Welcome to the What your next podcast. So excited to be back. And today's guest is Jules Bono, who is one of our very seasoned blog bloggers who has transitioned over to the Gilmore Girls space and the literary space, which is exciting. So think about what Warrior Gilmore read. Then she has Friday Night readers. It's a community of people in the Substack as well as in Instagram and a blog, and she talks about book recommendations. So let's circle things. Gilmore Girls. Hi Jules.

Hi, Laura. How are you?

I'm doing good. How are you doing?

I'm doing really well.

So we're gonna talk about Gilmore Girls, but talk to us about your experience with Gilmore Girls. First things first, because it's pretty typical for many people in 2025, so talk to us about it.

So this story surprises people because I became most known in the internet space for doing the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge in the pandemic, and everyone just assumed that I was a longtime Gilmore Girl. Super fan. But I really wasn't. When the show originally aired, it was my sister who was a super fan, and when I say super fan, I mean my mom was at Target the day every DVD or every day the DVDs came out and then they were on. 24 hours a day in our home on a loop. So I always say that I first watched Gilmore Girls through Osmosis. It was just, it was always present in our lives. Yes, I did like it. And yes, we had a lot of fun with the jokes and things like that on the show, but it was really my sister who was the super fan and I was just kind of on the side and there along with it. And I got back into it in the pandemic because it was right around this time, mid to late summer. I wasn't really that happy with the books. I was getting hyped up on to read on Instagram and I thought about watching something cozy because we were in the middle of the pandemic something fall like, and then I was thinking about what I wanted my reading life to look like in the next year. And I thought about the Gilmore Girls Reading Challenge and I thought both of them sort of paired perfectly for going back to fall. And then that's where I really fell in love with it and became a super fan myself.

I love this story because I was like, I thought she was like we, we were both contemporary around the same page. So Gil was around where we were like, coming of age and stuff like that, and I was like, I've been watching Gilmore Girls since it was Thursday nights the first season, because it was the same night as friends and it was like, I was in college. I was either. I think I was a sophomore in college and it was like a big deal. And then when it moved to Tuesdays, we were like excited about it. 'cause this was a great, it was like a hidden gem that made it through the first season because it could have been canceled. But somehow in the CW world, they moved a date and they actually gave them a chance and then just watch it. So I used to watch him on DVDs, but I haven't revisit the Gilmore girls. After that's. Been my, it was an off show. Like I'm ready to hear like an oral history of the Gilmore Girls as a nonfiction to tell me all about the tea, about the stuff, about the impact. Like somebody needs to write that oral history

there is an oral history, yes. It is. Pretty much exactly what you described. I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head. I can get it for you and give it to you. It's something like, unofficial Guide to Gilmore Girls

We will put that, we'll put that in the show notes because I've been, right now listening to the oral history. It's always sunny in Philadelphia and I finished oral history of West Wing and like the West Wing nonfiction office. Ladies, like I'm

Right. Yeah. I love the I'm from Scranton actually, so I'm a huge That's, that would surprise people as well, that I'm actually a bigger office fan. Like I know the office better than I know Gilmore Girls. I've probably watched Gilmore Girls five or six times, but the Office maybe 20 times.

yeah. I used to buy, okay, so the office came in. I was working in New York City and I had it in one of those iPods. So you actually have a video

Right, and that's how the office became popular.

choose, you can buy the video. So I'll watch my commute to work the first season, like the new episodes on my little iPod. That's a little thing like, and watch it. And I was like I was obsessed 'cause it was my first office job. I was working at NYU and I was like, I was miserable. And I was like, what are we supposed to redo? And it was just like the show that just it's cemented like it's corporate girlies, you not.

even tell you, the people on the office will tell you that's how their show became famous was that little video iPod.

Yes. The little video iPod. This is what we were struggling. You used to, have you used to watch TikTok? We didn't have that. We have to pay 99 to get a video.

and so I'm looking on Goodreads as we're chatting, and the name of the book is the Gilmore Girls Companion, and it was written in 2015.

All right. I'll download it. So thank you for the recommendation. So. So, alright, so let's talk some book recommendations. 'cause your recommendations are a little bit touch literary, touch of commercial fiction. So they're not, when you think of Stars Hollow, they're thinking about what Rory Gilmore read. At the same time it has a feeling of Stars hollow, the lower like Rory relationship, the sense of like community and space and stuff like that. So talk just here some recommendations.

