Staff Picks
Rory Gilmore's Reading Challenge (List #6 - Starting with 'The Crimson Petal & The White')
- Ariel H.
- Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Collection
☕ Take a deep dive into all the books seen and referenced on the Gilmore Girls from Season 1 to A Year in the Life.
📚 Just in time for our winter weather. So, grab your books, a cup of coffee (or hot cocoa), and bundle up by the fire.
❄️Smells Like Snow❄️ (except for SC)
Since there are 408 titles, there will be multiple lists sent out over the next few months. Enjoy!
The Crimson Petal and the White.
Published in 2012
In 1870s London, a prostitute known as Sugar sees a potential way out of the brothel she works for when she is taken in by William Rackham, the son of a wealthy businessman.
Crucible
Published in 2004
Based on the play 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller. A group of teenaged girls caught performing heathen rituals concoct an elaborate story that whips the town into a frenzied witch hunt.
Cujo.
Published in 2013
In rural Maine, married couple struggle to repair their crumbling marriage, while their young son befriends the hulking, but lovable St. Bernard owned by the town's mechanic. With her husband out of town, she and her son take their decrepit car for repairs at the mechanic's remote farmhouse. As the aging Pinto sputters, stops and dies, Cujo appears. The once docile dog has undergone hideous transformation, and has become a demonic, impeccable killer possessed of an almost supernatural strength.
Cyrano De Bergerac
Published in 2012
Poignant story of unrequited love, set in 17th century France. Highlighted by the Oscar-winning performance of José Ferrer as Cyrano, the long-nosed poet and swordsman who helps a handsome rival woo and win the beautiful Roxane, whom Cyrano himself secretly loves.
David Copperfield
Published in 2006
A splendid version of Charles Dickens' most autobiographical work.
Daughter of Fortune
Published in 2005
A Chilean woman searches for her lover in the goldfields of 1840s California. Arriving as a stowaway, Eliza finances her search with various jobs, including playing the piano in a brothel.
Daughter of Fortune
A Novel
Published in 2008
A Chilean woman searches for her lover in the goldfields of 1840s California. Arriving as a stowaway, Eliza finances her search with various jobs, including playing the piano in a brothel.
El Código Da Vinci
Published in 2005
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci--clues visible for all to see--yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion--an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless power broker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret--and an explosive historical truth--will be lost forever.
The Da Vinci Code
Published in 2006
The Da Vinci Code has intrigued and thrilled millions of readers around the world. Now all the artwork, symbols, architecture, and historic locations, over 160 images, are beautifully compiled in this full-color collector's edition. A mind-bending code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci. A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe. An astonishing truth concealed for centuries, unveiled at last. While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, a baffling cipher found near the body. As Langdon and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci, clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. The stakes are raised when Langdon uncovers a startling link: the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion, an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. Langdon suspects they are on the hunt for a breathtaking historical secret, one that has proven through the centuries to be as enlightening as it is dangerous. In a frantic race through Paris, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu find themselves matching wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to anticipate their every move. Unless they can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle, the Priory's secret, and an explosive ancient truth, will be lost forever. Instantly catapulted to the top of the bestseller lists around the world, The Da Vinci Code is simultaneously lightning-paced, intelligent, and intricately layered with remarkable research and detail. From secrets embedded in the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, to the symbols of ancient Egypt, to the architecture of landmarks such as the Louvre, Westminster Abbey, Rosslyn Chapel, and more, this fully illustrated collector's edition delivers the complete reading experience of Dan Brown's riveting novel, from the opening pages to the unpredictable and stunning conclusion.
The Da Vinci Code
Published in 2003
While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci--clues visible for all to see--yet ingeniously disguised by the painter. Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion--an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others. In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret--and an explosive historical truth--will be lost forever.
The Da Vinci Code
A Novel
Published in 2006
A world-renowned expert in cracking ancient codes deciphers a mind-bending series of clues embedded in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
David Copperfield
Published in 2004
David Copperfield, whose stepfather casts him out after the death of David's mother, lives through trials and tribulations, first at a boys' school and then as a young man in London before he goes to live with his great-aunt and eventually finds happiness.
David Copperfield
Published in 2008
The story of a young man's adventures on his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters he encounters are his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; frivolous, enchanting Dora; and the magnificently impecunious Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations.
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience & Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery
Which He Never Meant to Be Published on Any Account
Published in 2006
David Copperfield suffers from his abusive stepfather and the betrayal of the scheming Uriah Heep, finds a new life with his formidable aunt, and falls in love with Dora, as he fights to escape his impoverished and unhappy childhood.
The Crimson Petal and the White
Published in 2003
From the Publisher: At the Heart of this panoramic, multidimensional narrative is the compelling struggle of a young woman to lift her body and soul out of the gutter. Michel Faber leads us back to 1870s London, where Sugar, a nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs. Castaway, yearns for escape into a better life. Her ascent through the strata of Victorian society offers us intimacy with a host of lovable, maddening, unforgettable characters. They begin with William Rackham, an egotistical perfume magnate whose ambition is fueled by his lust for Sugar, and whose patronage of her brings her into proximity to his extended family and milieu: his unhinged, child-like wife, Agnes; his mysteriously hidden-away daughter, Sophie; and his pious brother Henry, foiled in his devotional calling by a persistently less-than-chaste love for the Widow Fox, whose efforts on behalf of The Rescue Society lead Henry into ever-more disturbing confrontations with flesh. All this is overseen by assorted preening socialites, drunken journalists, untrustworthy servants, vile guttersnipes, and whores of all stripes and persuasions. Twenty years in its conception, research, and writing, The Crimson Petal and the White is a singular literary achievement-a gripping, intoxicating, deeply satisfying Victorian novel written with an immediacy, compassion, and insight that give it a timeless and universal appeal.
Dead Souls
Published in 1997
Chichikov, an amusing and often confused schemer, buys deceased serfs' names from landholders' poll tax lists hoping to mortgage them for profit.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Published in 2003
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Published in 2003
Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.
Cujo
Published in 1981
The story of the middle-class Trenton family and rural Camber clan in Castle Rock, Maine.Their domestic problems are dwarfed by mortal danger when Donna and her four-year-old son Tad are terrorized by a rabid St. Bernard named Cujo.
Cujo
Published in 2010
Four-year-old Tad Trenton has been having night terrors. Each night, a horrifying beast with glowing red eyes growls from within his closet that he will have him soon. Though his parents reassure Tad that no monsters can get him, they cannot explain why the closet door is found unlatched each morning. Nor can they keep their own adult fears, from a business crisis to infidelity, from threatening to tear their happy home apart...
The Crucible
A Play in Four Acts
Published in 2003
"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence. Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's witch-hunts in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing: "Political opposition ... is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it meets with diabolical malevolence."