Monday, November 17, 2014

Rory Gilmore Reading List



It's been awhile since I've shared what I've been reading. While I have been reading, it's not been quite at my normal pace. Recently I've just been reaching for the knitting needles over a book more often than not. But I still want to talk about books because I still love them...haha. So today I thought I'd do something a little different. Here goes!

I have a list of 29 goals that I'd like to complete before I turn 30. (I'm about half way through these, maybe one time I'll share them in this space to keep me motivated!) One of these goals is to read 100 of the books on Rory Gilmore's Reading List. I grew up inspired by the books Rory was reading and talking about. As a teenager I began carrying my books around with confidence almost everywhere I went, in large part thanks to Rory. (Also, I'm determined at some point to get my hands on that Reading is Sexy T-shirt she wears in Season 4 or 5...or was it 6?). 

There are 339 books on this list so I've got a lot to choose from. Today I thought I would share which of the books I've already read and which ones I'm hoping to read next. I know this is a pretty long list, and there are probably not a lot of people who are that interested in both Gilmore Girls and reading, so feel free to skip out on this post. I promise I won't be offended.

In the case that you are also a Gilmore-Bookworm, I've put a star next to the books that in my mind are absolute must reads. Really I'd recommend any of the following but those are the best of the best on this list, if you will. (PS: Since I know you must be by now curious, you can find out how many you've read here)

So, here's what I've read so far:

*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Caroll)
Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
*Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
*Bel Canto (Ann Patchett)
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
Beowulf
Brick Lane (Monica Ali)
The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
The Catcher in the Rye (JD Sallinger)
Charlottes' Web (EB White)
A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Mark Haddon)
The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
The Fellowship of the Ring (JRR Tolkien)
*Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
*Franny and Zooey (JD Sallinger)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
*The Great Gatsby (F Scott Fitzgerald)
Hamlet (Shakespeare)
*Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone (JK Rowling)
*Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (JK Rowling)
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Dr Seuss)
Howl & Other Poems (Alan Ginsberg)
*Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)
*The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseni)
*Letters to a Young Poet (Rilke)
Life of Pi (Yan Martel)
Little Women (Lousia May Alcott)
Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
The Lottery (Shirley Jackson)
Macbeth (Shakespeare)
My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picolt)
Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
Othello (Shakespeare)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky) 
The Polysyllabic Spree (Nick Hornby)
*Pride and Predjudice (Jane Austen)
Rapunzel
The Raven (Edgar Allan Poe)
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Kate Douglas Wiggin)
The Return of the King (JRR Tolkien)
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
*A Room with a View (EM Forster)
The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)
Shakespeare's Sonnets 
Sonnets of the Portugese (Elizabeth Barret Browning)
Stuart Little (EB White)
Tender is the Night (F Scott Fitzgerald)
*The Time Travellers Wife (Audrey Niffeneger)
*To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

So...after all that...what's next for me? I'm thinking Great Expectations (Charles Dickens), A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith), High Fidelity (Nick Hornby) &  Wicked (Gregory Maguire). Of course, I've got a ways to go before I reach 100, but I've still got some time.

(And of course, I'm just dying to know- how many have you read? And which were your favorites?)

5 comments:

  1. I love this post! Netflix just released all seasons of Gilmore Girls to stream, and I am on season 6 right now. Charlotte's Web is one of my all time favorites, as well as Huck Finn or any Twain (I'm from southern Louisiana). I just finished Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, so I am excited to start Wicked soon and others by Gregory Maguire. I also recently purchased, A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, which I don't think is on the list, but it looks like quite the drama!

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    1. that's so awesome Gilmore Girls is finally on Netflix! (now if only Netflix in Germany would catch up...) I haven't actually read any Twain- embarrassing but true. I will have to get on that soon! I think A Tale of Two Cities is actually on the list, though I could be wrong. If not, then it must be the only Dickens not included and totally deserves to be :)

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  2. I just started watching TGG, too, and am loving the show. Being a newbie, I didn't even know that Rory had such a list and I just may have to steal it for myself! Looking forward to hearing your progress.

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  3. I scored 37 - it's a start I guess :) You remind me that I really need to watch Gilmore Girls again! I actually had that Reading is Sexy shirt once!

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    1. 37 is a great start for sure. I have to admit that quite a few of these books were required reading for us back in school so I got a head start for sure!

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