20 Best Books Of 1990S (2023 Update)

If you are Gen X like me or just a history buff this is a great look back into the decade that made us who we are. The music and the political scandals- social movements that started. Tapes that were banned. It’s just a really in depth but still fun look back to the decade I grew ip in. Middle school through college graduation were my 90-2000 so it’s fun to look back now as a 44 year old woman and see how my perspective on events has changed.katie.m

Carrie Boretz is a phenomenally talented photographer, and these images of New York City streets of the 70's, 80's and 90's capture an iconic time in Manhattan's history. Just stunning….A beautiful and wonderful book! A+++++++member9162818

Martin changes the narrative structure from GoT: this is a longer chronicle that stretches multiple decades (more than a century) and covers the rise of House Targaryen. It moves at a much faster pace that the earlier series. A good read, and I got a good deal on the book: slightly used, but like new.ranwulf

I was excited to get this book because I love "The Game of Thrones " books so much but I must admit that I wasn't expecting alot from it. I am happy to write that I was so wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed every paragraph. It more than met my expectations & exceeded them by miles. I loved every page & can't wait for the 2nd one!Forrest

I wanted to like this book but it was a real chore to finish it. I can't believe how boring it was! Sad. Even as a concordance it reads like a poorly put together laundry list. I bought this thinking it would be an interesting read-wrong. I ended up irritated instead of entertained. On a happier note The Hedge Knight series is a real joy. I should have skipped this one.kate

Quality of publication and Schulz's content are without question; excellent. A large heavy book such as this is always going to present problems for safe freight\delivery and this is where Booktopia have excelled; careful packaging made sure this book arrived safely intact.. in the same condition it left the publisher.Danny

Excellent writing, compelling story though little happens physically. A story of morals and inner life. Wish there more like itbigjohnof406

Small Things Like These is a novella by award-winning Irish author, Claire Keegan which can be easily read in one sitting. In December 1985, in the little Irish town of New Ross, coal and timber merchant, William Furlong delivers a load of fuel to convent next door to St Margaret's school, where two of his daughters are taught. Sister Carmel being absent, he opens the chapel door to find a group of young women on hands and knees, polishing the floors, one of whom begs him to take her away. He has heard, and perhaps dismissed, the rumours about the convent's training school for girls, that girls in trouble are made to work in the laundries. He gets on with his job. Then, on the icy Sunday before Christmas, he has another load of coal to deliver to the convent. He's a little early, and none of the Good Shepherd nuns are at the coal shed to meet him, but eager to get on, he unlocks the shed. What he finds, or actually whom, is a shock, and despite the ready cover story that the Mother Superior provides, her smoothly convincing act, William is disturbed. Her veiled threat towards the future of his daughters and his business, should he make any sort of fuss about what he has encountered, while it is echoed by his wife and others in the town, disturbs him even more. "…you want to get on in life, there's things you have to ignore, so you can keep on" William cannot forget that he was born to an unwed mother in 1946, and his mother had only escaped the same fate as those girls he has seen through the Christian generosity of a Protestant widow. But for Mrs Wilson, where might William have ended up? Can he really tolerate the status quo? "He found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?" Keegan deftly portrays a hard-working man who is charitable and generous, both with what he has and his opinions of those around him. Her descriptive prose easily captures the setting and the mindset of society at that time, the power of the Catholic Church in small Irish towns. This powerful little tale demonstrates just how the Magdalen laundries were able to persist in a first-world country until four years short of the twenty-first Century and illustrates the saying that evil persists where good men fail to act. An uplifting story. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Grove Atlantic.Cloggie Downunder

