A few months ago—in my very early days of Substack—I reached out to my SSR Instagram community to see what kind of content they’d be interested in seeing here. Unsurprisingly, most of those requests were book-centric. As the person in any room who can pretty much be counted on to be ready to chat about my recent reads at any given moment, I certainly had no complaints about that.
What was slightly more surprising was just how present Gilmore Girls was in that early batch of requests. (Don’t get me wrong: it’s Gilmore Girls 4ever over here, but I didn’t realize how much people might want to see me write about it.) In May, I workshopped Rory’s Chilton commencement speech, and I’ve been toying with today’s subject for a long time. Finally, I feel ready to tackle it!
While there’s been discourse in recent years about Rory’s lack of nuance and real characterization, I think we can all agree on one thing: if you were a teen book lover in the ‘00s, it was validating and meaningful to see a character on TV whose personality was based so much on her love of reading. As adults, we can be critical of her as a heroine and question the real-world likelihood of Rory’s accomplishments, but we can’t question her reading prowess. When I was a teenager, meeting Rory through the show made me feel seen, and gave me hope that my own passion for books would a.) help pave the way for a successful future and b.) not totally mess up my chances of having a cool boyfriend and a great sense of humor. Plus, I wanted to read like she did!
Much has been made of Rory’s reading list. Epic Reads breaks down all 408 of the titles on that list. My friend Jules runs the Rory Gilmore Book Club, a series of reading challenges guided by that very list.
Obviously, Rory’s reading is a thing. Some would say it’s her whole thing.
At first, I was intimidated by the prospect of assembling a list of book recommendations for a Rory Gilmore who exists in 2024. I find making recommendations stressful to begin with (so much pressure to deliver! so much riding on my reputation as a book gal!), and now we’re talking about a fictional character who has read circles around just about everyone she knows? That’s a tall order.
But we’re going for it.
First, here are the criteria I considered and was looking for when pulling these suggestions together:
Coming of age narratives: Gilmore Girls is nothing if not a coming of age story for Rory—and maybe even her mom. With this in mind, it was impossible not to prioritize novels with a similar focus.
Mother/daughter relationships: You can’t have Rory without Lorelei. Where one leads, the other follows. I wanted to include some great mother/daughter tales for her contemporary consumption.
A pop culture connection: One of the coolest things about the Gilmore Girls as a duo is their love for music, movies, television shows, fashion, and anything quirky. Showrunner Amy Sherman Palladino is, of course, famous for the nonstop pop culture references she included in her scripts.
Fresh dialogue: While we’re talking about those scripts, I bet you’ve heard some of the lore about how word-perfect the actors on Gilmore Girls were expected to be in their performances. Dialogue was key to the development of these characters, so I thought a lot about that while curating these recommendations.
Literary fiction vibe: When I think about Rory, I think about the classics. She read a lot of them. Probably more than most (if not all) teens. She doesn’t need any help tracking down those throwbacks, but I thought I could be of some assistance identifying modern literary fiction that shares a similar intelligent sensibility.
Feminism: Gilmores are all about girl power! I wonder what Lorelei and Rory would think about the way 2024 folks engage with feminism.
Now that we have that context out of the way, let’s jump in with the enthusiasm of Taylor at a town hall meeting. Here are my 2024 book recommendations for Rory Gilmore:
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: I don’t think we ever saw one of the Gilmores playing a computer or video game, but per my note above about pop culture, I immediately thought of Gabrielle Zevin’s bestseller for Rory because it feels like such a celebration of the cultural zeitgeist. Plus, the writing is exceptional—and the friendship at the center of the book is worthy of a Lane/Rory book club.
2. Come and Get It by Kiley Reid: Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue! I can totally see Rory and Lorelei reading so many of the brilliant lines of this book aloud to each other. In other news, I think the content of Come and Get It could be an interesting antidote to some of the white and class privilege for which she’s been criticized since the show went off the air.
3. Luster by Raven Leilani: I’m pretty sure Rory would sit down and read this beautiful little book in a single afternoon. It checks the literary and coming of age boxes from my list and would meet Rory exactly where she is in her Yale years.
4. Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler: All these years after our 2000 introduction to the people of Stars Hollow, Chilton, and beyond, we’re all still arguing about Team Dean, Team Jess, or Team Logan. I tend to take the controversial latter side (perhaps a topic for another post), but I don’t think it would be an overstatement to suggest that all of these relationships have their toxic elements. One of the things I liked most about Adelaide is the way it explores a toxic relationship with more nuance and subtlety than we’re accustomed to, and I think it could be a real eye-opener for her. And I think she’d love the London setting!
Currently Reading: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I’m still chugging along with this meaty mystery—and enjoying every minute of it. Did you see that it was nominated for the 2024 Fallon Summer Book Club? I have mixed feelings about celebrity book clubs, but I would love to see this book get the buzz it deserves (and to see Liz—who I worked with during my MFA—chat with Jimmy Fallon on-air!). You can place your vote HERE.
5. On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good by Elise Loehnen: On Our Best Behavior would give Rory and Lorelei—and maybe even Emily and Paris and Lane—lots to discuss. As an aspiring journalist, Rory would have a lot of respect for the work that went into this work of non-fiction, and I bet she’d emerge from devouring it ready to launch a feminist campaign or to put some dudes in their places.
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