THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 7
LOCAL LITERARY HIGHLIGHTS
bendbulletin.com/goread
Notable books of the ’90s
BY DAVID JASPER • The Bulletin
T
he 1990s was a great decade for readers, and it was kind to some writers, as well — we’re looking at you, top-selling author of the decade John
Grisham, who dominated bestseller lists along with Stephen King and Danielle Steel. Among other developments in the literary world, the
’90s saw the advent of Oprah’s Book Club, founded in September 1996, championing literature and helping to bring many relatively unknown
writers to a vastly wider audience.
Young
adult fare
such as Louis
Sachar’s hu-
morous book
“Holes” and
the first three
Harry Pot-
ter books, all
dropped in the
late 1990s, har-
bingers of the
YA moment the
following de-
cade.
So many no-
table books
were written in
the 1990s that it
dy
seems foolhardy
to attempt any sort
lat-
of list encapsulat-
ing them, but that
won’t stop GO! Magazine from giving
it a whirl. What follows are some of the
decade’s more memorable titles, drawn
from various sources and culled from
prize winners and finalists, old best-
sellers lists, these are books that seem to
have permeated more deeply into popu-
lar culture, including film adaptations:
“JURASSIC PARK,”
BY MICHAEL CRICHTON (1990)
This book by science fiction author
Crichton debuted a few years before Ste-
phen Spielberg turned it into unforgetta-
ble movie magic with the first movie of
the franchise.
“AMERICAN PSYCHO,”
BY BRET EASTON ELLIS (1991)
The literary bratpacker’s third book
spawned no shortage of
spawne
controversy, as well as a
controv
film sta
starring Christian
Bale as Patrick Bateman,
psychotic killer of the
the ps
title.
“WAITING TO EXHALE,”
“WAITIN
BY TE
TERRY MCMILLAN
(1992)
(1992
McMillan’s novel
M
about
abo the lives and
friendships
frie
of four
Black
Bla women in Ar-
izona
izo later spawned
a 1995
1 film starring
Whitney
W
Houston
an Angela Bassett,
and
a according to
and
K
Kirkus,
is now being
ad
adapted
for the small
screen.
“JESUS’ SON,” BY DENIS JOHNSON (1992)
Johnson’s short-story collection was
so influential “It’s safe to say that almost
every writer has read it, and about half
of them have tried to emulate it,” Emily
Temple wrote at lithub.com in 2018.
“THE SHIPPING NEWS,”
BY E. ANNIE PROULX (1993)
After his marriage ends bleakly, Prou-
lx’s antihero Quoyle finds his hope re-
stored after he moves to the hardscrabble
world of Newfoundland in this Pulit-
zer and National Book Award-winning
novel.
“MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD
AND EVIL,” BY JOHN BERENDT (1994)
Berendt’s book, based on a killing in
Savannah, Georgia, enthralled readers
and led to a marked rise in the number
of tourist visits.
“PROZAC NATION,”
BY ELIZABETH WURTZEL (1994)
Wurtzel wrote with candor and wit
about depression and addiction in the
memoir of which New York Times critic
Michiko Kakutani called “wrenching
and comical, self-indulgent and self-
aware.” She went on to work as an attor-
ney before her January 2020 death.
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