Stars Hollow sweetheart Rory Gilmore is the epitome of book worm. Never seen without a paperback in hand, her quiet intelligence won the hearts of many when Gilmore Girls first aired 20 (!!) years ago. She left teenagers across the country idolising her quirky sense of humour and lusting after her never-ending rotation of classic novels.
A few years ago, Australian writer Patrick Lenton compiled the ultimate reading list, including every book that was referenced in the Gilmore Girls series. He hoped to read each one himself, as his goal has inspired many to do the same!
Here is the full list of 339 books:
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
- An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
- The Art of Fiction by Henry James
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Atonement by Ian McEwan
- Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- Babe by Dick King Smith
- Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
- Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
- Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
- The Bhagavad Gita
- The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
- Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
- A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Brick Lane by Monica Ali
- Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
- Candide by Voltaire
- The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
- Carrie by Stephen King
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
- The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
- Christine by Stephen King
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
- The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty
- A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
- Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
- The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton
- Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- Cujo by Stephen King
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
- David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown
- Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
- Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
- Deenie by Judy Blume
- The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
- The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
- The Divine Comedy by Dante
- The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
- Don Quixote by Cervantes
- Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
- Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
- Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
- Eloise by Kay Thompson
- Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
- Emma by Jane Austen
- Empire Falls by Richard Russo
- Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
- Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
- Ethics by Spinoza
- Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
- Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
- Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
- Extravagance by Gary Krist
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
- The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
- Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
- The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
- Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
- Fletch by Gregory McDonald
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
- Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
- Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
- Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
- George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
- Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
- Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
- The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
- The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo
- The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Grabowsky
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
- The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
- The Graduate by Charles Webb
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- The Group by Mary McCarthy
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
- Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
- Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
- Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
- Henry V by William Shakespeare
- High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
- The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
- Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
- The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
- House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
- The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
- How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
- How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland
- Howl by Allen Ginsberg
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
- The Iliad by Homer
- I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
- Inferno by Dante
- Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
- Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
- It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
- Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
- The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
- Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
- The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
- Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
- Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
- The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
- Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
- Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
- The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
- The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- The Love Story by Erich Segal
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- The Manticore by Robertson Davies
- Marathon Man by William Goldman
- The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
- Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
- Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
- Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
- The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
- Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
- The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
- Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
- Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
- A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
- Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
- A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
- Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
- My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
- My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
- My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
- Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
- The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
- Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
- New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
- The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
- The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
- Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
- Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Old School by Tobias Wolff
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
- Oracle Night by Paul Auster
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- Othello by Shakespeare
- Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
- The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
- Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
- A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
- The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
- Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
- Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
- The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
- The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
- The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
- The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- Property by Valerie Martin
- Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
- Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
- Quattrocento by James Mckean
- A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
- Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
- The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
- The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
- Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
- Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
- The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
- R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
- Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
- Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
- Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
- A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
- A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
- Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
- The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
- Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
- Sanctuary by William Faulkner
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
- Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
- The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
- The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
- The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
- Selected Hotels of Europe
- Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- A Separate Peace by John Knowles
- Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
- Sexus by Henry Miller
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- Shane by Jack Shaefer
- The Shining by Stephen King
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
- Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- Small Island by Andrea Levy
- Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
- Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
- Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
- The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
- Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
- The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
- Songbook by Nick Hornby
- The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
- Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
- The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
- Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
- The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee William
- Stuart Little by E. B. White
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
- Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
- Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
- Time and Again by Jack Finney
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- The Trial by Franz Kafka
- The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
- Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Unless by Carol Shields
- Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
- The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
- Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
- Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
- The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
- Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
- What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
- What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
- When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
- Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
- Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
- The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
- The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
