Essential '90s reading list?

[Dick Whitman]

Today I bought, "Heavier Than Heaven," a biography of Kurt Cobain. Since it's the 20th anniversary of the release of "Nevermind," I've really been thinking a lot about Nirvana, the Seattle scene, and, really, the '90s in general.

I wouldn't call it nostalgia as much as reflecting back on the formative years of my life and putting them in context.

Some books I think you have to read to understand the '90s:

"First in His Class" by David Maraniss (Biography of Bill Clinton)
"Run of His Life" by Jeff Toobin (Definitive book on the Simpson trial)
"Boys Will Be Boys" by Jeff Pearlman (for us sports fans, the story of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty)
"The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright (The rise of radical Islam and al-Qaeda, which eventually culminated in 9/11)

What else?

 

[Matt Stephens]

The entire Goosebumps series.

/thread

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

 

[The Big Ragu]

Bridget Jones's Diary.

 

[Brian]

"Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" By Wallace and "The Prize" by Yergin.

They explain the decade socially and politically better than anything else I read.

 

[joe]

I would disagree with "Brief Interviews" explaining the '90s. That book, for me, was a lot of things, but I didn't take it as a treatise on any particular time. Great book either way, but a whole lot of depressing.

For my money, "Infinite Jest" says a lot more about today's consumer culture and the nature of entertainment and our relation to both. And a whole ****load of other stuff. It's a gargantuan undertaking to read it — and even after that, it reveals itself even more on the second reading. Truly, a masterwork by a master who left us far too early.*

Never read Yergin, so I can't comment on that one.

* Although DFW and Cobain died earlier than we (I) would have liked, I've always wondered if perhaps they said all they had to say when they committed suicide. As if their work was done, and that's all there is and all that needs to be said. We can speculate about what might have been for them (or Lennon or Pryor or Carlin or whoever), but what we're left with is what they did. And for my money, DFW and Cobain left work that will withstand the test of time.

 

[farmerjerome]

I know Steven King's Dark Tower series spanned several decades but some of it was published in the 90s.

Howard Stern's Private Parts was one of funniest books I've ever read.