It’s been a big fall. A big summer and spring, too, come to think of it. I finished grad school, moved home, moved to Austin, and started my first real job, all in what felt like the blink of an eye. All good things, positive steps forward, growing up, all that…
But there’s a tradeoff.
I can’t for the life of me find the time or energy to read like I was reading back in the carefree days of my youth. When I get home from work I’m hangry and tired and all I want is to eat dinner and watch TV (it’s The Simpsons and How I Met Your Mother on constant loop in our house, for anyone who’s interested), and by the time I get in bed I’m lucky if I make it through five pages before I pass out.
As a result, my TBR list is longer and more daunting than ever. Here’s a preview:
So tell me, anyone out there who’s managed to keep that stack of books on your nightstand from toppling and burying you, how do you do it?
This Monday, October 5, marked the fifteenth anniversary of the Gilmore Girls premiere. My mild obsession with the seven season mother-daughter dramedy is no secret, so today I’d like to honor it by revisiting the post I wrote this time last year, coinciding with the show’s Netflix debut, by revisiting the bookish side of Stars Hollow.
(Yes, this post is a rerun. Here’s hoping for some fresh content — from me and from Stars Hollow — on the horizon.)
Gilmore Girls is famous for its rapid-fire pop-culture references, and the literary world is certainly represented in those bits. After all, to say Rory is an avid reader would be a wild understatement. Somebody counted one day and determined that, in the seven seasons, the Gilmores allude to 334 books. You can take a survey here to see how many you’ve read. The first time I took it I felt like Rory when she finds out the Harvard Library houses 13 million volumes:
“I’m a failure. I am stupid. I am uninformed and ignorant and…I can’t even think of a second synonym for uninformed. I suck. I’ve read like, what, three hundred books in my entire life and I’m already sixteen? Do you know how long it would take me to read thirteen million books?” -The Road Trip to Harvard, season two
But then I realized a huge percentage of these allusions weren’t to the books, but to the film adaptations. I mean, Brigadoon? Who even knew that was a book? This epiphany did a lot to restore my sense of usefulness in the world.
So, in honor of Gilmore Girls’ Netflix debut today, I’ve picked the five most significant (to me) book references from the series. Ready? Go.
5. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (1.11)
One evening at Max’s, Lorelai admits that, though she’s often compelled to begin sentences with “As Marcel Proust would say…” she’s never read Proust, so she really has no idea what he’d say. Ever the gentleman, Max loans her a copy of Swann’s Way. She makes it through the first sentence before realizing she’s not ready to commit. If I was an English major I might call that an ominous symbol of the fate of her relationship with Max. Oh, wait…
4. The Compact Oxford English Dictionary (1.15)
Rory’s father, Christopher, has been absent much of her life but, in an effort to tie up loose strings, has decided he wants to be “a pal she can rely on,” now. As a symbol of his new pal-ish reliability, he takes Rory to Andrew’s bookstore and insists on buying her the book of her dreams. In true Rory fashion, she chooses the Compact Oxford English Dictionary (which, for reasons unknown, the small town indie bookseller happens to have in stock). When Christopher’s credit card is declined his promise falls through, and we’re left wondering just how reliable he’ll really be from here on out.
3. Emma by Jane Austen (1.08)
Dean grudgingly tolerates Rory’s penchant for browsing libraries and book sales, but he’s just not a reader — an early indicator that their relationship is doomed. But in one episode, very early on, we see evidence that he might have a little bookishness in him, deep, deep down. He returns the copy of Emma Rory has coerced him into reading, admitting that it wasn’t so terrible, and suggesting she try a little Hunter S. Thompson. Funny, though, we never see Dean reading again. (Let’s be real, it was early in the relationship, so he was probably just trying to impress Rory.)
2. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 5.16
After he and Emily return from their second honeymoon, Richard presents Rory with a 100-year-old copy of Leaves of Grass – in Greek. Rory gushes over the gift much the way she gushed over the leather-bound first edition Flaubert he’d found in his study in season two. These rare-book-geekery moments define the affectionate relationship between Rory and her grandfather and, in a bittersweet sort of way, highlight the distance between Lorelai and her father.
1. Howl by Allen Ginsburg (2.5)
Oh, Jess. When Luke’s troubled nephew comes to town, he raises a lot of eyebrows. But he wins Rory’s heart when, having claimed not to be much of a reader, he swipes her copy of Howl and proves the opposite. This isn’t the last time Jess and Rory bond over books, either. He reappears in season six, having gotten his act together and written a book, which he travels to Hartford to show her. These are just the first and last instances (bookends, if you will) that demonstrate Jess is smart enough and witty enough to keep up with Rory, and that Huntzberger ought to be history.
So, what are your favorite bookish Gilmore Girls moments?
I’m out of town for a few days, so I don’t have time for a long post (not one worth reading, anyway) but I did want to make sure to check in!
This video made the social media rounds sometime during my first semester of grad school, and I was not the only one to watch it on repeat. A year and a half later, it remains an awesome poem.
sarahmweber715.wordpress.com 