Meet Me at Miss Patty's: Gilmore Book Club with Kristine Eckart

I am all in. Again! More, more, more. I want to kiss you more. More, more, more.

I want to kiss you more.

Meet me at Miss Patty's with Easton Allen. I have been waiting for over an hour. This is Easton Allen. It is meet me. I miss Patty's. You were given simple instructions. I've been waiting here all day, but I'm so glad to be with you guys. They were going to have so much fun. Here's what we do on this podcast. We're exploring all the different events, all the fun. fandoms, all the great stuff that goes on beyond the screen of Gilmore Girls. These are things you can experience yourself.

You can connect with other Gilmore Girls fans. It's just, it's been such a blast doing this. And the blasting continues this week. We're talking to Christine Eckert. I know you know her name. If you're a Gilmore Girls fan, you know who Christine is. She is a power player in this industry. She is the mastermind behind Gilmore Book Club.

And that is GilmoreBookClub.com and Instagram at Gilmore Book Club. She put together reading lists and book clubs around all kinds of different fandoms, like Friends, The Office. I think she worked on Lord of the Rings. So much cool stuff, but mostly Gilmore Girls. She is working through the Rory Gilmore reading list. There's a list that has been compiled of every book referenced in Gilmore Girls, not just by Rory, but every book referenced or read by a character in Gilmore Girls. And Christine is working through it along with her merry crew of book club members, which you can be a part of too at GilmoreBookClub.com. She's also become a writer herself. She has made the transition. She has got behind the keyboard. She has a new book out.

It's called Meet Me at Luke's. Very fun for me to say here on Meet Me at Miss Patty's. That is available now on Amazon or your local bookstore. It's a collection of essays and life lessons that she picked up from the Gilmore Girls world and being a fan of the show and sharing it with others. So much great stuff to get into. We're going to talk to Christine right now. On the line with me now, Christine Eckert, the mastermind, the big boss, the inspiration behind the Gilmore Book Club. I am so excited to talk to you.

What an honor. How's it going, Christine? Thanks for joining us this morning. Amazing.

Thank you so much for having me.

Oh my goodness. Okay, so if you guys haven't browsed the Gilmore Book Club on Instagram or at their website, GilmoreBookClub.com, Christina's done something that I think is so cool and something I, as a pop culture fan, I just latch onto so much. You've made a reading list of every book that Rory Gilmore references or reads in the entirety of Gilmore Girls. What an undertaking. Yeah. And forgive me, how many of those books have you read yourself? Have you read all of them?

Not yet. I will get there. There are over 400 in the original series, probably over five or six when you count A Year in the Life. I will say this list was circulating in various forms before I did the tracker, which counts for you because who wants to count 400 books?

Of course.

I've read 175. Wow. Um, so far.

Yeah.

Um, which is a healthy number, but compared to what Rory reads, it's still quite small.

That's, that's a, that's a lifetime number for a lot of people. Like, like people who reach that in their lifetime. So that's, that is impressive. Uh, which is okay.

I don't want anyone to feel like this is something they can't like they see Rory and how bookish she is. And people feel like they can't undertake that themselves. I don't want that to be their experience. For me, this is, like you said, a lifetime thing. And I think to be able to enjoy your way through that or any book, like it shouldn't be just because somebody else told you to read it. It should be an experience for you in whatever way you need to experience that, whether it's you pick it up and go, oh, okay, not right now.

I need that in maybe three years.

That's fine.

So yeah, I don't want it to be as intimidating. I know it does sound that way, but it should be an experience for you.

I love that so much. Uh, so I, you know, I was kind of browsing the list and, uh, and also just from watching the show, I think about how, like, there are some, there, there are a lot of books on there that you would expect, like, you know, of mice and men, uh, year of magical thinking, Joe did Joe Didion, things like that. Is there a book that classics classic, you know, uh, and is there a book that is on the list that Rory read or reference that completely caught you by surprise? That is like, so, so something that is out there. And not what you would expect from someone like Rory Gilmore.

So one of the misconceptions about the list is that all of the books are from Rory. And that's not the case. Lorelai reads and references some. Of course, a lot of it is the one and only Jess Mariano.

Yes.

Dean has a few. Luke has. So like a lot of the characters reference things. And that just goes back to Amy Sherman Palladino, how she writes and how her writers write because of her. So everybody is very reference heavy. Obviously, Rory sort of conducts the pickle train, as it were. But, you know, some of the like Jess Dean books are pretty out there, like Confederacy of Dances. I had a hard time with.

That's a tough one.

I Yeah. Some of them are just so stylized. Like Hunter Thompson is just very stylized. If Jess were to write a book, I'm sure this would come out of his brain, his teenage brain maybe, maybe not his adult brain. And so those were just harder for me because the style is not generally what I would gravitate toward. But I do think it's valuable to read things that are sort of out of your comfort zone. Yeah. I think maybe in Cold Blood, it's actually referenced on the show for Luke. But I do think it's something Rory would have read Truman Capote because that's a pretty classic literature thing to read. But I'm not a horror person. And if I can reference another show, that is one I would like to put in the freezer.