Looking at the cover of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, my expectations weren't high going in as it had a similar look and feel to the covers of Emily Giffin books. There is also the fact that many of the people I knew that were raving about Me Before You have completely different taste in books than I do.The journey you take with the characters is a hard one because it deals with a man, Will Traynor, who is involved in an accident and becomes a quadriplegic. He becomes depressed with his situation and has no desire to live on. Louisa Clark is brought on to be his day to day caregiver and companion by Will's parents in hopes that she will help him change his mind about assisted suicide. Louisa isn't aware of the fact that Will wishes to die until she overhears his mother talking about it with Will's sister. Louisa does some research and plans things for Will to do in hopes he will change his mind.There are readers out there that feel like Jojo Moyes is telling people that living life as a disabled person isn't worth living, and the only way out is through assisted suicide. I just don't understand how people are coming to that conclusion, and it makes me angry. I think Moyes did a phenomenal job in showing how someone might feel having their life turned upside down in a blink of an eye, becoming depressed about it, and not having a great support system. She is in no way telling people that a disabled life isn't worth living . . . she is just showing one perspective of what someone may be going through.“You only get one life. It's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.” – Jojo Moyes -Even with the serious themes in Me Before You, I fell in love with the book. Although the ending was a bittersweet one, it is still worth the read. It gave me all the feels and put me on an emotional roller coaster that left me balling my eyes out at the end. It also left me feeling a bit depressed for a few days and gave me food for thought. I don't know how I'd deal with the situation Will was in, but I love life too much to make the ultimate decision he made. The book did remind me a little of some young adult books that I read as a teenager by an author named Lurlene McDaniel, whose books deal with characters who struggle with chronic or terminal diseases.kara.r

Ok, I'm a new fan! I just love when you read a book by an author you don't know about and you fall in love. This was one of those. Firstly, I have to admit I love all things English. I'm obsessed! With good reason though, I am English! Well… English-American I guess. My grandmother and mother were born in England, sadly I just haven't made it there … YET! That said… do I think it's Jojo's Englishness that drew me in? No! This has fantastic writing, a great plot with suspense a bit of romance, and a great ending! The English slang just drew me in even more!!Actually, although this could be figured out it's the fork in the road that had me guessing. I was really curious how it was going to end! It's interesting because Jojo Moyes is able to take such a deep subject, assisted suicide, and lay it all in a format so you can see the pro's and the con's all at once. It's incredibly well done. Never did I fell like she was trying to shove rhetoric down my throat.I think one thing that she does very well is introduce and get her readers to love and have empathy with her characters. They are brilliant. I love that Lou is such a strange sort but it makes sense that she keeps to herself. As her story emerges we get to find out why she is ok playing life safe, everyone has a reason for no longer being brave, and hers fit the story quite well.And then we meet Mr. Smarty Pants himself, Will Traynor. I just fell in love with this guy! It was hard because there's also Patrick. I never felt attached to Patrick and although I wanted the best for everyone I just felt that Patrick was a bit of a narcissist. I'm excited for him but come on Patrick, there are other people and other things in the world! Seriously. Funnily, I do really enjoy exercising so I could really understand his point of view but at the same time was sad that he was so mired in his own existence while Lou was really struggling.The plot of the story was fantastic and had me on the edge of my seat. I kept glancing at my Kindle's percentage wondering how much more Lou and Will could endure but I never felt like I wanted to rush the story along. The pacing was quite good.I loved the ending! Love, love, love, love!! I actually wanted to go to bed an hour previous but could NOT with being so close to the end. It was fabulous. Matched the book and the characters quite well but left me wanting more from these characters!In short: Really emotional but good read. Hard hitting subjects that will have you thinking for days and days!ana.n

Absolutely love this movie💗😭. The chemistry between the characters is undeniable and they couldn't have chosen better actors. They were amazing and the rolls fitted them perfectly👌. It's the only movie I can watch a million times and not get tired of. This movie gave me hope and helped me through somethings. It's a inspirational movie that learns people to let go no matter how hard it is🙌. It also learns you to live life to the fullest , I gotta admit the ending wasn't what I hoped but still an amazing film💗. This is my favorite movie and I'm so grateful you made this, it has a lot of messages and can really help people who are going through a tough time💗😢.ana.e

This book is a little different twist for Lisa Wingate. She has taken actual events, the adoption scandal of The Tennessee Children's Home Society that was exposed in 1950, and has woven an engrossing account of lives changed. A large family living on a houseboat on the Mississippi River finds themselves in a desperate situation one dark and stormy night. The father must take the mother, in the midst of a life-threatening childbirth, to the hospital leaving the five children on the boat. Operatives for the predatory orphanage grab the children and propel them into a terrifying situation. Big sister Rill tries desperately to protect her siblings and keep them together through it all. It is told in two different voices in two different times, but unlike some books that doesn't prove a distraction. It is very easy to keep it all straight, and it adds to the suspense by taking you up to a point and then pulling you back to a different aspect of the story. The characters are well developed, and you are allowed to peel back the layers slowly to get the big picture. As Rill's story unfolds, you are held spellbound by the unrelenting sadness of her situation, and horrified by the fact that these things really happened to some children. Wingate has a gift for imagery that pulls you into a scene. But in true Lisa Wingate fashion, there are also plenty of happier moments to relieve the sadness and many truths uncovered. The other voice is that of Avery, the daughter and heir-apparent of a political dynasty. Her story gives some interesting insights into how political families live their lives on display. She wasn't the most sympathetic character in the beginning, but she did grow on me as she learned to be more aware of her own aspirations and feelings. This is a well-crafted new effort from Wingate – one of those books you can't put down and you don't want to end!Pittypat

