Get the complete Rory Gilmore reading list from Season One of Gilmore Girls, curated by someone who has personally tracked them over several years and rewatched the show on a loop, as I’ve hosted the Rory Gilmore reading challenge since 2020 and a Gilmore Girls rewatch podcast. My list is bigger, better, and more accurate than any others you’ll find.
You’ll also learn exactly which episode you can find them in and where to start reading the books on Gilmore Girls. Life’s short. Read fast!
Why the Books on Season One of Gilmore Girls Matter
The books on Season One of Gilmore Girls set the stage:
- Rory is a classic bookworm, an aspiring journalist, and an academic with her nose perpetually in a book.
- Dean is her handsome, young love interest who first notices her reading.
- Lorelai is her fast-talking mother, whose sense of humor involves referencing these books in everyday banter.
- Max Medina is her demanding, yet inspiring, English teacher.
- Richard is her intellectually driven grandfather, whose smarts have made him an insurance tycoon.
Indeed, Stars Hollow is filled with literature lovers!
The Definitive Rory Gilmore Reading List: Season One
I have personally verified ninety-one books on the Rory Gilmore reading list for season one by episode.
This list includes instances where a title was referenced, but it wasn’t clarified whether it was to the book or the movie adaptation. I assume the reference was to the book unless the movie was specified. It also includes background books I identified at the characters’ homes, etc.
This means that this list is different than others out there. So, are those other lists wrong? Quite simply, yes. I confirmed these books myself based on the above parameters.
Additionally, several authors were referenced during the first season of Gilmore Girls. I share more details like this on Substack, including exactly where all of these books are referenced in each episode.
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: episode 1
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: episodes 2, 19
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: episodes 2, 16
- Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson: episode 21
- A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf: episode 5
- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams: episodes 9, 14
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: episode 2
- Audubon by John James: episode 7
- Bambi by Felix Salten: episode 16
- Carrie by Stephen King: episode 13
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White: episode 3
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens: episode 2
- Dynasty of Death by Taylor Caldwell: episode 13
- Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce: episode 5
- Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers: episode 6
- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg: episode 9
- Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet: episode 18
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: episodes 9, 16
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: episode 2
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare: episodes 5, 18
- Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm: episode 19
- Happy Days, Newspaper Days, and Heathen Days by H.L. Mencken: episode 3
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling: episode 2
- Henry VIII by William Shakespeare: episodes 5, 18
- Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss: episode 15
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas: episodes 13, 15
- Into What Far Harbor? by Allen Drury: episode 12
- Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: episode 4
- Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens: episode 2
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare: episode 13
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: episode 1
- Man O’ War by William Shatner: episode 19
- A Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L. Mencken: episode 3
- Midnight Express by Billy Hayes: episode 9
- Mistress of Mellyn by Victor Holt: episode 1
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville: episode 1
- Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford: episode 1
- Nancy Drew and The Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene: episode 17
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: episode 1
- Out of Africa by Isak Denison: episode 20
- Pentagon by Allen Drury: episode 11
- Peyton Place by Metalious Grace: episode 3
- Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi: episode 19
- Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith: episode 11
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: episode 8
- P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern: episode 20
- Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm: episode 12
- Richard III by William Shakespeare: episode 4
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: episodes 12, 16
- Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman: episode 21
- Shaft by Ernest Tidyman: episode 7
- Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault: episode 17
- Snow White and Rose Red by the Brothers Grimm: episode 21
- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: episode 13
- Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare: episode 4
- Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust: episode 11
- The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson: episode 20
- The Art of Eating by M.F.K. Fisher: episode 17