Oh, interesting.

A Friends reference where Joey puts books that he doesn't like in the freezer. And I'm not a. That is one that I was like, I can't.

I'm not a Friends person. You have to forgive me. I did not know that. And that is so funny.

That is why I said it. But a lot of people have understood that he reads Little Women and Rachel reads The Shining, I think. But when he gets scared, he likes to put.

Books in the freezer.

And so for me, that's just very out of character. But That's when I get to read things as a writer and go, okay, let's look at the writing. Let's look at something else that I'm, yes, paying attention to the plot, but can sort of take myself out of. So while that doesn't scream Rory to me, I do think it's something that she would have read.

I love it. What a great answer to that. Thank you. As you mentioned, you have made the cross from reader to writer. You are a writer yourself. Meet Me at Luke's is the book. You can get it on Amazon. You can get it at your local bookstore, too. uh, a collection of, um, a collection of essays, life lessons from Gilmore girls. Uh, what was, when you decided to sit down and actually, let me, let me rephrase that.

This is a collection of essays or something. Had you been kind of writing this as you've gone along and then collected them? Or did you at one point say, I want to write a book. I want to join the world of, of authors. How did that experience happen for you?

I am very Rory, and I've always known what I wanted to be since I was little. I've always wanted to be a writer in some capacity. When I started doing the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge back in, I think, 2018, I started a blog just to sort of chronicle my way through that. So if you read some of the essays on the blog, they are different from Meet Me at Luke's. But there are tidbits in there that are the same. And it was a way of not only building an audience, but also sort of exploring some themes and stuff for myself in hopes of, I would always love to turn this into a book one day. And I did that. And I hope I can do that for more fandoms. Like you said, I love pop culture and I love getting into all this stuff. So I

would love to take the life lessons on journeys through all the fandoms because I find People are rarely just in one singular fandom. They do like them all. There are a lot of Lord of the Rings references in Gilmore Girls.

Yeah.

If you know what you're looking for. But this is one of my true love communities. And to be a part of the Gilmore Girls fandom in any way is such a blessing and an honor. And they're just the loveliest people.

The absolute best. Every Gilmore fan I've met has been so kind and excited and curious. Just the best kind of people. That being said, I don't want to deviate too far from Gilmore Girls, but Lord of the Rings you just mentioned, is there another fan that you are drawn to the most right at this specific moment in October of 2026? Is there a fandom that you're like really drawn to right now?

So I'm watching Grey's Anatomy for probably also the billionth time.

Wow. Wow.

Yes. It's one of my other shows and it's incredibly different from Gilmore Girls. It's a bit of an accident getting into it, but I love it so much. So that's what I was watching this morning before the interview. But I've also just been getting into Ted Lasso a little bit. I was hesitant because of the sports, but it's one of my dad's favorite shows. And I know it is big in pop culture. So I was like, I'll test. And we just got Apple TV. So I was testing the waters a little bit and it's been really funny and endearing at the same time. And I think it will be one of the next shows on my list to get a reading list for the other shows that I watch. I do make reading lists for those as well. And these were not in existence when

I started. So I currently have like Gossip Girl in the office and all kinds of Boy Meets World. They're coming out with a book and I made a Boy Meets World list. Um, so I think Ted Lasso might be next on my, uh, pop culture list to get a reading guide. Yeah.

Oh my goodness. And these, uh, these other reading lists, these are available at gilmorebookclub.com. Is that right?

That's right.

Christine, you're just the best. We have so much more to get into, but unfortunately I got to stop you there. I got to stop you there because do you hear that? Do you hear that off in the distance? It's commercial. Sorry, everybody. We're back. It's Meet Me at Miss Patty's. My name is Easton Allen. I'm hanging out here with Christine Eckert, author of Meet Me at Luke's, the mastermind, the organizer behind the Gilmore Book Club. That's GilmoreBookClub.com. So you have some live events coming up. And before we get into that, I just want to ask you about Destination Stars Hollow in Brighton, Michigan. We talked about it on this podcast.

I was supposed to be there and then I got pulled into something else. I unfortunately couldn't make it. I was so sad to miss that event, but Christine was there. You had a book signing that sold out for Meet Me at Luke's. What was it like being at Destination Stars Hollow, Stars with a Z, I should say, in beautiful Brighton, Michigan? Tell me all about it.

It was insane in the best of ways. The town, Brighton, just went all out. And I've been to several Gilmore Girls Festivals and I will go to the mall. I mean, I love them. They're all on my bucket list. But just everything from like the dozies, you know, display with cornstarch in the back. And there was a bridal store that had people come out in their formal wear with umbrellas at the top. And you could just see them like it could have been anyone. You could just see them from the ground. It was amazing. that the whole main street just transformed themselves into Stars Hollow. And I mean, you could just walk around and feel like you were there.

