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5 Books for My Fave Characters in Mindy Kaling’s Four Weddings and a Funeral

by  | November 6

It seems to be the season for reboots and revivals, and while some are completely awful and make me want to claw my eyes out…Mindy Kaling’s remake of Four Weddings and a Funeral is all I wanted it to be and more! The new limited series (which you can watch on Hulu now) is a retelling of the classic British romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell. And while the core elements are all still there, Mindy’s spin on it elevates the story.

One of the things I love about this new series is that it features multiple cast members who are people of color! I also really liked that, since it’s a series rather than a movie remake, we are able to get to know these characters a little better and learn more about their backstories. Throughout the series, you see these characters trying to resist acting on romantic feelings that they know can damage their various friendships.

Since I feel like I understand them all pretty well now, here are the books that I think each of my favorite Four Weddings and a Funeral characters may enjoy when they’re off screen.

Thoughtless

Thoughtless

by S.C. Stephens

Maya:
When Maya arrives in London for her college bestie’s wedding, she runs into some trouble at the airport when her luggage goes missing. Thankfully, the airline staff is willing to help her out. (Clearly a fictional story here.) The airline attendant helping Maya happens to be Kash’s father… and unbeknownst to her, Kash is her best friend’s fiancé. While searching through the airport’s luggage hold together, Maya and Kash strike up a conversation and some feelings start to blossom between them. When Maya realizes that this charmingly handsome guy is actually Ainsley’s husband-to-be, she knows she has to bury her growing feelings for him.

If Maya were to pick up Thoughtless by S. C. Stephens, she’d find she has some similarities with Kellan Kyle. Kellan’s best friend, Denny, and his girlfriend, Kiera, move in with him as they are getting settled in Seattle. But as Denny spends longer days at the office, Kiera and Kellan start hanging out more often and start catching feelings for each other….

via GIPHY

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Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed

by Emily Giffin

Ainsley:
What do you do when your best friend falls in love with your fiancé? Like Ainsley, Darcy in Something Borrowed has to deal with the fallout from this unfortunate circumstance. The two have a lot of in common. They are both strong, independent women who become a bit of bridezilla when planning the wedding of their dreams. They get so caught up in the wedding, in fact, that they each don’t realize that they don’t actually love the guys that they were planning to marry.

After they are able to work past the rage of having to cancel their pending nuptials, both Ainsley and Darcy realize there are guys out there who they each actually love more.

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The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Duffy:
Since Duffy is an English teacher and an aspiring novelist himself, I suspect we’d find a dog-eared copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic Jazz Age novel The Great Gatsby in his book collection. Duffy fell in love with Maya in college and was never able to let those feelings for her go. Throughout the series we see him pining for Maya and ignoring other potential love interests instead. Not unlike Jay Gatsby, he makes changes in his life to become more available to Maya, which doesn’t exactly work out well for either one of them. You could imagine Duffy taking solace in a reread of The Great Gatsby, in which an enigmatic millionaire pines for The One Who Got Away, Daisy Buchanan, and hides his pain behind lavish parties.

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Someday, Someday, Maybe

Someday, Someday, Maybe

by Lauren Graham

Kash:
Let’s take a break from stories about falling in love with the “wrong” person. Another thing that I love about this series is that we get to know more about these characters than you are able to in a movie. We find out that Kash hates his job as an investment banker and that he has a secret passion to quit it to try acting. He struggles with this idea he recognizes the financial security his high-level position provides for his ailing father and younger brother.

Kash auditions for a few roles that he can take on as a side hustle in pursuit of his art when he finds out about a community production of The Sound of Music. I could see him enjoying Lauren Graham’s novel Someday, Someday, Maybe. In this charming story, we meet Franny Banks, a struggling actress in New York City who gives herself a three-year deadline to succeed at following her theatrical dreams. At the same time, her father continually tries to get her to move back home and find a job that pays the bills.

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Gunn's Golden Rules

Gunn's Golden Rules

by Tim Gunn

Craig and Zara:
Craig and Zara provide a bit of comic relief on the show with their quirky antics. Both of them are somewhat obsessed with reality TV and pop culture. Early in the series we see the couple come across an obstacle in their relationship that could spell disaster. Zara is sure to pick up any book from her favorite celebs and fashion icons, so Tim Gunn’s Gunn’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work would definitely be on her shelf. The Project Runway mentor’s book could be the perfect read to help coach the duo through and find a way to “make it work!”

via GIPHY

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Saimah works on the Corporate Digital Marketing team at Simon & Schuster. She is a fan of dystopian fiction, celeb memoirs, contemporary rom-coms and murder mysteries. When she's not reading, she is binge-watching her favorite shows, exploring the best rooftop bars in the city and watching sports. Follow her on Instagram at @fire.escape.reads!