Twelve-year-old Rill Foss, the "princess of Kingdom Arcadia", lives on the Mississippi River with her parents and four siblings in a homemade shanty boat built by her dad. The river proves to be more forgiving than land during the Great Depression, and Rill's family flourishes on hard work, a little food, and lots of love. They don't have much but they're happy. Queenie, Rill's mother, must be rushed to the hospital late one night while giving birth to twins. Policemen come to the boat the next day and kidnap the five siblings, starting a nightmare of abuse, scandal, loss and perseverance for Rill. Told from two angles, one from Rill during the 30's; the other from Avery, a distant relative during present day life in Aiken, South Carolina, the plot weaves closer and closer together, keeping your interest with each turn of the page (or touch of the screen, whichever applies!). The story and people are fiction but based on true events that happened in Memphis Tennessee when Georgia Tann was investigated for child trafficking, running a black market baby adoption scheme that involved powerful political and Hollywood figures. Lisa Wingate gives life to each character and their surroundings; you'll hurt for the victims as if they truly existed. I can easily recommend this book to anyone who loves to read about human emotion, especially when the plot is based on historical events. It will captivate you with the first page, and you'll keep reading until you can make sense of the mess created by stolen children, whose identities were wiped clean, names and histories changed. Excellent read, but will leave you with a sadness that this situation happened and flourished during harsh times. (I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and NetGalley for making it available.)Avid Historical Fiction Reader

This book is a little different twist for Lisa Wingate. She has taken actual events, the adoption scandal of The Tennessee Children's Home Society that was exposed in 1950, and has woven an engrossing account of lives changed. A large family living on a houseboat on the Mississippi River finds themselves in a desperate situation one dark and stormy night. The father must take the mother, in the midst of a life-threatening childbirth, to the hospital leaving the five children on the boat. Operatives for the predatory orphanage grab the children and propel them into a terrifying situation. Big sister Rill tries desperately to protect her siblings and keep them together through it all. It is told in two different voices in two different times, but unlike some books that doesn't prove a distraction. It is very easy to keep it all straight, and it adds to the suspense by taking you up to a point and then pulling you back to a different aspect of the story. The characters are well developed, and you are allowed to peel back the layers slowly to get the big picture. As Rill's story unfolds, you are held spellbound by the unrelenting sadness of her situation, and horrified by the fact that these things really happened to some children. Wingate has a gift for imagery that pulls you into a scene. But in true Lisa Wingate fashion, there are also plenty of happier moments to relieve the sadness and many truths uncovered. The other voice is that of Avery, the daughter and heir-apparent of a political dynasty. Her story gives some interesting insights into how political families live their lives on display. She wasn't the most sympathetic character in the beginning, but she did grow on me as she learned to be more aware of her own aspirations and feelings. This is a well-crafted new effort from Wingate – one of those books you can't put down and you don't want to end!Pittypat

Twelve-year-old Rill Foss, the "princess of Kingdom Arcadia", lives on the Mississippi River with her parents and four siblings in a homemade shanty boat built by her dad. The river proves to be more forgiving than land during the Great Depression, and Rill's family flourishes on hard work, a little food, and lots of love. They don't have much but they're happy. Queenie, Rill's mother, must be rushed to the hospital late one night while giving birth to twins. Policemen come to the boat the next day and kidnap the five siblings, starting a nightmare of abuse, scandal, loss and perseverance for Rill. Told from two angles, one from Rill during the 30's; the other from Avery, a distant relative during present day life in Aiken, South Carolina, the plot weaves closer and closer together, keeping your interest with each turn of the page (or touch of the screen, whichever applies!). The story and people are fiction but based on true events that happened in Memphis Tennessee when Georgia Tann was investigated for child trafficking, running a black market baby adoption scheme that involved powerful political and Hollywood figures. Lisa Wingate gives life to each character and their surroundings; you'll hurt for the victims as if they truly existed. I can easily recommend this book to anyone who loves to read about human emotion, especially when the plot is based on historical events. It will captivate you with the first page, and you'll keep reading until you can make sense of the mess created by stolen children, whose identities were wiped clean, names and histories changed. Excellent read, but will leave you with a sadness that this situation happened and flourished during harsh times. (I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and NetGalley for making it available.)Avid Historical Fiction Reader

