Friday Free For All: Rory Gilmore's Reading List

 

 Friday Free For All: Rory Gilmore's Reading List

How Many I've Read and My Thoughts

Hello lovelies! Fancy seeing you here for another week. I recently started watching Gilmore Girls for the first time, and needless to say, I am OBSESSED! Rory and her reading habits have totally stolen my heart. Dedicated fans have kept track of every book she's read throughout the show. In this blog, I'll get into the ones I've read, my thoughts on the list, and general thoughts on reading lists like this one. 

I'm sure we are all shocked to know I haven't read all that many books from the list. I was a newborn when the show started, and her reading taste is mainly before that. This is a judgment-free zone. If you want to check out the list and see how we compare, you can check it out here. 

I shall list out the ones I've read and some very brief thoughts

• 1984 by George Orwell (a must-read for everyone, especially in the current world situation)
• Candide by Voltaire (I was desperately waiting for this one to be over. Candide (the character) pissed me off at various moments)
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (another must-read, given the censorship currently occurring)
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (I actually enjoyed this one; we had to write poems inspired by the story for my English class in high school)
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (my absolute favorite classic. What can I say, I like reading about rich people making poor decisions)
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (this one was so graphic but also so important for its time)
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (I don't think I could've hated this book more. It grossed me out. The movie is worse)
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (I actually read this one at the request of my partner, while not my vibe, it was inspiring)
• A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (we acted this one out in English class, I enjoyed it, but I had way too many parts to focus on any parts of the story that weren't mine)
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (another favorite classic of mine, it has truly stuck with me)
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (you'll be shocked to know I've read this one. It totally didn't inspire the name for my bookish persona at all...)
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (an iconic book that made my childhood. The movie is also adorable. 
• Eloise at the Plaza by Kay Thompson (Eloise is an icon that I aspire to be)
• Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol (my stepdad loved this series and passed on the excitement to me. While not my favorite children's mystery series, it is nice)
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett (I have to question who hasn't read this story, and the million adaptations of it)
• Horton Hears A Who! by Dr. Seuss (I feel like I recall enjoying the movie for this one. I read every Seuss book I had access to a million times as a kid. Unfortunately, the author isn't a great person)
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss (a Christmas classic my family reads (and watches) almost every December)
• Nancy Drew and the Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene (this was the mystery series my mother loved a lot. I read a lot of them as she had the whole collection)
• Stuart Little by E.B. White (the only children's story on her list I didn't love. I think I thought it was lame as a kid)
• Night by Elie Wiesel (I cannot convey enough how much this one made me sob. It's real and horrifying, and while set in the past, is starting to look like our future)
• Beowulf (I read this, but don't remember it at all)
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare (one of many of his plays I read)
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare (a classic for a reason)
• The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare (it was absolute chaos trying to read this aloud in class)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (my favorite of his plays)
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (we all know it, only some love it)

For almost all of these being notably older than me and not being a big classics fan, I feel I did quite well. 26 out of... well... many... I'm proud of myself. I also saw a few on my TBR, such as A Picture of Dorian Grey, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Middlesex. I don't think I'll be making a challenge of reading the whole list, but I hope to use it as inspiration.

Obviously, my main "issue" with the list is that there are none of the modern books I've read and loved. That is due to the show ending in 2007. I'd be very curious to see what books were on here if Rory were reading in 2025. I have to admire that the list is shockingly varied. Every genre is represented, and many of the books that are notable to the zeitgeist at the time are on the list. 

Most of the books on this list (apart from the children's books) were read as part of my school education. I'm actually pretty pleased by this because it shows that my education was making us read important books. A lot of these stories gave me perspectives about the world I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. While there were some I didn't love, they were still worth reading to expand my horizons. 

Lists like this are a blessing and a curse. They can introduce you to new stories and remind you of old favorites. That said, they can also literally shame, or feel like shame, people for not reading the books on the list. This list has 399 books on it. I've read 6% of that. I've barely scratched the surface. While I don't necessarily feel this in this case, there are a lot of lists that feel like they are mocking you for not having the elite reading from reading every book on the list (looking at you, Goodreads). So it really depends on the list on whether I feel animosity for it. Overall, this was a fun list, and I hope to check back in with it in a few years to see if I've read anything else on it.