I tried to get a bit of a diverse selection. I know you talk a lot about romance on your podcast, so I wanted to make sure to get some nice small town romances for you. I'm also a literary fiction fan and Rory's a literary fiction fan, so I wanted to put one of those in as well. And then of course we have a lot of mother daughter contemporary fiction themes as well, so it's a nice little mix of books I've got for you.

Yes,

And for really anyone, 'cause I wanna be able to touch anyone who's interested in a book like Stars Hollow or a book like Dilmore Girls.

I think those, these are recommendations. I read actually half of them. I was

Okay, good.

oh, so I'm excited. So let's talk to Luis Millers, which is the Quintessential Stars Hollow. And there's a couple of books within the series, so there's, if you like this one, you can actually go to the next one and stuff like that.

So I assume that's the one, one of the ones you've read.

I, yes.

Okay, so this one is the City Baker's Guide to Country Living. And back when I started rewatching Gilmore Girls again in 2020, and people on the internet and Facebook groups and things like that were saying like, what books are like Gilmore Girls, this was the one that everyone said was like, Gilmore Girls. And it still is to this day. This is the number one book I see recommended that's like Gilmore Girls and it's basically a pastry chef from Boston. So I think. Kind of like soy. She has this like disastrous event with a dessert on fire. And she leaves Boston and goes to visit her friend in a small town in Vermont. There she gets a job at a small inn, I think it was called the Sugar Maple Inn. So not exactly the dragonfly, but close to it. And of course, she meets a man there. And he is a local who's come home to take care of his ailing father. And you really get the New England vibes. You get the small town vibes, the romance vibes. And then as far as Stars Hollow goes, there's a harvest dinner and apple pie baking contest. So it just has all of those cozy fall vibes that people who love Gilmore girls seek in their romance books.

Yes, and I think there's another book, like a, there's more books in that world, or if I remember correctly. So if you like this book, you. And follow a couple more there. Oh

so it would be a good place to start in fall and then see where it takes you.

yeah. Perfect. What's your next recommendation?

So my next recommendation is my literary fiction pick. It's probably my personal favorite on the list. It's called Empire Falls by Richard Russo. He's an amazing author and he actually won the Pulitzer Prize for this book. And this book is gonna give you Luke vibes. So it takes place in a small town in ver in, excuse me, Maine called Empire Falls. But the title also alludes to the fact that this is a town where the empire has fallen. It's a town that was built on manufacturing and the manufacturer left. So what's left are all of these small town people and the man at the center of it, his name is Miles Roby, and he runs the diner. And this is sort of the center of their little world where you could, this is how you get to see. Where everyone in the town is at this time, and they're all experiencing different things. With this diner at the center, he's also a single father of a teen girl. So that will also give you some Luke vibes as well with April. And it's really literary. It's so beautifully written that I'm pretty sure it's the only book that when I listen to it on audio. I slowed it down because I didn't want it to end. So it's one where you really are savoring the words and you're learning things about class and about regret. Another thing that reminds me of Gilmore Girls in this book is that Miles Robbie's dream is to go to Martha's Vineyard. And of course we see Martha's Vineyard. Pop up many times in Gilmore Girls. So I love that connection as well. And the only other thing I really wanna tell people about this book is that there is a very old but very good adaptation. I think it was in 2005 and I'm pretty sure it's Paul Newman and his wife that started it. I watched it a few years ago. But it was really excellent. And it's a miniseries that I'm pretty sure it's on HBO and you can watch it over the course of a few nights or a few weeks to go along with your reading.

Oh my. Love this. I love book to movie adaptation and Paul Newman.

Anyone who loves Words and Prose is going to love this book and it does. One thing I do wanna say too is it does get dark. So I also describe it in many ways. It's like Gilmore Girls, but also think of Friday Night Lights and Beartown, where they're very community focused and you get the good parts of the community, but. They're also dealing with a lot of stuff, and it's handled in more dark ways than Gilmore Girls is. So, that sort of lends into the literary fiction as well.

Yeah, I love this. Oh, I'm gonna pick this one up. I'm gonna request that one. So from the library?

It's good both in print and in audio. I kind of went back and forth between both and I really liked both versions. It takes a little bit of time to get into, but then it's like I'm telling you, I could not stop reading it.

Okay. All right. What's your next recommendation?

