‘Gone Girl’ Library

By Jason Boog 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn rocketed to the top of the Indie Bestseller List this week following some great reviews and BEA buzz.

The summer thriller is filled with enough suspense and twists to keep any beach reader happy, but it is also a book about writing. The main characters are avid readers, and they write letters, articles, journals, kid’s books and memoirs. The novel references other books, little Easter eggs nestled in the plot.

We’ve rounded up our five favorite book references in the thriller, building a spoiler-free library for anybody who wishes they could keep reading Gone Girl

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Gone Girl quote: “My dating life seems to rotate around three types of men: preppy Ivy Leaguers who believe they’re characters in a Fitzgerald novel; slick Wall Streeters with money signs in their eyes, their ears, their mouths; and sensitive smart-boys who are so self-aware that everything feels like a joke.”

2. Tom Sawyer (free eBook link) by Mark Twain. Gone Girl quote: “He talks to me in his river-wavy Missouri accent; he was born and raised outside of Hannibal, the boyhood home of Mark Twain, the inspiration for Tom Sawyer.”

3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. Gone Girl quote: “She’d made a grim figure on the Fiji beach during our two-week honeymoon, battling her way through a million mystical pages of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, casting pissy glances at me as I devoured thriller after thriller.”

4. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury Gone Girl quote: “She is reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. A sci-fi girl … ‘Good book,’ I toss over to her, a harmless conversational beach ball.”

5. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: ‘Guess what [he found] for me?’ [she] says. ‘Another book by the Martian Chronicle guy.’ ‘Ray Bradburrow,’ [he] says. Bradbury, I think. ‘Yeah, right. Something Wicked This Way Comes,’ [she] says. ‘It’s good.’