I loved this series as a child in school, and I was super excited to get a full set for myself. Especially when it was on sale! 3.50$ a piece seemed like a great deal. To my dismay, the books arrived sealed in plastic but damaged. The first book was very scuffed at the top. The fifth book had what looked like water/glue damage to the spine. I pulled them out of the container, and all of them had some small form of wear and tear. The overall quality is not great either – the covers are very thin and could easily be torn. If you’re looking for a cheap set for yourself – only get this on sale. I would not recommend as a gift because of the damage and poor quality.Kate

When I was teaching 6th grade I read all of the books in this series. They were a favorite among my students. I could never keep them on the shelf. I have shared this series with a number of my friends and family. Now that my nephew is at that level I am excited for him to find out the joy of reading and of following a well done storyline.KHuff

When I found the Percy Jackson boxset online for a good price, I was stoked. but then I opened the package. Despite the protection, the box containing the 5 books came damaged, and creased. Like it was used or something. I expected this to come brand new! What a joke. But at least I got 5 books in good condition.Iheanyi

If you'd told me a couple of days ago that I'd be recommending a cozy fantasy book to everyone who crosses my path, I doubt I would have believed you. But here we are. An orc walks away from her old life to open a coffee shop. In a city where almost no one has even heard of "exotic bean water". And that's pretty much the crux of the story, give or take. At face value it sounds kinda cute but nothing I'd expect to be enthusiastically shoving in people's faces, telling them how much they'll love it. Viv's story felt like a comfort read from very early on and I can easily see this being a go to read when I need some time out. I adored Viv, Tandri, Hem, Thimble, Pendry and Cal individually but together this diverse group of kindred spirits felt like home (the good kind). I love that Viv was able to let go of the life that was expected of her and find a bunch of supportive friends who could see beyond her past to who she truly was, friends that encouraged her in her new venture and who had her back. "If mortal danger threatens us, I promise to hide behind you. Deal?" While Tandri was my favourite character, I also had a soft spot for Pendry. I enjoyed cheering them on as they gained the confidence to step outside their comfort zone. I absolutely need a dire-cat in my life. Favourite no context quote: "Things don't have to stay as what they started out as" I'm giving this book however many hm's it takes to fill five stars and can't wait to meet more of Thune's inhabitants in the author's next book. In the meantime, I'd like to order a bean water with milk and a heavenly frosted cinnamon pastry please. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, for the opportunity to read this book.Schizanthus Nerd

In these stressful times, if you just want something — as the blurb says — 'high fantasy, low stakes', this is the book for you! An orc warrior gives up warrior-ing to open a coffee shop, and makes new friends along the way.Craig

Wow. This book made me laugh, cry, scream, and tear up with happiness all at once. That is so rare in a book, and Laurie Frankel captures it all in this book. It was so engaging, even when I didn't have time to read, I was thinking about the book. Incredibly written and so very important to have such a book for people to read. Loved every minute.Rach C

Nothing I say could do this novel justice: it is the first book I've read in years that I want to hand out on street corners and force all my friends and family and neighbors to read IMMEDIATELY. It is profound and hilarious and uplifting and thought-provoking and page-turning. I fell in love with the entire family: parents, five kids, and grandma. The writing made me laugh out loud and stay up late for just one more chapter. The story made me think about society and gender in a way I never had before, impressing upon me how absurdly preoccupied we are with what happens to be in other peoples' pants (or skirts). There are fairy tales and horror stories, parenting tips and transformations. Read it!!!!Becca

This book is so honest and real and deals with being different in today's society. It's so raw and definitely a book I couldn't put down. I would read it again. And again.Kadybug