It was incredible. I also hosted the lookalike contest with Anne, one of the event organizers, and the fans just did an incredible job. Like I had a blast. I know I was there to sell books and sign books, but as a fan, that is one of my favorite things. And so to host that was amazing. And We had a really tough decision trying to narrow it down and like judge what the audience wanted. And we just had some incredible, incredible fans put like their heart and souls into gathering these looks that were like down to a T.

Like this is the book that they had in their hand during this scene or something like that. Just incredibly detailed. It was amazing.

That that's incredible.

Wow.

Um, and, uh, a, um, a multi hyphenate over here. Cause she will host your lookalike contest. Uh, everybody out there that that's awesome.

A lot of things will host your book club a lot.

Yeah. So, uh, you know, Gilmore book club, that is, that is the website and, uh, and the Instagram, I should say, um, you, uh, you host a lot of book clubs and just from browsing your website, there's So many. And I think that is so incredible. What what do you I've, you know, admittedly never been part of a book club. And it's something I've been getting. I read a lot in like high school and then I fell out.

I'm getting back into it now. I'm very excited about it. My wife's an English lit major. She is very, very well read. She loves to read something she loves about Gilmore Girls is how many literary references there are. what, uh, what's your favorite part about hosting book clubs? Like what about that community drew you in?

Um, very much like your wife. I've always been a reader. Um, but I understand the feeling of, I mean, I also went through high school and we were reading grapes of wrath and I was like, what is going on? Why do I care about this? And I think for me, it's, Finding a way to connect with literature or with any piece of art, that's not necessarily the way that many of us have been brought up to look at it.

Like a lot of us are sort of in a Paris mindset of you have to write the paper and know all the things and the dates and the facts and blah, blah, blah. The way I run book club is a little more Lorelei in I don't care if you finish the book. I don't care if you necessarily read it. You could watch the movie or the TV show.

That's great. I just want you to show up and have an open mind and participate because once we get to talking about things, people are like, Oh, that character is really interesting. That's something I could pay attention to. Or now I am looking forward to reading this book that maybe I was feeling scared or intimidated by before.

It's a very personal way of going through it. Like if something doesn't matter to you, I don't want to force you into knowing. This is one of the questions for my high school. How much, uh, Mr. Darcy is worth and how many pounds he has a year. And everybody always got that question wrong on test. I'm like, you know what? That is not necessarily the point of Pride and Prejudice. That's not why people love it so much is because they know how rich Darcy is. That's not the point. So if something stands out to you and is important to you and your life, that's what I want to focus on. And that's what people connect to, those human experiences. And those are in every book. And that's what can really change people's outlook on reading, but

also themselves. I've met a lot of incredibly smart, wonderful people who think that they're dumb because they can't read books in the way that we've been told to read books. And I'm like, you're the smartest, most creative person ever. There's no way that you're dumb, I promise. And it's just because they don't fit the whatever standardized test version of literature there is. Yeah. Changing that and getting people to really connect with it is why I really love book club because it's not, it is a very no pressure, no shame, Lorelai type of book club for me.

I love that. That makes me so excited. I am just so impressed by you. And Meet Me at Luke's, it is out now. And you have some stuff coming up. Really, really exciting. If people want to meet you, hang out with you, talk to you about books, about Meet Me at Luke's, about Gilmore Girls. Your next event as we record this, La Haska, Pennsylvania. Hope I'm saying that right.

Mama Hawk's Luke's Takeover. You'll be there October 10th. And you'll be doing a signing at the LaHoska Bookshop from 1 to 3 p.m. So everyone go out and check that out. And then in Nashville in November on the 14th, you'll be at the Gilmore cookie decorating class. Oh, my God. I am so jealous of everyone that gets to go to that. I'm so excited. That is so fun. Are you a cookie decorating person? Are you really good at it?

So I think I could be if it were a thing that I did often, which it's not. I am more of a baker than I am a chef. I really hope there's some sort of Luke out there for me because I do not cook. We could put shoes in my oven. It would probably be fine. But I am excited to get back into it and have a self, not self-guided, but obviously there's a professional who does make these incredible looking cookies to sort of guide us how to do that ourselves. So I'm really excited to get back into that. And hopefully there are some more surprises and events along the way because every fall, I mean, every season in my mind, but every fall for the world is Gilmore season.

And we are deep in Gilmore season right now. Thank you so much for taking the time, Christine. You're just so cool. I'm so inspired by hearing you and looking at everything you've done. You're just the absolutely coolest person in the world. It's Christine Eckert, GilmoreBookClub.com. Everybody go check that out and check out Meet Me at Luke's. It's the best. She's the best. Thank you so much again and have so much fun at these events. Uh, decorate some cookies. Uh, thanks for joining me. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks.

Have a good one.

Hey everybody, don't forget, follow us on Instagram at I am all in podcast and email us at Gilmore at I heart radio.com.

Meet Me at Miss Patty's: Gilmore Book Club with Kristine Eckart

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