“Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church” by the Boston Globe Investigative Staff

A seminal work of modern journalism, this investigation conducted by The Boston Globe exposed the prevalence of Catholic priests' sexual abuse of children. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2003, the stuff of Rory's dizziest daydreams.

"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami

Honestly, I don't think Rory ~gets~ Murakami (and neither do I), but she's still read his work. When it comes to this Japanese author's appeal, The New York Times said it best: "Readers emerge several hundred pages later as if from a trance, convinced they've made contact with something significant, if not entirely sure what that something is."

"The Pale King" by David Foster Wallace

Shockingly, Wallace's "Infinite Jest" (the book you're likeliest to find on every fuckboy's shelf) didn't make it into Rory's 338 pre-existing literary references, even though it was published in 1996. Now that book is so ubiquitous, it's moment as a ~hip~ reference has passed, but Wallace's posthumously published "Pale King" could well make a revival appearance.

"Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls" by David Sedaris

If Rory, a self-respecting lit nerd, is going to go for comedy, it has to be something respectably dry or dark. Sedaris is just the ticket. (She's already read "Me Talk Pretty One Day.")

"The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz

Okay, so this was one was technically published in '07, but it, too, hasn't been mentioned on "Gilmore Girls" (yet). We'll assume it was still on Rory's to-read list when the series finale rolled around. (And for good reason, FYI; this book is spectacular.)

"Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen

Don't attempt comparing it to his other landmark work, "The Corrections," in front of Rory. She'll smite you for doing so quicker than Franzen can diss Oprah Winfrey.

"A Visit From the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan

A faultless feat of postmodernism, Rory says. Incendiary! Symphonic!

"Room" by Emma Donoghue

Rory thought it was brilliant. She would also likely find it difficult to decide which book had the best child narrator: Donoghue's "Jack" or Mark Haddon's "Christopher." Or perhaps Villalobos' "Tochtli"? To pick a favorite is like "Sophie's Choice," she'll say.

"The Buddha In the Attic" by Julie Otsuka

This novella tells the harrowing story of Japanese picture brides in the early 1900s. Rory finished the slim book by the end of her second cup of morning coffee, but its haunting effects were longer lasting.

"And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life" by Charles J. Shields

Because what's more hardcore-writerly than a writer reading another writer's account of another writer's life?

"The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt

Hate on Tartt all you will, but Rory definitely ordered an advanced copy of this 11-years-in-the-making Pulitzer Prize winner, and attended a couple readings to boot.

"Blue Nights" by Joan Didion

Unless they're written by a historical figure — say, Benjamin Franklin or Gertrude Stein — Rory isn't likely to go for a straight-up memoir (although pseudo-autiobiographies, like "The Bell Jar," do make her list). If it's written by someone like Dunham or Didion, though, she'll make an exception.

"Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Coates, a journalist at The Atlantic and winner of the prestigious MacArthur Genius Award, wrote this 2015 book as a letter to his teenage son about the realities of being Black in the United States, drawing partly from his own youth in Baltimore. Coates' work is a highlight of Rory's literary journalism collection, for sure.

"Home" by Toni Morrison

Because, let's be real, Rory would dismiss this list as incomplete if Morrison wasn't on it.

"Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow

As soon as Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" became the definitive pop-culture reference of 2015-2016, you can bet Rory went and snagged the biography that started it all.

"Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" by Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas Kristof

The husband-and-wife team are former New York Times reporters who conducted this sweeping study on the oppression of women and girls in the modern developing world — and are Rory's peak #relationshipgoals.

"How Music Works" by David Byrne

Lane probably loaned her this one.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Again, any highly praised book that is also a work of journalism WILL be on Rory's bookshelf, without exception.

"The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides

"It was no 'Middlesex,'" Rory would sigh upon being asked her opinion (or, more likely, self-electing to offer it up). "It didn't measure up to 'The Virgin Suicides' either, for that matter. But it had its poignant moments."

"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Overly sentimental, is Rory's opinion. Though she can still acknowledge its merit as a masterful example of historical fiction.

"The First Bad Man" by Miranda July

You just know Rory's copy of "No One Belongs Here More Than You" is dog-eared and scribbed in AF. So when July announced the publication of her debut novel in 2015, of course she was first in line to buy it.

"MaddAddam" by Margaret Atwood

Because obviously. Rory must've freaked when she found out the series was being adapted into an HBO show. (On a semi-related note, TV culture has changed SO MUCH since 2007. I feel certain there'll be some Netflix binge-watching references from Lorelai and Rory in the revival, and it'll be kinda jarring to hear.)

"Boy, Snow, Bird" by Helen Oyeyemi

Oyeyemi is a modern-day Emily Dickinson in Rory's book. She also loves the gothic tropes of the author's 2009 work, "White Is for Witching."

"Fifty Shades of Grey" by E. L. James

lolz.

Actually, she might have read for this. Purely for cultural anthropological research reasons, you understand. And by that I mean, researching inside her underwear, amirite? *high fives no one in particular*