By Emily Wiekl
Staff Writer
The written word has been around us for ages. From picture books to short stories to novels that had to be read for English class, narratives have been with us along our journey into adulthood. But during the years we were born, what were the hit books? I’ve compiled a list of books from some leading authorities on books – The New York Times, Time Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, The Young Adult Library Services Association, Medium. com and Goodreads.
1993
- “A Suitable Boy” by Vikram Seth
- “Birdsong” by Sebastian Faulks
- “Girl, Interrupted” by Susanna Kaysen
- “The Bridges of Madison County” by Robert James Waller • “The Client” by Josh Grisham
- “The Giver” by Lois Lowry
- “Nightmares & Dreamscapes” by Stephen King
- “The Shipping News” by E. Annie Proulx
- “The Virgin Suicides” by Jeffery Eugenides
- “Trainspotting” by Irvine Welsh
1994
- “A Frolic of His Own” by William Gaddis
- “The Gift” by Danielle Steel
- “In The Lake of the Woods” by Tim O’Brien
- “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story” by John Berendt
- “One for The Money (Stephanie Plum, #1)” by Janet Evanovich
- “Open Secrets: Stories” by Alice Munro
- “Remember Me” by Mary Higgins Clark
- “Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson
- “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami (Translated into English in 1997 by Jay Rubin)
- “Wizard’s First Rule (Sword of Truth, #1)” by Terry Goodkind
1995
- “American Tabloid” by James Ellroy
- “A Child Called ‘It’ (Dave Pelzer #1)” by Dave Pelzer
- “Beach Music” by Pat Conroy
- “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” by Barack Obama
- “The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, #1)” by Philip Pullman
- “The Island of the Day Before” by Umberto Eco
- “Sabbath’s Theater” by Philip Roth
- “Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1)” by Garth Nix
- “Where the Heart Is” by Billie Letts
- “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)” by Gregory Maguire
1996
- “A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)” by George R.R. Martin
- • “Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir” by Frank McCourt
- “Atticus” by Ron Hansen • “Bridget Jones’s Diary (Bridget Jones, #1)” by Helen Fielding
- “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood” by Rebecca Wells
- “Executive Orders” by Tom Clancy
- “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” by Terry McMillan
- “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace
- “Sister” by A. Manette Ansay
- “The Notebook (The Notebook, #1)” by Nicholas Sparks
1997
- • “American Pastoral” by Phillip Roth •
- “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Harry Potter, #1)” by J.K. Rowling •
- “Mason & Dixon” by Thomas Pynchon •
- “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden •
- “Plum Island” by Nelson DeMille •
- “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant •
- “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom •
- “Sole Survivor” by Dean R. Koontz •
- “Unnatural Exposure” by Patricia Cornwell
1998
- • “A Man in Full” by Tom Wolfe •
- “A Widow For One Year” by John Irving •
- “Birthday Letters” by Ted Hughes •
- “Digital Fortress” by Dan Brown •
- “Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth” by Richard Fortey •
- “Holes (Holes, #1)” by Louis Sachar •
- “Paradise” by Toni Morrison •
- “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver •
- “Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.” by Ron Chernow •
- “What Girls Learn” by Karin Cook