I have one Italian summer by Rebecca Serle Have you read this one?

I have not, I actually have, I think I have a copy of it in my Kindle. I do, I did get an advanced reader's copy, I think because I'm afraid of being sad. And that's, so I need to be in certain mood. I, and Rebecca actually has a great point about grief and about experiencing sadness and sometimes you need those books. But you know, it's a mother-daughter relationship. I think this one is in

It is a mother-daughter relationship, and I'm gonna try to convince you to pick up the audio book because Lauren Graham narrates it.

Ooh.

So not only is it about mothers and daughters, but then you have her actual voice in your ears.

Okay, so I'm gonna do the audio.

yeah, I hate to force you to buy it again, but I think you have to buy it again. Or get it from the library.

Yeah.

So Rebecca Searl is really great at writing about grief and what she does in most of her books, if not all of them I've read most of them, is that she weaves in magical realism. So what happens in this book is Katie and her mom are extremely close Rory and Laura. I when her mom dies. She still decides to go on this trip to Positano, Italy that they had scheduled. And when she's there she's dealing with her grief and it'll sort of remind you of LO's Wild Adventure in a year in the life on Gilmore Girls where she's dealing with her grief. I won't give any spoilers of what kind of grief in case anyone hasn't finished it yet, but she is dealing with grief there. So when Katie gets to Positano, she sees a woman that doesn't just look like her mother, but seems to be her mother at age 30. So when this little magical realism twist comes into play, you start to see Katie deal with her grief and learn about her mother in new ways. So it's sad, but it's also has

Yeah, but it has a little bit of element of coming together and like seeing new, a new face. I think I like this idea and I like the idea of Lauren Graham, like narrating one of my. My favorite thing for actors to narrate audio books. I love Mary Wilson, like I'm obsessed. She narrates a lot of child

She's excellent. She's one of my favorites too.

She's one of my favorites. I'm like, I love that you narrate child stars, coming up age books. And I'm like, yes, this is go for it. This is your moment,

right. She's great.

Yeah. And so, all right, so let's talk about the next one, which I don't, I mean, I, it's not where do you go version there, right?

I have part of your World

okay. Yep. Let's talk about the Abby Human is,

you read this one?

no, I actually Abby's a hit or miss for me, so.

And she's my favorite. I'm not as much a romance reader as many modern readers are today. But she's always my favorite. And what I love about her is she weaves in real life issues. So I'm a very logical person. So when she puts in real life. Issues. I can actually believe that this romance is a real thing. When it's too idealistic, it's hard for me to believe. Hard for me to get into where I know some people like to escape that way. For me, it makes it a little bit harder because I am so logical. So part of your world is widely considered to be very much like Gilmore Girls. And many people, it's one of their favorite Abby Jimenez books. I have. I've read all of her books and I have, a couple favorites. So this would be in my top three if this one's slightly spicy. So for people who like spice this one is up there. It's not totally spicy, but there is a good amount of spice in it and is open door. So I think this book sort of feels like those late nineties, early two thousands rom-com vibes where we have a wealthy ER doctor named Alexis, and her car breaks down and she gets. Stuck in a small town where she meets a carpenter and he also runs his family's bed and breakfast. So we've, again, we've got an in, in a small town. She falls for him, but is kind of wondering how she can make him part of her world, which is more like a Richard and Emily world. And she has to think about what home means for her and how to balance these two worlds, which is very lore I like.

I love this. Actually, I'll read this one. I liked yours truly a lot, so I think they're part of the companion, so.

think if you like use yours truly, you will definitely like this one.

Yeah. I, it depends the, this point, the latest one, I did not, I tried, but I was like, no, we're not in the right head space for the latest though this summer I think is

Say you'll remember me, was

Yeah. Yep.

latest one. And I've been hearing mixed reviews. I did like it but I've been hearing a lot of mixed reviews on it. And the reviews do make sense to me. So while I enjoyed it, I also, appreciate that. Many people didn't vibe with that one. This is one part of your world is one that I think almost everyone who's Reddit vibes with.

I'm excited actually. Fun fact, this podcast, the way their 500 author interviews started was because I re, I had forever as assistant recommending the friend zone back February before the friend zone was coming out. I think Friend Zone came in May, so it was really early release and we were just emailing. The publicist at the Thomas cell and I was like, Hey, this pod like mentioned And she was like, actually you should have authors. And I was in a middle of a hiatus and I was like coming back and she's I think you should have authors. And it was before Abby was starting to, before she

Yeah, and she's huge now.

