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You (2018)/Season 1/Paco's book club: Frankenstein

Paco's book club: Frankenstein

Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley)

YouSleuthed by @shelfsleuth
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What it tells you

Joe lends his neighbor Paco a run of leather-bound classics: The Three Musketeers, Frankenstein, Ozma of Oz, Wuthering Heights and The Count of Monte Cristo. Dumas takes two of the five slots. Joe is the kind of mentor who has a syllabus.

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Ozma of Oz turns up again

3 scenes
Peach's bookshelf: Ozma of Oz. Still from You: Ozma of Oz
You · S1 E2 · 27:55Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth
Season 1, Episode 2, "The Last Nice Guy in New York" · Joe Goldberg · Peach's bookshelf

Peach's bookshelf: Ozma of Oz

Joe is working his way along Peach Salinger's floor-to-ceiling bookcase when he pulls out Ozma of Oz. The cover credits the pictures to Jno. R. Neill, who took over drawing Oz after Baum and W. W. Denslow fell out. One look at it and the episode cuts to the vault, so Peach's shelves just told Joe more about Joe than about Peach.

Still © Netflix. Shown for commentary.

Locked in the vault: Ozma of Oz. Still from You: Ozma of Oz
You · S1 E2 · 28:05Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth
Season 1, Episode 2, "The Last Nice Guy in New York" · Joe Goldberg (as a teen) · The vault at Mooney's

Locked in the vault: Ozma of Oz

Right after Joe finds Peach's copy, the episode flashes back to Mr. Mooney locking a teenage Joe in the basement vault for the first time. He passes the time with Ozma of Oz. Baum's 1907 sequel opens with Dorothy adrift in a chicken coop with a hen named Billina, so the kid picked the one book in the room about making the best of a box.

Still © Netflix. Shown for commentary.

The stack · 5 books

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Cover of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

1The Three Musketeers

Alexandre Dumas · 1844 · novel

Dumas ran it as a newspaper serial in 1844. Joe hands it to a kid, which is the oldest cliffhanger delivery system there is.

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Cover of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

2Frankenstein

Mary Shelley · 1818 · novel

Mary Shelley was 20 when this came out anonymously in 1818. It is about a man who makes something, ignores it, and acts shocked at the result, which is also a fair review of Joe's relationships.

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Cover of Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum

3Ozma of Oz

L. Frank Baum · 1907 · novel

L. Frank Baum's third Oz book, from 1907, is the one where Dorothy washes up in a new country with a talking hen named Billina. It is the least pretentious book on the loaner shelf, and probably the one Paco finishes.

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Cover of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

4Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë · 1847 · novel

Emily Brontë published it in 1847 under the name Ellis Bell. It is about an adopted orphan who comes back for revenge, so Joe is lending a revenge novel to an impressionable neighbor.

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Cover of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

5The Count of Monte Cristo

Alexandre Dumas · 1844 · novel

Dumas again, also 1844, about a man wrongfully imprisoned for 14 years who plans every detail of what he does next. Joe has notes on planning.

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The show

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You

2018 · Lifetime, then Netflix
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Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth · 2026-10-19

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