- The Art of Fiction by Henry James: episode 20
- The Automated Battlefield by Frank Barnaby: episode 7
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: episode 17
- The Biological Time Bomb by Gordon Rattray Taylor: episode 19
- A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare: episode 4
- The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson: episode 11
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller: episode 7
- The Fair Penitent by Nicholas Rowe: episode 7
- The Flounder by Gunter Grass: episode 13
- The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams: episode 9
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo: episode 17
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: episode 19
- The Group by Mary McCarthy: episode 9
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo: episode 2
- The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen: episode 1
- The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson: episode 19
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: episode 10
- The Miracle Worker by William Gibson: episode 10
- The Oxford Complete Works of William Shakespeare: episode 4
- The Portable Dorothy Parker: episode 9
- The Shining by Stephen King: episode 11
- The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris: episode 18
- The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath: episode 12
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum: episode 10
- Time Life’s Big Book of Flower Gardening: episode 19
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: episode 19
- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom: episode 16
- Ulysses by James Joyce: episode 20
- Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann: episode 5
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: episode 2
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee: episode 17
- Who’s Who and What’s What in Shakespeare by Evangeline M. O’Connor: episode 4
- Worldly Goods by Lisa Jardine: episode 19
Deeper Dive: Analyzing 5 Key Season One Reads
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina is an essential early reference because it’s widely considered to be Rory’s favorite book. It’s first referenced in Season 1, Episode 2 (“The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton”) at Chilton, then again in Season 1, Episode 16 (“Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers”), when Dean calls it “depressing” and Rory calls it “beautiful.”
It comes up again in several later seasons.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis is the book Rory wants to give Dean for their first Christmas together in Season 1, Episode 10 (“Forgiveness and Stuff”), but Lane convinces her it’s a bad idea to give him something she likes, and that a football would be more suited to him.
This is one of the first early signs of differences between Rory and Dean that may ultimately make them not the best match for each other.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
When Rory and Dean meet during Season One, Episode 1 (“Pilot”), he says he noticed her reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville, showing that he doesn’t just like her because she’s “nice to look at,” but also because of her nature as a bookworm with “unbelievable concentration.”
Dean: “So, how are you liking Moby Dick?”
Rory: “Oh, it’s really good.”
Dean: “Yeah?”
Rory: “Yeah, it’s my first Melville.”
Dean: “Cool.”
Rory: “I mean, I know it’s kind of cliché to pick Moby Dick as your first Melville but… Hey, how did you know I was reading Moby Dick?”
Dean: “Uh, well, I’ve been watching you.”
The Portable Dorothy Parker
A discussion of books on Season 1 of Gilmore Girls would not be complete without reference to The Portable Dorothy Parker, which Dean and Rory fall asleep together reading at Miss Patty’s during Episode 9 (“Rory’s Dance”). Oh, the drama Rory’s unintended all-nighter caused among all three Gilmore Girls.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice is important in Season One both because Max Medina teaches Austen fervently, and because Dean reads it (and claims to like it) upon Rory’s recommendation in Episode 8 (“Love and War and Snow”). It shows that Dean is trying to please Rory, and it’s very sweet.
Join Our Rory Gilmore-Inspired Book Club
Love Gilmore Girls and books? Then, read with us on Substack! In our virtual Substack community, we read one book per month (of your choice on a given prompt) from the full Gilmore Girls book list. We share all kinds of multimedia:
- reading guide posts and printables
- episode deep dive podcasts
- instructional videos
- discussion chats
Frequently Asked Questions
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is the first book referenced on Gilmore Girls, eight minutes into the Pilot episode by Rory’s teacher at Stars Hollow High.
Jack Kerouac is the first author referenced on Gilmore Girls. Just two minutes into the Pilot, Lorelai calls the guy hitting on her at Luke’s “a regular Jack Kerouac.”
Recap
The Rory Gilmore reading list for Season One of Gilmore Girls is the perfect place to start reading like a Gilmore. After all, the characters started showing their love of literature during the first few minutes of the Pilot!
The books in this season are important both in literature and on the show, giving us some of its most memorable moments.
Join Friday Night Readers on Substack to connect with fellow Gilmore Girls bookworms as you take this challenge. You’ll get your exclusive printable PDF checklist for Season One through the Netflix reboot, A Year in the Life!