And so we talked about it and Abby ended up, we recorded, happily thereafter, recorded before I moved 2019 an interview with that. So the interviews started and I'll link it to the space. But the reason why there's authors is because of, it was supposed to be for Abby Jimenez, and then I just, 2020 happened and. There were no events. And so pretty much a rep publisher was like, can you come? Can you come? So I interviewed 500 of those and I'm not

What.

So, so yeah. So there is, it's, it depends. Like I, I am very grateful, and I, it's a hit or miss. I have to check the reviews to see how sad it is. And if it's too sad, then I'm like, probably not. But if it's actually like a more rocom and stuff, then it

This one is more romcom, that you'll remember me. Might be her saddest one. There's a lot that happens in it.

Yeah, so there's a, it is just, it depends and understand who you are as a reader, because for me it may not work, but for you, it works and I understand what your triggers are and what works for you and stuff like that. So, yeah.

Yeah, triggers are a big thing with her books too,

Yeah, so check the authors now. So.

she's great at author notes too.

Does she? Does so, yes. Awesome. So now we got finally Word. Do you go over Ette by Maria Temple, which is a fabulous book and a movie too.

And a fabulous movie, and that was one of the reasons I really debated what to pick for my last pick. But I just love Bernadette so much that I had to pick it. Bernadette really reminds me of Lorelei. She's extremely quick witted and it reads that way, like it's almost laugh out loud, funny. And she's very unique. She's also very creative and balancing what motherhood means in the context of her home life and her job life, because she gave up this great career to be a mother and she's sort of spiraling after, several years of mothering. And she goes through these like disastrous events with other moms in the community where she doesn't totally get along with them and they're kind of laugh out loud, funny moments. I think definitely remind you of Lorelei. And then she escapes to Antarctica. And this also reminded me of Lorelei's Wild Adventure where she really needed to find herself again. And while Bernadette's story doesn't deal with grief, it was about personal growth and finding who you are in your life right now. And in the meantime, her daughter's looking for her and trying to find out where she went. So again, you get those mother-daughter vibes.

Yeah, and you get a precautious daughter, like just Rory, who is like wise before on your gears. You don't have a child who is like actually pretty smart and pretty savvy and trying to figure out this mystery and stuff.

Right,

So,

and I definitely recommend the movie as well. That's one that I always think about. I saw it in the theaters because I love the book so much and it's so hard to live up. But Kate Blanchet stars in it, and she's so wonderful.

Yes. Oh, these are awesome recommendations. So talk to us of Friday night readers. What can readers, listeners expect from it and yeah, and where they can.

So I'm shifting right now. I ran a blog called Literary Lifestyle since 2019, and that was really more of a broad based book blog. And in 2020 when I started the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge and the Rory Gilmore Book Club they sort of ran alongside each other where I had this niche that was, my book club community that read these Gilmore Girls books. And then I also had my broad blog on the side. So. Recently I decided to slightly pivot and just to the book club. To sort of expand it a little bit. So it's going to still be Friday night readers. The name comes from Friday night dinners, but instead of going to dinner at Richard's and Emily's, we read like Rory, but the name is slightly more open-ended, so it can still inspire people who aren't yet acquainted with Gil Gilmore Girls to get into our world and get into our community. And not feel like, well, I'm not into Gil Mar, so I can't be part of it. We wanna inspire you to come in and read on Friday nights with us and watch the show and have all of these cozy feel good vibes that feel like Stars Hollow. And this also enables me to talk about things like small town romances and fall books, and all the things that go along with the vibe. So I'm moving it mostly to Substack, and that also allows me to add in. Voice elements and more video elements and community with principals and chats. So we're looking at building it more as a community, whereas before the book club was mostly hosted on Instagram. Substack is allowing me to open up my email list, which is mostly the Gilmore Girls people, and make it more of a community, especially in. A time right now where a lot of things in the world feel really bad. I really want people to be able to escape into something that feels good and for me and for many other people I know that's Gilmore Girls and reading the books on it.

I love this. And so you can sign into Friday Night readers. There's a blog you can sign up for sub, you can follow them on Instagram and just join the conversation.

Love it.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider rate review. You're subscribe. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great day. Bye.

I.