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🎓10 Books That Shaped Me: Inspired by Rory Gilmore's Graduation Speech · Friday Night Readers: Gilmore Girls Inspired Book Club

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  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Friday Night Readers.
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  SPEAKER_01: Fueled by coffee, we break down the books referenced on Gilmore Girls.
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  Our little literary corner of the world helps you understand
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  what the characters
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  SPEAKER_01: are talking so fast about and live in a world of books like worry.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like short, read fast.
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  SPEAKER_01: Before we dive in,
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  don't forget to subscribe to our Friday Night Readers
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  newsletter community on
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  SPEAKER_01: Substack.
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  You'll get instant access to a free printable list of 450 plus
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  books on Gilmore Girls.
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  SPEAKER_01: Plus,
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  SPEAKER_01: even more Gilmore-inspired content,
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  SPEAKER_01: like our Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge,
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  SPEAKER_01: which we've been doing together since 2020.
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  SPEAKER_01: Come hang out where the real Gilmore magic happens.
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  hello friday night readers it is graduation season and so it's
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  got me thinking
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  about rory gilmart's graduation speech i wrote two posts about
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  it one is a literary
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  guide diving deep into all the books she referenced in this
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  iconic speech and then
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  it got me thinking if i were to do a graduation speech what are
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  the books that i
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  would say shaped me so that is a Substack post and the other one
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  is a blog post and
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  SPEAKER_00: i'm going to go through theSubstack post with you today
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  SPEAKER_00: Kind of like an audio overview.
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  I think it's just going to help us connect a little bit more
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  deeply on these books
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  SPEAKER_00: that shaped me and hopefully help you think about what has shaped you.
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  so I start the post by saying that graduation season brings
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  such a wave of emotions
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  and there's pride and joy and for me who's way past that time
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  in my life it's more
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  like the comfort of nostalgia and I think we all can sense some
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  relief whether
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  we're in it or whether we're past it when it comes to
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  graduations and then when you
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  SPEAKER_00: add to it the way that we feel about our favorite books as readers
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  I think that's why the literary guide that I did to Rory
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  Gilmore's graduation
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  SPEAKER_00: speech has gone viral on Instagram.
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  SPEAKER_00: I will link that in the show notes as well.
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  So on Gilmore Girls you may recall that Rory took to the podium
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  at her Chilton
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  SPEAKER_00: graduation and she showed gratitude for two worlds.
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  SPEAKER_00: One was a world of family where she thanked her grandparents and her mom.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the other one is her famous world of books.
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  SPEAKER_00: You may recall that she talked about strolling down Swan's Way,
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  SPEAKER_00: sailing a raft with Huck and Jim,
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  SPEAKER_00: and of course,
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  SPEAKER_00: her favorite book,
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  SPEAKER_00: Riding a Train with Anna Karenina.
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  I linked her full graduation speech and what all of the
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  literary references mean in
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  SPEAKER_00: the Substack Post and the show notes.
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  What I took from this is that books were not just a hobby for
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  Rory or a school
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  SPEAKER_00: assignment or even an escape.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were something that shaped her.
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  and this got me thinking about the books that shaped me into an
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  avid lifelong
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  reader who is exactly Rory's age and how I would share them if
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  I were to give a
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  SPEAKER_00: hypothetical graduation speech.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if I were to give a speech like Rory's,
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  SPEAKER_00: what I would say is I rode the Polar Express,
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  SPEAKER_00: I lived history with Molly McIntyre,
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  SPEAKER_00: I was a member of the Babysitter's Club.
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  SPEAKER_00: I navigated puberty with Margaret Simon.
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  SPEAKER_00: I traveled to Steinmex, California with the Trasks and the Hamiltons.
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  SPEAKER_00: I played Quidditch with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
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  SPEAKER_00: I explored the afterlife with Susie Salmon.
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  SPEAKER_00: I made brilliant friendships with Lila and Elena.
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  SPEAKER_00: I took fashion inspiration from Holly Golightly.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I sat outside the Dutch house with Maeve and Danny.
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  So if you don't know what those books are,
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  this is why they made a difference to me.
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  The first book that stamped this eternal impact on my mind and
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  on my heart was The
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  SPEAKER_00: Polar Express.
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  Even if you didn't read the children's book,
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  maybe you know the movie today.
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  SPEAKER_00: And what I got from it and
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  SPEAKER_00: its illustrations,
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  SPEAKER_00: which are so beautiful,
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  SPEAKER_00: is an early belief that you can feel magic through the words on a page.
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  SPEAKER_00: When I think back to my childhood,
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  I can still remember myself in my grade school library every
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  week checking for it
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  SPEAKER_00: just to make sure it was there and
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  SPEAKER_00: Friday Night Readers
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  SPEAKER_00: So of course we heard these stories over the years,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I didn't really understand it until I read these American Girl books.
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  And then the Babysitter's Club books gave me this sense of
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  literary community.
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  And this is when you're a preteen and friendship in school can
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  be kind of tough.
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  I went through them I found this group of ambitious creative
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  preteens like myself
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  and I just wanted to befriend them and live near their
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  Connecticut town of Stony
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  SPEAKER_00: Brook.
