7 Book Recommendations From the Gilmore Girls Themselves

As a budding journalist with a definite book obsession, it's no wonder Rory once read this memoir of a young writer. Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club, uses her talent and humor to share insights into her own life as the daughter of immigrants and her journey to becoming an acclaimed author in The Opposite of Fate.

With the number of complicated relationships the Gilmore girls fall into throughout seven seasons, there's the ever-present question of who each will be with at the start of A Year in the Life. We can only hope that by now they've read He's Just Not That Into You.

It's clear that Rory is a fan of all things memoir, particularly those involving strong women. In Girl, Interrupted, after one session with a psychiatrist, Susanna Kaysen is sent to McLean Hospital, where she spends most of the next two years in a psychiatric facility known for its famous clientele — Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles.

Considering Rory appears to have read almost all the classics throughout her years at Chilton and Yale, it's no surprise that she also picked up this Booker Prize-winning novel. The God of Small Things begins with an affluent Indian family forever changed by an event that leads to an illicit liaison and tragedies in a country drifting toward unrest.

In the space of five weeks when he was a college senior, Dave Eggers lost both of his parents to cancer and became responsible for his 8-year-old brother. Perhaps his moving memoir, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, made Rory feel that her time at Yale wasn't so difficult after all.

While Gilmore Girls takes place in New England, it has much in common with the classic piece of Southern women's fiction Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Both beautifully explore the bonds of female friendship; the rocky, ever-evolving relationship between mothers and daughters; and the healing power of humor and love.

As the premiere approaches, none of us can forget the ever-present sadness over the passing of Edward Herrmann, and consequently, Richard Gilmore. The mesmerizing memoir The Year of Magical Thinking chronicles Joan Didion's grief following the death of her husband while her daughter lay unconscious in a nearby hospital. Maybe Didion's portrait of grief will help Rory, Lorelai, and Emily handle their own.

Here are more great book recommendations from our friends at Off the Shelf:

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• 14 Book Recommendations Based On Your Favorite TV Shows
• An Enchanting Tale of Humanity, Destiny, and Symphony