100 Must-Read Books from the 90s

100 Must-Read Books from the 90s Bring out your turtlenecks and combat boots, and join us in reading our way down  the 1990s! (If you, like me, are a 90s kid, you can pick a book from this list to tick off an item on our Read Harder Challenge 2016.) Some notes: I have tried to avoid series like Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire, YA like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and novels like Fight Club and Infinite Jest: these are books that readers everywhere already know about; weve either already read them and watched the TV/movie adaptations, or never plan to. This is not to say that Rowling and Chuck Palahniuks contributions to the literature of the 90s is not valuable, but so as to leave space for other brilliant works from the decadeto discover something new.  I have also avoided the repetition of authors. Since this list is not genre-specific, I have tried to tag each  book with the shortest possible description after listing it: an indication to its genre, and whether it is fiction or non-fiction; a novel, play, or short story collection. Poetry anthologies and comics are listed separately. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (novel, historical  literary fiction) A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer (YA novel, historical fiction) Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play) Art by Yasmina Reza (Tony Award-winning play) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (novel, historical literary fiction) Bag of Bones by Stephen King (novel, fiction, horror) Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (novel, historical fiction) Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (short story collection, literary fiction) Blindness by José Saramago (novel, dystopian science fiction) Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (novel, historical fiction) Charming Billy by Alice McDermott (novel, contemporary fiction) City of Djinns by William Darymple (travelogue/novel set in Delhi, India) Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar (novel, historical fiction) Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami (translated to English by Alfred Birnbaum in 1994; novel, fiction, magic realism) Dangerous Angels (Weetzie Bat #1-5) by Francesca Lia Block (YA fantasy fiction, magic realism) Delhi by Khushwant Singh (novel, contemporary fiction) Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur (novel, literary fiction) Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama (non-fiction, memoir) Drown by Junot Díaz (short story collection, fiction) Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland (novel, contemporary fiction) Ghostwritten by David Mitchell (novel, contemporary/literary fiction) Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (novel, fantasy fiction) High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (novel, contemporary fiction) Holes by Louis Sachar (YA novel, Newberry Award-winner) Imaginary Homelands by Salman Rushdie (collection of essays) In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh (a narrative ethnography) Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard (play, themes of art and culture) Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (short story collection, Pulitzer Prize-winner) Jazz by Toni Morrison (novel, historical fiction) Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz (novel, fiction, horror) My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (novel, historical fiction) My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (novel, contemporary fiction) Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (YA novel, fantasy fiction) Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel García Márquez (novel, fiction, magic realism) On Love by Alain de Botton (novel, fiction, romance) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (novel, speculative fiction/historical romance) Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (novel, childrens fiction/YA) Possession by A. S. Byatt (novel, historiographic metafiction) Pulp by Charles Bukowski (novel, detective fiction) Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas (YA novel) Sabriel by Garth Nix (YA novel, fantasy) Scenes from a Writers Life by Ruskin Bond (memoir) Skellig by David Almond (novel, childrens fiction, magic realism) Shiloh by Phyllis Naylor (novel, childrens fiction/YA) So Far From God by Ana Castillo (novel, feminist/fantasy fiction) The Bad Beginning  (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket (novel, childrens fiction, absurdist/mystery) The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (novel, historical/contemporary fiction) The Giver by Lois Lowry (YA novel, utpoian/dystopian) The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (novel, historical/literary fiction) The Haunted Land: Facing Europes Ghosts After Communism by Tina Rosenberg (non-fiction, European History) The Hedge Knight by George R. R. Martin (novella, high fantasy fiction) The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead (novel, speculative fiction) The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie (short story collection, fantasy fiction) The Magicians Assistant by Ann Patchett (novel, literary fiction) The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (novel, mystery/detective fiction) The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (novel, literary fiction) The Secret History by Donna Tartt (novel, fiction, inverted detective story) The Sparrow by  Mary Doria Russell (novel, science fiction) The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (YA novel, fantasy/adventure) The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro (novel, contemporary fiction) The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler (play, feminist non-fiction) Three Tall Women by Edward Albee (Pulitzer Prize-winning play, fiction) Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (novel, fiction, historical romance) Trying to Grow by Firdaus Kanga (novel, fiction) Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (YA novel, fiction) White Teeth by Zadie Smith (novel, literary fiction) Wise Children by Angela Carter (novel, fiction, magic realism) Wit by Margaret Edson (Pulitzer Prize-winning play, themes of mortality and human relationships) Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros (poetic short story collection) . POETRY ANTHOLOGIES Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe  (edited by Miguel Algarín and Bob Holman) An Atlas of the Difficult World by Adrienne Rich Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes Falling Up by Shel Silverstein First Four Books of Poems by  Louise Gluck Jimmy and Rita by Kim Addonizio Love Poems by Nikki Giovani New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver She by Saul Williams The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes . COMICS Astro City, Vol. 1: Life in the Big City by Kurt Busiek, art by Brent Anderson Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith Basara Vol. 1 by Yami Tamura Black Panther  #1 by Christopher J. Priest, art by  Joe Quesada, Mark Texeira Card Captor Sakura, Vol. 1 by CLAMP Complete Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel Doom Patrol, #64 to 87 by Rachel Pollack Ghost World by Daniel Clowes Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 1 by Nobuhiro Watsuki Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman Monster, Vol. 1:  Herr Dr. Tenma by Naoki Urasawa Palestine  #1-2 by Joe Sacco Preacher, Vol. 1: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis, art by Steve Dillon Sailor Moon, #1 by Naoko Takeuchi Supergirl by  Peter David, art by  Gary Frank, Cam Smith, Karl Story, Terry Dodson The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson The Complete Strangers in Paradise, Vol. 1 by Terry Moore The Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin, art by  George Pérez, Ron Lim The Flash: Born to Run by Mark Waid, art by  Tom Peyer, Greg LaRocque, Jim Aparo, Pop Mhan The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore, art by  Kevin ONeill The Sandman, Vol: 1: Brief Lives  by Neil Gaiman, art by Jill Thompson, Vince Locke