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  I think that this and the Gilmore Girls have forever made me
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  think of Connecticut
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  as this completely idyllic place but anyway my nose was
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  practically glued to the
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  SPEAKER_00: pages of dozens if not hundreds of these books.
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  I went through them like water and of course what literary teen
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  girl did not learn
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  SPEAKER_00: about puberty from Are You There God?
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  SPEAKER_00: It's Me Margaret.
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  I think that the legacy of Judy Blume is that she is able to
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  share the thoughts
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  SPEAKER_00: that usually live only in the minds of kids and teens.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this gives us a sense of empathy that is exactly what we need.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's the things that we can't say ourselves.
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  SPEAKER_00: Moving along to required reading in high school,
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  SPEAKER_00: East of Eden by John Steinbeck,
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  which by the way is coming out on Netflix soon and has been so
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  popular in recent
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  SPEAKER_00: years on social media,
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  was the first book that made me want to visit a book setting in
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  real life.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's an epic family saga with biblical references,
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  but what really got me is how Steinbeck transports you to
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  something that's known as
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  SPEAKER_00: Steinbeck Country.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is Salinas Valley, California.
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  And being Rory's age,
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  I read it in a time when you couldn't just look it up on the
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  internet.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: while not quite the same,
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  I recently visited Napa Valley and I was thinking of him and
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  his stories the entire
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  SPEAKER_00: time.
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  SPEAKER_00: As far as Harry Potter goes,
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  SPEAKER_00: I did not get into them until adulthood,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I immediately grasped their power to so many millions of people.
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  and they earned their place here although I know the author is
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  very controversial
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  because they bring such holistic experiences there have been
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  many halloweens where
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  we've dressed as the characters we've had butterbeer tastings
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  and we even played
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  quidditch virtually with the whole gang in Hogwarts at
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  Universal Studios yes you do
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  feel like you are flying around Hogwarts in the ride that is
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  this whole immersive
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  SPEAKER_00: virtual experience my husband was sitting next to me yelling
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  this is so cool and of course the entire park makes you feel
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  like you're there as
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  well and you also get to ride on the Hogwarts Express now
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  moving along to when I
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  was in law school and looking for books during summers I picked
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  up an edge of your
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  SPEAKER_00: seat thriller from a clearance
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  Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
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  Friday Night Readers
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  Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
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  Friday Night Readers
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  SPEAKER_00: Friday Night Readers
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  from seeking salaciousness to observing from a distance how
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  people cope with dark
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  moments in their lives next is my favorite book of all time it
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  was actually the
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  number one book of the 21st century in the New York Times as
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  well My Brilliant
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  Friend by Elena Ferrante and this one placed me directly in the
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  heart of a
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  post-World War II Neapolitan community and you live there with
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  them notice how I
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  say live there as though I actually did over the course of
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  decades and it allowed
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  SPEAKER_00: me to understand how education
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  Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers Friday Night Readers
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  Friday Night Readers
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  SPEAKER_00: Friday Night Readers
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  SPEAKER_00: She is a fashion icon.
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  SPEAKER_00: And yes,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is thanks largely to the classic adaptation,
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  but her elegant sense of style was actually the inspiration for
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  my own wedding day.
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  My dress had that very high boat neck neckline,
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  like her famous black dress.
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  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is my ride or die book.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is the one book that I will go to bat for,
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  SPEAKER_00: it is the one hill I will die on,
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  SPEAKER_00: like it's a real person.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to out of hundreds,
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  SPEAKER_00: and that is thanks to the narrator,
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  SPEAKER_00: Tom Hanks.
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  SPEAKER_00: In it,
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  SPEAKER_00: the bond between the siblings,
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  SPEAKER_00: Maeve and Danny,
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  felt so palpable that I still envision myself sitting outside
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  their childhood home
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  SPEAKER_00: with them each Thanksgiving,
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  reminiscing about the past like they did next i'm wondering
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  what books shaped you
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  it is your turn i'd really love it if you take a minute today
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  stop your scroll and
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  reflect this is something that is simple but so powerful in
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  your literary life head
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  to the Substack post in the show notes that accompanies this
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  audio and tell me what
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  books shaped you and if you i'd especially love it if you leave
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  a comment in the
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  style of rory speech i know this kind of stuff takes time but i
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  have found it to be
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  SPEAKER_00: so impactful not just in my reading life
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  But in my real life and how I read and how I write and how I
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  think it has made such
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  SPEAKER_00: a big difference in an age of brain rot.
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  So head over there to live in a world of books like Rory
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  Gilmore and have a great
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  SPEAKER_00: graduation season.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to Friday Night Readers.
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  SPEAKER_01: I love having you here in our little corner of the Gilmore Girls world.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like even more feel-good fun,
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  SPEAKER_01: then upgrade to a free or paid email subscription membership at
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  SPEAKER_01: It's the coziest virtual place like Stars Hollow,
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  SPEAKER_01: and your support helps keep this podcast going strong.
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  Lastly,
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  if you enjoyed today's episode,
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  please take a minute to rate and review the show.
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  It helps other Gilmore fans find us,
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  which helps me provide you with more content like this.
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  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, life's short, read fast.