that matches the comedy of the characters she has played over the years.  She provides an interesting look behind the scenes of one of my favorite shows and shares the same giddy anticipation at returning to Stars Hollow that viewers felt leading up to the release of the revival.

by jim

Post Mortem – Parenthood

cast-of-Parenthood-on-TV-NBC

After 6 seasons, only 2 of which went for a full 22 episodes, Parenthood drew to a close in January.  The second attempt to turn the hit 1989 film into a television show clicked with enough viewers to survive as a bubble show for its entire life.

Parenthood followed the lives of the extended Braverman family through good times and bad, from high school graduations and child births to cancer and, ultimately, the death of the family’s patriarch.  While the show was never one of my absolute favorites, it did manage to stick on the DVR over the years, despite numerous times where it piled up for weeks at a time.

Now that the show has drawn to a close, I will miss the weekly dose of Mae Whitman and Lauren Graham on my television.  Hopefully they turn up again real soon.

by admin

30 Day Picture Challenge Day 01 – A Picture Of Yourself + 10 Facts

10 Facts About Me:

  1. I am single
  2. I am an uncle
  3. I have been to 6 countries, and the picture above is from Switzerland
  4. I am listening to the Kevin Pollak Chat Show podcast with Lauren Graham as I am writing this
  5. I had a Wizard World Chicago panel report published on a comic news website and in an issue of Powers
  6. I just paid off my car a year and a half early
  7. I own PS3 games, but not a PS3
  8. I used to read comics
  9. I am a season ticket holder for both the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs
  10. I’ve had basically the same job for almost 14 years