Top 10 books Joe Goldberg from ‘You’ loves to read
You introduced us to the book-loving serial killer Joe Goldberg who we’ve all come to know through two seasons of the Netflix series. Based on the Caroline Kepnes novel of the same name, Goldberg made his debut in 2014.
When he’s not busy spying on women he hasn’t actually met yet, Goldberg can be found with his nose deep into one of the many books he references throughout the series. We’ve compiled some of our favorite books that Goldberg loves as well. You can check out the full list below.
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On The Road – Jack Kerouac
On The Road is the most famous novel by the Beat generation pioneer Jack Kerouac. The story follows the narrator, who is based on Kerouac, and his friend Dean Moriarty through five parts of the novel, three of which are about road trips with the two young men. Goldberg references the classic novel when questioning Benji, Beck’s semi-boyfriend, while he has him locked in the bookstore basement.
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Brave New World is a dystopian novel that takes place in a futuristic world colonized by genetically created humans and focuses on the consequences of government overreach. The Huxley novel is often compared to George Orwell’s work, 1984, another dystopian novel set in a futuristic world with a focus on Big Brother. We can also see the book sitting in the pile of selections Goldberg’s new “you” has poolside as the final episode comes to a close.
The Catcher In The Rye – J.D. Salinger
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The Catcher In The Rye follows the angst, innocence and alienation of teenage protagonist Holden Caulfield. The J.D. Salinger novel is one of the most famous young-adult works of all time. In the second episode of season 1, we learn that Beck’s best friend Peach Salinger is a distant cousin to the author of one of the most classic works of literature.
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Crime And Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
This Russian novel plays a large role in Goldberg getting hired at his new job at Anavrin in season 2, and Goldberg can be seen reading it throughout, including the final scene. The novel follows Rodion Raskolnikov, a former student in Saint Petersburg who compiles a plan to kill a woman for her money.
Desperate Characters – Paula Fox
Desperate Characters is the book Beck buys from Goldberg in the very first episode of You. The novel follows a middle-aged couple who are trapped in a loveless marriage, showing their fragile emotional states as they go about their lives together and with close friends.
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Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
This 1605 novel follows the adventures of a hidalgo, Alonso Quixano. He loses his mind after reading so many romance pieces. The novel influenced The Three Musketeers and The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn to name a couple. Many now view the novel as a tragedy, with his idea on nobility being possibly insane. Goldberg gives a copy to his neighbor Paco in the first season, but his mother’s boyfriend, Ron, tears the book to pieces.
The Old Man And The Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Although this 1952 title is never mentioned, Goldberg references Hemingway in the second season and multiple times throughout the series. The Old Man And The Sea was the last major fiction work by Hemingway, and it went on to be one of his most famous works of all time. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and contributed to his winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
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Ozma Of Oz – L. Frank Baum
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Ozma Of Oz is the third book in L. Frank Baum’s Oz series, and it’s the book Goldberg stole from Salinger in the first season. The novel is illustrated in color throughout, and although it’s an Oz book, the Land of Oz doesn’t appear until the end of the story.
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights was Emily Brontë’s only finished novel, and she is the sister to Charlotte Bontë, who wrote Jane Eyre. Wuthering Heights is the ancient manor that the main character, Lockwood, is now living in. Lockwood asks his housekeeper, Nelly Dean, to tell him stories from Wuthering Heights, which she does beginning with her childhood. Goldberg can be heard referencing this famous novel in episode five of the first season. It’s also seen when Joe gifts the book to his ex-girlfriend Candace, and it’s later ripped up.
The Count Of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
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This adventure novel takes place just before the Hundred Days period (after Napoleon returned to power) and follows a wrongfully imprisoned man who escapes and sets out to seek revenge on those responsible for his wrongful sentence. Goldberg suggests the book to Paco (as well as Dumas’ novel The Three Musketeers) in season 1. Paco gets mad at the plot because the man waits 24 years for justice, in which Goldberg replies, “It’s all about the long game.”
What’s your favorite book that Joe Goldberg loves? Let us know in the comments below!
