Friends

We Found All The Books Read By The Gang In Friends

Wednesday, August 9, 2017 - 09:58

The time period of Friends was a world away from our own. No iPhones, no PSVR, no fun. The only way to relieve the boredom was by reading an actual book. Crazy.

So we wondered: what books did the characters read? Not the fake ones made up for the show, but the real, true, actual, big time classics out there in our world?

What we found was a little strange. Joey has read way more than we thought, but we could barely find anything on Monica's shelf. Check out the full list below!

All The Books Read In Friends

We've scoured Friends for literary goodies and think we've worked out all of the books the characters *definitely* read. First up, Ross.

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Yep, in the image before he was trawling through Race by Studs Terkel. Terkel won a Pulitzer Prize (for a different book), so well played, Ross.

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Unfortunately, Ross wasn't great at the magic eye everyone else could see.

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Yertle the Turtle - a "classic", according to Dr. Geller.

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Ross apparently teaches this book in his class, which is either a lie or a very weird thing to teach in a science degree.

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While Joey "had sex" in high school, Ross was reading the Lord of the Rings. We know which one is better.

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Okay, Chandler, what do you read?

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Chandler loves an inspirational tale, straight from this sickly-sweet tome.

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At one point he also works in a reference to "Of Mice and Men", proving that he's either read it or had someone tell him all about it.

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Apparently this is a classic, but we haven't read it. When prompted by Chandler, neither has Joey.

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What better way to say, "I secretly love you"?

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Impatient to get to the end, Chandler very quickly learns that the engine "can".

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You may recognise this as the book Chandler naps to while Joey drills a hole.

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Now, what's on Phoebe's reading list?

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We're not sure Phoebe totally got Jack and the Beanstalk, but she's definitely read it.

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She also totally plagiarised The Night Before Christmas. Sickening.

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Through her literature class, Phoebe gets into Jane Eyre - then totally lies about the plot to Rachel.

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She also reads Wuthering Heights: Phoebe loves the classics.

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Joey's not a big reader, right? WRONG.

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For a guy who constantly talks about not reading, he manages to make references to classics like The Unbearable Lightness of Being...

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... and even Orwell's 1984. Joey, we hardly knew you.

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He also does a great dramatic reading of Love You Forever.

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Though he's a little cruel with fake spoilers from this helpful little book.

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No Little Women spoilers, please.

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Next up, Rachel.

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Surely you knew this already? Right?

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We assume she's read the Bible, since she grabs it for Phoebe when she's giving birth.

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Rachel is also a confirmed Danielle Steel fan. We don't know which books she's read specifically, but they're kind of all the same (we imagine). So here's DADDY.

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Weirdly, we don't really know what Monica reads, except for "the really boring book with the two women who were ice-skating". Any help?

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We also think she's read The Hobbit, since she corrects Rachel's false association of the Tolkein adventure with the (fake) self-help book Be Your Own Windkeeper.

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