2025 Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge (With Free PDF)

What is the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge?

The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge is a challenge to read the hundreds of books referenced on the television show Gilmore Girls.

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Note that you can upgrade on Substack for even more reading challenge resources, such as this Rory Gilmore reading challenge bookshelf coloring page PDF, which is part of a comprehensive printable journal for our challenge.

July: A Short Book

Since it’s summer, let’s relax and read something short and sweet. So many short books (under 250 pages) were referenced on Gilmore Girls, including many plays and children’s books.  Here are 10 that I enjoyed.

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
2. Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
3. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
4. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
5. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
6. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
7. Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
8. Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
9. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
10. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

I’m reading A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.

August: A Book From Season 1 of Gilmore Girls

As we prepare to rewatch Gilmore Girls this fall, let’s read books from season 1 of Gilmore Girls. Here are 10 notable titles, all of which I read and enjoyed.

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
3. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
5. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
6. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
7. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
8. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
9. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
10. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

I’m leaning towards Peyton Place by Grace Metalious.

September: A Banned Book

To celebrate Banned Books Month, let’s read one! I’m listing 12 recommendations for this month, which come directly from Rory’s and Paris’s banned books poster.

1. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
5. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
6. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
7. Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
8. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
9. Native Son by Richard Wright
10. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
12. Ulysses by James Joyce

I’m leaning towards Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

Reading Tip: The American Library Association retains lists of the most commonly banned books if you want more options.

October: 5-Star Reads

I want this challenge to help you both read more books from Gilmore Girls and find amazing books that impact your life. So, let’s focus on books often deemed 5 out of 5 stars. Below are 10 books I rated 5 stars. You can also pick a book you anticipate will be a 5-star read.

1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
3. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
4. Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
5. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
6. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
7. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
8. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I’m leaning towards reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde or Dracula by Bram Stoker.

November: A Non-Fiction Book

Since November is widely considered “Non-Fiction November” in the literary world, this is an ideal time to focus on non-fiction in our challenge. Here are 10 options I enjoyed.

1. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
3. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
4. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
5. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
6. Night by Elie Wiesel
7. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
8. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
9. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
10. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

I’m leaning towards reading Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, or Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.

December: A Book on Your To Be Read (TBR) List

For the last month of this year’s challenge, let’s close it out by reading something still on your TBR list so you feel especially accomplished when you complete it. 

Of course, this is a very personal challenge, but below are 10 recommendations I enjoyed on the themes of Christmas, popular picks, and must-reads.

1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
7. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
9. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I set a reading goal to finish all of Jane Austen’s books in 2025, so I will start there if any are still on my TBR list. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut has also been on my list for years!

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