The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge 📚
As much as I love the Texas heat in the summer, I can’t help but long for a crisp Autumn day where I can wiggle into my favorite worn sweater and curl up with a good book. Hence, my yearly re-watch of the cult classic TV show by Amy Sherman-Palladino, Gilmore Girls has officially commenced!
How Rory goes to private school, participates in various crazy Stars Hollow events, helps Lorelai at the Inn, dates, and manages to read a crazy amount, I’ll never know.
I recently stumbled upon a list of +500 books referenced across Gilmore Girls (and the revival!) compiled by Jules Buono of The Literary Lifestyle blog, and thought it would be fun to peruse and see how many I own and have read. (Don’t worry, I won’t make you scroll through the entire list). Let’s jump in!
Owned Books
📚 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
📚 Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
📚 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
📚 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
📚 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
📚 Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgeral
📚 The Awakening by Kate Chopin
📚 The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
📚 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
📚 The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
📚 The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
📚 The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkie
📚 The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath
📚 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
📚 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
📚 The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
📚 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Read Books
✔️ A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
✔️ Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
✔️ Hamlet by William Shakespeare
✔️ Harrold & the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
✔️ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
✔️ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
✔️ Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
✔️ How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
✔️ Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
✔️ Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
✔️ Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
✔️ Lolita by Vladimir Naboko
✔️ Macbeth by William Shakespeare
✔️ Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers and Mary Shepard
✔️ Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
✔️ Night by Elie Wiesel
✔️ Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
✔️ Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
✔️ Stuart Little by E.B. White
✔️ The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
✔️ The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
✔️ The Iliad by Homer
✔️ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
✔️ The Odyssey by Homer
✔️ The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
✔️ The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
✔️ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
✔️ The Princess Bride by William Goldman
✔️ The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
✔️ The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
✔️ The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
✔️ To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Final Count: 17 owned books & 32 read books
In all honesty, I don’t in any way plan on referring to this list again since I mostly read fantasy, romance, mythology, and fairytale retellings, but it’s fun to compare and contrast my taste to Rory’s!
Thanks so much to Jules Buono for putting in the work for gathering this volume for Gilmore Girls fans. Be sure to follow her blog for more on The Rory Gilmore Book Club, and her Instagram account @TheRoryGilmoreBookClub if you’re thinking of tackling this infamous list!
