2025 Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge With Printable PDF Tracker

What is the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge?

The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge is a challenge to read the 500+ books referenced on the television show Gilmore Girls. It’s meant to be easy, fun, and totally customizable.

2025 Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge Monthly Prompts

January: A Kids’ Book

I always like to start the year with an easy prompt so readers can get a quick win and/or catch up if they find the challenge later in the year. There are tons of children’s books referenced on Gilmore Girls. Here are 10 I enjoyed.

1. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
2. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
3. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
4. Eloise at the Plaza by Kay Thompson
5. Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
6. Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
7. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
8. Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
9. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers and Mary Shepard
10. Nancy Drew and The Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene

I’m leaning towards reading Deenie by Judy Blume and/or Harrold & the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.

February: A Book Adapted to Film

February is a great month to read books adapted to film because we are often stuck indoors and can read and watch. Many of these film adaptations also correspond to children’s books, so you can easily read two short books to start the challenge.

There are also tons of book-to-film adaptions referenced on Gilmore Girls. Here are 10 I enjoyed.

1. Beloved by Toni Morrison
2. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
3. The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
4. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
9. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
10. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

I’m leaning towards reading Misery by Stephen King and/or Emma by Jane Austen.

March: Main Character Under 18

In many ways, Gilmore Girls is about women under 18 coming of age. Though we don’t see Lorelai’s younger years, they are crucial to the plot. And, of course, we watch Rory live, learn, love, and read through her Chilton years. So, let’s celebrate books with main characters under 18 this month.

Below are 10 recommendations for older children, teens, and adults since we already read children’s books earlier this year (though you can certainly read one here, too).

1. Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
2. Carrie by Stephen King
3. Deenie by Judy Blume
4. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
7. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
8. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
9. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
10. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

I’m leaning towards The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling since I have a graphic edition.

April: A Classic Book

Rory Gilmore loves great literature, so it’s no surprise there were so many classic books referenced on Gilmore Girls.  We’re a few months into the challenge, and I consider this the first truly challenging prompt.

However, I don’t want it to be too challenging for you, so below are 10 classics I enjoyed and think are very readable.

1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
4. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
7. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
8. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
9. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I’m leaning towards reading Jane Austen: Emma and/or Northanger Abbey.

May: A Translated Book

Rory reads a lot of translated literary works (particularly Russian literature), and so should we! Below are 10 literary works I recommend that originated in languages other than English. A few are on the more accessible side, and a few are challenges!

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
3. Candide by Voltaire
4. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
5. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
6. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
7. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
8. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
9. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
10. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I’m leaning towards reading Gigi by Collette or The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.

June: Required Reading

June is the first month of summer reading, which means the start of required summer reading for students. Let’s do some of our own required reading with them! Below are 10 books I was required to read in high school and enjoyed.

1. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
6. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
7. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
8. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
9. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I’m leaning toward Frankenstein by Mary Shelley or something by Dickens, Austen, or Hemingway.

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 leaning towards reading The Art of Fiction by Henry James, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin, or 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 something from season 1. 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.

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 Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, or Dracula by Bram Stoker.

November: A Non-Fiction Book

Since November is widely considered themed “Non-Fiction November” in the literary world, this is a great 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.

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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!

Instagram Story Templates

To track and share your progress with the challenge this year, save the templates below, then share them to Instagram with text, GIFs, and book covers.

Recap

The 2025 Rory Gilmore Challenge blends the TV show Gilmore Girls with books it references. Taking the challenge is free, easy, and fun.

To get started, just follow The Rory Gilmore Book Club on Instagram and read a book of your choice from the show that matches our monthly prompts.

Before you go, be sure to check out the full Rory Gilmore book list.

remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules