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A Century of Reading: The 10 Books That Defined the 1980s

This list is, like, totally bitchin'.

Some books are flashes in the pan, read for entertainment and then left on a bus seat for the next lucky person to pick up and enjoy, forgotten by most after their season has passed. Others stick around, are read and re-read, are taught and discussed. sometimes due to great artistry, sometimes due to luck, and sometimes because they manage to recognize and capture some element of the culture of the time.

In the moment, you often can’t tell which books are which.  The Great Gatsby  wasn’t a bestseller upon its release, but we now see it as emblematic of a certain American sensibility in the 1920s. Of course, hindsight can also distort the senses; the canon looms and obscures. Still, over the next weeks, we’ll be publishing a list a day, each one attempting to define a discrete decade,  starting with the 1900s  (as you’ve no doubt guessed by now) and counting down until we get to the (nearly complete) 2010s.

Though the books on these lists need not be American in origin, I am looking for books that evoke some aspect of American life, actual or intellectual, in each decade—a global lens would require a much longer list. And of course, varied and complex as it is, there’s no list that could truly define American life over ten or any number of years, so I do not make any claim on exhaustiveness. I’ve simply selected books that, if read together, would give a fair picture of the landscape of literary culture for that decade—both as it was and as it is remembered. Finally, two process notes: I’ve limited myself to one book for author over the entire 12-part list, so you may see certain works skipped over in favor of others, even if both are important (for instance, I ignored  Dubliners  in the 1910s so I could include  Ulysses  in the 1920s), and in the case of translated work, I’ll be using the date of the English translation, for obvious reasons.

For our ninth installment, below you’ll find 10 books that defined the 1980s. (Head here for the  1910s ,  20s ,  30s , 40s ,  50s ,  60s , and 70s ).

Raymond Carver has a fair bid for being the most iconic and influential American short story writer ever—but he’s certainly the most iconic and influential American short story writer of the 1980s, due to this collection (just think of how many times you’ve seen the title construction parodied and reused) as well as Cathedral  (1983) and  Where I’m Calling From  (1988). “Carver stands squarely in the line of descent of American realism,” Marilynne Robinson wrote in a 1988 review of the latter.

His weaknesses are for sentimentality and sensationalism. His great gift is for writing stories that create meaning through their form. Much attention has been paid to his prose, and to his preoccupation with very ordinary lives and with disruption, divorce, displacement, sadness, the thankless business of cadging income from small and unlikable jobs. He should be famous for the conceptual beauty of his best stories, and disburdened of his worst, which could then pass into relative neglect. The narrative foreground in Mr. Carver’s fiction is typically muted or flattened. The stories have in common a sort of bafflement, justified in the best ones by the fact that their burdens are truly mysterious. Anecdotes – for want of a better word – looming and untranslatable like remembered dreams (which they sometimes are) figure so largely in these stories as to suggest that they are analogues to fiction itself, and also to consciousness, specifically to consciousness as it is shared, collective or bonding. It has been usual for a long time to lament the absence of myth in modern life, as if intuitions of the primordial and essential were the products of culture and would be dispelled with the loss of certain images and illusions, as if the forces myth describes were not real or powerful enough to impose themselves on our attention all unbidden. The bafflement in the best of these stories does not render an absence of meaning but awkwardness in the face of meaning, a very different thing.

His work sold exceptionally well ( for short stories ) in his lifetime and is still a staple of contemporary literary culture, taught widely at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and copied everywhere. Even whispers that his editor Gordon Lish had too much of a hand in his stories have not much tarnished his legacy—or appeal.

Walker’s most famous novel was a critical hit upon its release, winning the National Book Award as well as the Pulitzer (she was the first black woman ever to win it). It was a groundbreaking work and remains an essential womanist text, hailed for its literary excellence as well as its frank portrayal of impoverished black women, domestic abuse, and lesbian relationships. The 1985 film adaptation made it a full-blown sensation, for all Americans, but particularly for black women. As Victoria Bond put it in The New Republic , “ The Color Purple lingers as perhaps the  cultural touchstone for black women in America, a kind of lingua franca of familiarity and friendship.” As far as the controversy , she goes on:

Spike Lee said that the Steven Spielberg–produced film was “done with hate,” and that the Mr.— character was a “one-note animal.” The Coalition Against Black Exploitation protested The Color Purple ’s 1985 Los Angeles premiere for its depiction of black men abusing black women. The novelist Ishmael Reed called The Color Purple  “a Nazi conspiracy,” and even suggested that both the novel and the film were critically acclaimed expressly because they slam black men.

Reed was wrong then and he’s wrong now. The popularity of The Color Purple has very little to do with besmirching black men. Instead, it has everything to do with black women’s rejection of respectability politics: from the lesbian relationship between Celie and Shug, Mr.—’s ex-lover; to the representation of traditional Christianity as small-minded and stifling; to the narrative’s assertion that domestic violence arises from patriarchal hysteria about women’s strength, not our weakness.

Black women turned out in droves to see the film. We continue to reference it today because it breaks a certain cultural silence about abuse. Respectability politics imperil black women by demanding we stay mute; they insist that black people are a monolith whose reputation must be protected and preserved, whatever the cost. This extends to art, which appears only to be acceptable if black characters are struggling to “get better,” to put checkered pasts firmly in the past. But the truth is obvious. We aren’t interested in stories about the perfect; we’re interested in stories about the real.

“There is no way to overstate how radical Gibson’s first and best novel was when it first appeared,” Lev Grossman wrote in TIME . “Violent, visceral and visionary (there’s no other word for it), Neuromancer proved, not for the first or last time, that science fiction is more than a mass-market paperback genre, it’s a crucial tool by which an age shaped by and obsessed with technology can understand itself.”

The book, Cory Doctrow told  The Guardian , “remains a vividly imagined allegory for the world of the 1980s, when the first seeds of massive, globalised wealth-disparity were planted, and when the inchoate rumblings of technological rebellion were first felt.”

A generation later, we’re living in a future that is both nothing like the Gibson future and instantly recognisable as its less stylish, less romantic cousin. Instead of zaibatsus [large conglomerates] run by faceless salarymen, we have doctrinaire thrusting young neocons and neoliberals who want to treat everything from schools to hospitals as businesses.”

In it, Gibson popularized the term “cyberspace” (this is the 80s, remember) and predicted the internet, that “consensual hallucination” that we’re all now plugged into at all hours. He also more or less invented “cyberpunk,” an aesthetic system that has had untold influence on all the SF and fantasy since. It was, after all, the first novel to win the “holy trinity of science fiction”: the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award, and it is still read and lionized today.

A coming-of-age classic, a staple of middle and high school reading curriculums, and a classic of Chicano literature that by 2002 had sold two million copies in 11 languages , “making Ms. Cisneros one of the best-selling Hispanic authors in the United States.” Critic Lorna L. Pérez called the novel “perhaps the most widely read and taught text in Latina literature” and highlighted its “striking revision of the Western literary and theoretical canon.”

Her appropriation of the form, style, and philosophical complications of her literary predecessors reveals profound and entrenched assumptions about subjectivity, class, and ethnicity, categories that historically and contemporarily marginalize individuals like her protagonist Esperanza Cordero. In engaging—both explicitly and implicitly—the literary predecessors that haunt the house on Mango Street, Cisneros is able to alleviate what Harold Bloom calls the “anxiety of influence” not by attempting to overshadow or destroy her predecessors, but by revealing the ideological constructs that lay in the foundations of their writing, thereby redefining the grounds of subjectivity and revealing the unhomely—or that which remains hidden—in the work. By engaging her literary influences in this way, Cisneros offers a revision to their assumptions, and as such lays the foundation for a radical literature that can encompass positions that have been relegated to the margins.

This last, of course, being something we gratefully see more and more every day.

There was considerable dissent in the Literary Hub office over this book—or, to be precise, over whether we should replace it with Cormac McCarthy’s  Blood Meridian , which is also a western published in 1985, and which most of our staff (yours included) prefer, as a novel. But Cormac McCarthy, for me, is on the whole more a writer of the 90s and 00s, and unlike  Blood Meridian ,  Lonesome Dove  was loved and appreciated in its time as well as afterwards. And honestly, the literary 1980s was all about Lonesome Dove . It was a stupendously reviewed bestseller, and went on to win the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The  New York Times   called it the first “Great Cowboy Novel” and the LA Times called it “Larry McMurtry’s loftiest novel, a wondrous work, drowned in love, melancholy, and yet, ultimately, exultant.” Then, of course, there was the miniseries, which premiered in 1989, and as with  Roots , cemented the legacy of its source material (not to mention brought back the miniseries  format, which had been considered increasingly unprofitable). It is now a canonical pillar of the American western, perhaps the most uniquely American of all genres—and no more so than in Texas, where it ranks with the Bible and the Warren Commission Report.

This is an essential novel of 1980s America not only because it was written then, and not only because it was popular and acclaimed then (it won the National Book Award), but because it hacks directly at the culture of that time. “ White Noise finds its greatest distinction in its understanding and perception of America’s soundtrack,” Jayne Anne Phillips wrote in The New York Times .

White noise includes the ever-present sound of expressway traffic, ”a remote and steady murmur around our sleep, as of dead souls babbling at the edge of a dream.” Television is ”the primal force in the American home, sealed-off, self-contained, self-referring . . . a wealth of data concealed in the grid, in the bright packaging, the jingles, the slice-of-life commercials, the products hurtling out of darkness, the coded messages . . . like chants. . . . Coke is it, Coke is it, Coke is it.” Television, Murray Siskind asserts, ”practically overflows with sacred formulas.” White noise includes the bold print of tabloids, those amalgams of American magic and dread, with their comforting ”mechanism of offering a hopeful twist to apocalyptic events.” Fast food and quad cinemas contribute to the melody, as do automated teller machines. Nowhere is Mr. DeLillo’s take on the endlessly distorted, religious underside of American consumerism better illustrated than in the passage on supermarkets.

As Lev Grossman put it in TIME : “Though it’s pitched at a level of absurdity slightly above that of real life,  White Noise  captures the quality of daily existence in media-saturated, hyper-capitalistic postmodern America so precisely, you don’t know whether to laugh or whimper.”

The book was precise about the anxiety, self-absorption, and alienation of the ’80s—which, what do you know, hasn’t exactly let up. “This turning inward was happening across America in 1985,” writes Nathaniel Rich in The Daily Beast .

Exhausted by the paranoia of Watergate era, and the panic of the oil embargo and the Iran hostage crisis, the nation sought the comforts of old-fashioned Hollywood movies, delivered by an old-fashioned Hollywood actor.  White Noise  was published two months after Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration, which followed the most effective marketing campaign in American political history, sounding visceral notes of  hope  (“It’s morning again in America”) and  terror  (“There is a bear in the woods”). In  “ Supermarket ” , the narrator asks Americans to judge the state of the country by the contents of their local supermarket—a tactic, incidentally, followed by DeLillo, who ends  White Noise  with a nightmarish scene inside of one. Walter Mondale, who had tried to make the election about the budget deficit and interest rates, soon realized his mistake, releasing ads with  horror-movie  music and images of  nuclear warheads , but it was too late.

White Noise even eerily presaged the Bhopal gas leak with his airborne toxic event. “In light of the recent Union Carbide disaster in India that killed over 2,000 and injured thousands more,” Phillips notes, “ White Noise seems all the more timely and frightening—precisely because of its totally American concerns, its rendering of a particularly American numbness.”

If you’re reading this space, I probably don’t have to expound on the importance of Toni Morrison to you. But just to cover all our bases, Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, and was a finalist for the 1987 National Book Award—though lost out to something called Paco’s Story , which rankled   then and rankles now. In 2006, the editors of the  New York Times  asked “a couple hundred” writers, critics, and editors to vote on “the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years,” and the winner—by a relatively large margin —was  Beloved . “Any other outcome would have been startling,” wrote A.O. Scott, “since Morrison’s novel has inserted itself into the American canon more completely than any of its potential rivals.

With remarkable speed, Beloved has, less than 20 years after its publication, become a staple of the college literary curriculum, which is to say a classic. This triumph is commensurate with its ambition, since it was Morrison’s intention in writing it precisely to expand the range of classic American literature, to enter, as a living black woman, the company of dead white males like Faulkner, Melville, Hawthorne and Twain. When the book first began to be assigned in college classrooms, during an earlier and in retrospect much tamer phase of the culture wars, its inclusion on syllabuses was taken, by partisans and opponents alike, as a radical gesture. (The conservative canard one heard in those days was that left-wing professors were casting aside Shakespeare in favor of Morrison.) But the political rhetoric of the time obscured the essential conservatism of the novel, which aimed not to displace or overthrow its beloved precursors, but to complete and to some extent correct them.

In Slate , Stephen Metcalf agrees. “Like two other American novels devoted to race, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird , Beloved exists wholly beyond its own artistic merits and demerits,” he writes.

These books have become something more than mere literature; they’re homework, with an afterlife guaranteed by their place (or in the case of Huck Finn , its embattled absence) on the high-school and college syllabus. (“Only Shakespeare rivals her in the number of senior theses devoted to her work,” Harvard English professor Barbara Johnson has said.) Were it simply a matter of social redress, we could all go home now, the Dead White Males having been forced to cocktail with a Living Black Woman. But Beloved isn’t solely a work of protest and advocacy, as Morrison herself has insisted, nor solely a symbol for the progress and virtue of the prestige-granting institutions in American letters. It’s a serious novel and a work of art, and it deserves to be accorded the highest respect. It deserves, in other words, to be asked, Yes, but are you any good?

Reader, it is.

This may be the most 80s of all the 80s books on this 80s list (though it’s a foot race against  White Noise ), which is not a particularly novel point. “So regularly is Tom Wolfe’s brash 1987 tome described as ‘the quintessential novel of the 80s’ that you almost feel the phrase could be slapped on as a subtitle,” Hermoine Hoby wrote in The Guardian . “But the ability to ‘capture the decade’ isn’t the only measure of a writer’s ability, and like a hot-pink puffball dress, this story displays a blithe disregard for nuance.” Indeed—though un-nuanced as it is, it’s a riot, a satirical novel about money, clothes, success, greed, racism, and corruption in New York City, an absolute nonsense whirlwind that turned into a major best-seller.

“Now comes Tom Wolfe, aging enfant terrible, with his first novel, (his first novel!), six hundred and fifty-nine pages of raw energy about New York City and various of its inhabitants—a big, bitter, funny, craftily plotted book that grabs you by the lapels and won’t let go,” Pat Conroy wrote in the New York Times . “As in much of his other work, such as The Right Stuff , Mr. Wolfe’s strategy is to somehow batter the reader into submission, using an incantatory repetition of certain emblematic phrases, (HIS FIRST NOVEL!), detailed description of people’s clothing, hyperbole, interior monologue whenever he feels like it, and various other New Journalism devices he is apparently too fond of to give up. What is amazing is that he gets away with it.” Great, now I have to say “indeed” again.

Again, there was some argument in the Literary Hub office over whether it was more important to include this volume or Carl Sagan’s  Cosmos  (1981), so I’d say that all things being equal, Hawking has had the greater cultural influence. After all, Hawking’s plain-language explanation of the universe has sold more than 10 million copies  since it was first published—spending 147 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and an astonishing 237 weeks on the Times of London bestseller list—and been translated into some 35 languages. It’s more or less the reason why the average American has any idea about space, or black holes, or quantum mechanics, or the theory of relativity—despite the theory that it is “probably the least-read, most-bought book ever.”

Midnight’s Children (1981) is probably the better book, but it was  The Satanic Verses  that kicked off the largest literary controversy of the 1980s. The book, based in part on the life of the Islamic Prophet Mohammad, was vehemently protested by some Muslims, and on February 14th, 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwa against Rushdie, calling for his assassination. “I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses book, which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who are aware of its content are sentenced to death,” he announced , and the Iranian government offered $6 million to anyone who killed Rushdie. The author apologized, but to no avail. Bookstores carrying the book in the US and UK were bombed, and so was at least one newspaper that ran an editorial supporting the book. Rushdie’s Japanese translator was murdered, and his Italian and Norwegian translators were attacked and seriously injured. Protests were held all over the world, and Rushdie spent the next nine years in hiding—until September 1998, when the new Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said he would not uphold the fatwa. (Though it is still in effect.)

Pat Conroy, The Lords of Discipline (1980), Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping (1980), J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces (1980), Carl Sagan,  Contact (1980), Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler (first English translation, 1981), Angela Davis, Women, Race, and Class (1981), Stephen King,  Cujo  (1981), Donald Barthelme, Sixty Stories (1981), Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (1981), Rachel Ingalls, Mrs. Caliban (1982), W. P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (1982), Thomas Keneally, Schindler’s List  (1982), Raymond Carver, Cathedral (1983), Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose (first English translation, 1983), Elizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 (1983), Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon (1983), Mark Helprin, Winter’s Tale (1983), Susan Hill, The Woman in Black (1983), Stephen King,  Pet Sematary  (1981), Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City  (1984), Primo Levi, The Periodic Table (first English translation, 1984), Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (1984), Kathy Acker, Blood and Guts in High School  (1984), Martin Amis, Money (1984), Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (first English translation, 1984), Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits (first English translation, 1985), John Irving, The Cider House Rules (1985), Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero (1985), Patricia MacLachlan, Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985), Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game (1985), Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Laura Numeroff, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985), Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian  (1985), Lorrie Moore, Self-Help (1985), Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985), Richard Ford, The Sportswriter (1986), Brian Jacques, Redwall (1986), Stephen King, It (1986), Art Spiegelman, Maus I (1986), Alan Moore, Watchmen (1986), Paul Auster, The New York Trilogy (1987), James Ellroy, Black Dahlia (1987), Stephen King,  Misery  (1981), Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On (1987), Gary Paulsen, Hatchet  (1987), Mary Gaitskill, Bad Behavior (1988), John Grisham, A Time to Kill (1988), David Markson, Wittgenstein’s Mistress (1988), Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming Pool Library  (1988), Roald Dahl, Matilda (1988), Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera (first English translation, 1988), Martin Amis, London Fields (1989), Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day  (1989), Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life (1989), Katherine Dunn, Geek Love  (1989), Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989), Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club (1989)

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21 Memorable Books From The ’80s

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Travel back in time with the best and most iconic books from the ’80s sure to spark that nostalgia. This is one of our favorite decades.

It’s no secret that many of TUL’s writers are ’80s babies, and we remember the emergence of Apple MacIntosh computers, Walkmans (technically mid-1979 but we are counting it), and Nintendo.

Whether you were born in the ’80s, watch Stranger Things , or loved MTV , chicken Mcnuggets, and disposable cameras, you know that the 1980s were pretty spectacular.

The decade also featured fantastic ’80s books, many of which were made into cult classic movies.

Other 1980s books approached heavier topics like abortion, corruption in the government, and inequality in our systems.

In fact, many of the popular books in the ’80s still sit on banned book lists and create(d) quite the controversy. Even in the 2020s, we are sadly seeing a reemergence of their themes.

So, what are the best books of the 1980s to read and re-read? Who were the bestselling authors of the time?

Below, find books from the 1980s in all genres, including thrillers, clown murder mysteries, graphic novels, foodie fiction, and translated literature. Let’s get started!

*Please note that while all of these books were published in the 1980s, many of the book covers and links are for newer editions.

Explore all of our decades book lists .

Grab your favorite ’80s books :

• Audible Plus : From Amazon, listen to Amazon Originals, podcasts, and audiobooks. They add new titles every week.
• Book of the Month : Get the month’s hottest new and upcoming titles from Book of the Month. You might snag an early release or debut author. Along with selecting a book a month, find terrific add-ons, both trendy and lesser-known titles.
• Amazon Prime Video – Stream thousands of ad-free movies and TV series on demand with Prime Video.
• Express VPN – Using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) allows you to view movies worldwide – and they help keep your information safe. Our writers couldn’t have such diverse film reviews without using a VPN.

Table of Contents

21 Best Books From The ’80s

By Tori Curran

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)

Atwood penned one of the most iconic books from the ’80s that still reigns popular today.

Set in future New England, a patriarchal state known as the Republic of Gilead has overthrown the government.

Leaders have selected handmaids, including the main character Offred, to bear the children of the republic’s commanders.

Atwood explores female individuality, religious and military dictatorship, subjugation, and reproductive rights through Offred’s perspective in a tale that is eerily relevant today and one of the best books for deep thinkers . Read The Handmaid’s Tale : Amazon | Goodreads

2. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

TW: rape, racism

An epistolary novel set in the South and Pulitzer Prize Winner, The Color Purple is one of our most controversial ’80s books.

It is a frequent target of censorship and is listed as one of the American Library Association’s most banned books .

Celie, a poor, uneducated 14-year-old African American writes letters to God because her father both beats and sexually abuses her.

She is subsequently abused by her own husband and endures countless other bouts of trauma.

Celie’s eventual triumph doesn’t overshadow her past but helps to highlight her solace in female companionship.

Enjoy even more books with colors in the title , and read more about the 2023 movie . Read The Color Purple : Amazon | Goodreads | Read More

3. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (1985)

Translated into English by Edith Grossman

Florentino and Fermina fall in love young and begin a secret relationship. When Fermina’s father finds out, they move to a different town.

Fermina meets Urbino, a doctor working to eradicate cholera, and she realizes that he provides the necessary stability she needs.

Florentino, however, promises to still wait for her. Will 50 years be too long?

Sometimes met with the critical reception of being too simple, this is one of the 1980s books that reminds readers that love and passion are often synonymous, and not to be taken for granted.

Find more Gabriel García Márquez books on our 1970s and 1960s book lists . Read Love in the Time of Cholera : Amazon | Goodreads

4. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (1987)

Translated into English by Jay Rubin

TW: suicide

Norwegian Wood is one of our favorite ’80s romance novels that deals with loss, love, mental illness, and sexuality.

Told through his own perspective, Toru Watanabe reflects on his college days and wildly disparate romances with two women: Naoko and Midori.

Following a tragic loss, Toru develops an emotionally intense relationship with the troubled Naoko. Soon after, he develops feelings for the outgoing and confident Midori.

The two women could not be more different, yet Toru is forced to consider who is right for him.

Travel to Japan with these books and authors . Read Norwegian Wood : Amazon | Goodreads

5. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (1984)

TW: sexual assault, rape

Written as a series of vignettes, The House on Mango Street tells the story of 12-year-old  Esperanza who lives in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago.

As Esperanza matures over the course of a year, she begins to better understand race, identity, sexuality, and gender norms both through the women around her and a number of traumatic circumstances.

The house on mango street, as is true for many of the women in her area, comes to represent the constant feeling of suffocation that comes with being controlled.

Can Esperanza truly ever leave Mango Street?

Uncover even more iconic books from the ’80s (and more!) on our 50 States reading list . Read The House on Mango Street : Amazon | Goodreads

6. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

For a different type of ghost story , pick up Beloved .

Sethe, who was born a slave and escaped to Cincinnati, fears she will never be truly free from the memories.

Now, she and her daughter Denver are haunted by what they believe is the ghost of Sethe’s eldest daughter.

Another Pulitzer Prize Winner, and one of the best books of the 1980s, Beloved spectacularly examines the lasting psychological effects of slavery, along with family relationships, manhood, and trauma.

Morrison marries complex topics with concepts of love and guilt to create one of the most poignant novels of all time.

Beloved is also a great audiobook to listen to .

Explore even more critically-acclaimed novels with haunted spaces . Read Beloved : Amazon | Goodreads | Read More

7. Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)

For sci-fi books from the 1980s, it doesn’t get any more iconic than Neuromancer . One of the first and most popular cyberpunk novels ever written, Neuromancer has won multiple awards.

Set in a dystopian future in Japan , Henry, who was once a prominent hacker, accepts a job that thrusts him into a world of powerful underground artificial intelligence.

Weaving in modern concepts of cyberspace and super-consciousness, it was way ahead of its time in the early 80s.

Find even more Canadian books to read . Read Neuromancer : Amazon | Goodreads

8. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989)

Four immigrant Chinese women begin meeting in 1949 to eat dim sum, invest, play mah-jong, and share stories, thus forming the Joy Luck Club.

Forty years later, their own daughters keep the tradition alive. Through their stories, readers learn of secret pasts, familial bonds, and cultural identities.

One of the most popular ’80s books, find The Joy Luck Club featured on our foodie fiction book list and our top books about friendship . Read The Joy Luck Club : Amazon | Goodreads

9. It by Stephen King (1986)

When it comes to iconic ’80s horror books, Stephen King reigns supreme.

It follows seven children who are repeatedly terrorized by “It” who, usually in the form of Pennywise the clown, represents its victims’ fears.

As adults, the group of kids reunites, fulfilling their promise to return if the murders started up again.

It came to be a King staple featuring themes of childhood trauma, loss of innocence, and overcoming evil. The story is also responsible for the perpetual fear of clowns that plagues generations.

Explore even more creepy books . Read It : Amazon | Goodreads

10. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (1988)

The Satanic Verses is a frame narrative and one of the most controversial books from the ’80s.

The story follows two Indian actors who are magically saved when their hijacked plane explodes over the English Channel.

Dreams and visions of one of the actors, including one following the life of Mohammed, are interspersed throughout the novel as the two try to piece their lives back together.

Considered a masterpiece by some, others meet the novel with criticism.

Rushdie’s perceived alienation and disillusionment of Muslim culture, along with his portrayal of Mohammad, led to the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issuing a fatwa order for Muslims to kill Rushdie.

Read The Satanic Verses : Amazon | Goodreads

11. The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (1980)

After an explosion on board a boat, Jason Bourne is rescued by a fisherman, nursed back to health, and soon discovers he has amnesia.

The only information he has about himself ties him to an offshore bank with millions.

On his hunt to uncover his own identity, Bourne must also figure out why secret ops agencies and the US government wish him dead.

If you’re looking for more popular books in the ’80s, Ludlum authored countless Bourne novels, which were then adapted into equally cult classic films . Read The Bourne Identity : Amazon | Goodreads

12. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (1989)

TW: sexual assault

Set against the backdrop of an English civil war, Follett’s epic tells the story of a monk who builds the world’s greatest cathedral

Follett beautifully crafts his characters – from his builder to the gorgeous noblewoman – and meticulously weaves in details of feudal England and the hardships of the 12th century, while hope and faith drive the story forward.

Following the popular TV adaptation, it became even more of a world-renowned masterpiece. Coming in at almost 1,000 pages, it’s one of the longest 1980s books on our list too. Read The Pillars of the Earth : Amazon | Goodreads

13. The Cider House Rules by John Irving (1985)

TW: abortion, sexual assault

Homer Wells grew up in an orphanage run by Dr. Larch, an obstetrician who helped women with unwanted pregnancies re-home their babies.

Dr. Larch took Homer under his wings, loved him as his own son, and trained him to be an obstetrician himself.

Their relationship is complicated, though, especially since Dr. Larch also secretly performs abortions.

Homer feels abortions are morally wrong. However, a number of personal circumstances cause him to see things differently – and value choice.

This is, unsurprisingly, another one of those controversial ’80s books that have resurfaced under the current climate.

Read The Cider House Rules : Amazon | Goodreads

14. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (1980)

Ignacious J. Reilly is well educated but lazy. Living with his mother in New Orleans, he is forced to take on odd jobs to help her pay for a car accident.

The novel follows his colorful and humorous jobs and interactions with other locals, as well as his own eccentricities and setbacks.

In addition to being a beloved cult classic and one of the best books of the 1980s, A Confederacy of Dunces is listed as one of BBC’s 100 most influential novels.

Read A Confederacy of Dunces : Amazon | Goodreads

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15. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver (1981)

Carver beautifully crafts together a collection of short stories dealing with love, marriage, and romantic relationships.

Some are poignant and simple, while others handle alcoholism, infidelity, murder, medical issues, suicide, and abuse.

One of the most timeless and popular books from the ’80s, it is uniquely commonplace. The examination of true love will deeply resonate with fans of Scenes From a Marriage . Read What We Talk About When We Talk About Love : Amazon | Goodreads

16. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (1986)

TW: suicide, rape, domestic abuse

Tom has recently lost his job and learns of his twin sister, Savannah’s, second suicide attempt. He travels to New York City where he begins spending time with Savannah’s therapist.

Through their conversations, both the reader and the therapist are given an inside look at the traumatic childhood of Tom, Savannah, and their brother Luke.

One of the saddest and heaviest books on this list, The Prince of Tides is heartbreakingly moving.

It is clear that many of these heavy books from the ’80s ventured into uncharted territory when it came to trauma, abuse, therapy, and mental health.

Explore more books that are set across New York . Read The Prince of Tides : Amazon | Goodreads

17. Watchmen by Alan Moore (1986)

Illustrated by Dave Gibbons

Watchmen is an American comic book series published by D.C. Comics between 1986 and 1987.

It follows an alternate history in which superheroes from the 1940s and 1960s change the course of history.

In Watchmen , the U.S. is victorious in Vietnam, Watergate is never exposed, and World War III – against the Soviets – is looming.

Where politics marry superheroes, Watchmen is another of our favorite cult classic ’80s books and series. Read Watchmen : Amazon | Goodreads

18. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)

For more sci-fi and popular books in the ’80s, Ender’s Game is considered one of the best of all time.

Set in the future, humans have mastered interplanetary spaceflight – they explore distant galaxies and encounter an insect alien species called Formics.

Preparing for another war with the Formics, Earth’s military space force recruits and trains children, including Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin, to be future commanders.

During training, Ender proves to be a tactical genius. But, there is more to the training exercises than meets the eye.

Ender’s Game is a great book to gift dad on Father’s Day too. Read Ender’s Game : Amazon | Goodreads

19. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeannette Winterson (1985)

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a coming-of-age novel about a lesbian girl growing up in an English Pentecostal community.

Partially autobiographical, Winterson is gentle with both the themes of same-sex relationships and with religious dedication.

Jeanette – who is also the main character – believes she is destined to become a missionary.

As she grows older and begins exploring love, she develops feelings for another girl. However, her mother and community disapprove.

Will Jeanette find an artful balance between her romantic feelings and religious devotion? And what will become of her relationship with her mother and religious institution?

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is one of the not-to-miss 1980s books by a dazzling and award-winning fiction and nonfiction author. Read Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit : Amazon | Goodreads

20. The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving (1981)

With so many of the books from the ’80s featuring coming-of-age stories, it is hard to stand out. But Irving does just that. In fact, he is featured here twice!

John Berry is the son of a perpetual dreamer and bear owner, one of five eccentric siblings, and a permanent resident of a hotel.

Despite funny, sad, traumatic, and outlandish circumstances, the family keeps on dreaming, albeit outlandishly.

Soulful and gentle at times, and at others ridiculous, Irving gently marries humorous relatability with serious issues in this literary masterpiece.

Uncover even more books featuring hotel life . Read The Hotel New Hampshire : Amazon | Goodreads

21. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (1988)

A list of iconic ’80s books isn’t complete without Stephen Hawking.

In layman’s terms, Hawking presents an overview of physics and the structure, origin, and potential future of the universe.

He brings concepts of space and time, as well as general relativity and quantum mechanics, from scientists to the simple man.

With this book, Hawking changed how human beings considered their own existence. It is also a bit of a precursor to his Theory of Everything as he touches on a unifying theory. Read A Brief History of Time : Amazon | Goodreads

Save These ’80s Books For Later:

Grab the best books of the 1980s here :

Thank you to TUL contributor, Tori Curran from Explore With Tori

Tori (pronouns: she/her) is a children’s librarian and mom to two boys living in New York. She’s an avid traveler, nature enthusiast, and writer, encouraging families to get outside and start exploring the world. When she’s not hiking or traveling, you can find her lost in a historical fiction book, watching Bravo reruns, or obsessively decluttering her home.

What are your favorite 1980s books?

If you lived during the 1980s, what are your favorite inventions, memories, shows, and mementos?

What do you wish survived past the decade, and what ’80s trends do you hope stay long forgotten?

Lastly, what were the most popular books in the ’80s, and which are your favorites? Are there any ’80s books that missed the mark? Let us know in the comments.

You May Also Enjoy:

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This reading list is also a part of the 2022 Uncorked Reading Challenge .

Tori Curran

Tori (pronouns: she/her) is a mom to two boys, living in New York but adventuring everywhere, usually with a toddler on her back. She's an avid traveler, nature junkie, and writer, encouraging families to get outside and start exploring the world. When she's not hiking or traveling, you can find her lost in a book, watching Bravo reruns, or obsessively decluttering her home. Tori owns the family and adventure blog, Explore with Tori .

I loved you list, so this isn’t a criticism. Great books. Here are a few I would add: 1) Stephen King, from Fitestarter (1980) to Needful ThingS (1990), this was THE writer of the decade, and you really can’t go wrong with anything he published in the 80s. 2) The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe 3) The Damnation Game by Clive Barker 4) Rabbit is Rich by John Updike 5) The Dean’s December by Saul Bellow 6) White Noise by Don DeLillo 7) The Hunt For Red October by Tom Clancy 8) The Counterlife by Philip Roth 9) Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney 10) Slaves of New York by Tama Janowitz

….just to name a few.

Thanks so much for the additional recommendations. We always appreciate them!

Great list to reflect back on. I remember reading a lot of Bret Easton Ellis. Less Than Zero and American Psycho stand out

Thanks so much for sharing!

I was shocked not to see Flowers In The Attic

Love your 80’s list!

Thanks so much!

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30 Rad Books About the 1980s

Explore the best books about the 1980s, the last decade of the Cold War marked by economic uncertainty and technological advances.

When you think about the 1980s, you think of the mix of uncertainty and hope. The Cold War was on its last legs, creating political and economic upheaval throughout the world. The AIDS epidemic struck new terror across the country. Yet, technological advances introduced the internet and the Atari game system, adding new interests and shifting culture.

You see in this intermix of books set in the 1980s characters hopeful of change yet struggling in a shifting environment.

Today, I’ve put together a list of books about the 1980s. You’ll find something for everyone: fun 1980s historical fiction, nonfiction books about the 1980s, and even a few modern classic 1980s books worth a read.

Don’t Miss a Thing

Best Books About the 1980s

George Orwell

I know it’s about a theoretical version of the 1980s, but you can’t list books about the 1980s without mentioning 1984 . Published in 1949, George Orwell’s terrifying vision of the 1980s is just as important today as when it was written. Telling the story of Winston, a depressed Party worker who longs to join the Resistance, 1984 shows the horror of a totalitarian society continually at war. Commonly referenced in modern culture (i.e., Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime,), 1984 is one of the best dystopian novels of all time and my all-time favorite book.

Publication Date: 8 April 1949 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Great Believers

Rebecca makkai.

In 1985, Yale Tishman is set to acquire a treasure trove of artwork for the Chicago art gallery where he works. When his friend Nico dies of AIDS, Yale watches as all his best friends begin dying, leaving Nico’s sister Fiona as the only friend he has left. Flash forward 30 years, when Fiona is in Paris trying to find her daughter and coming to grips with how the AIDS epidemic has altered her life.

Publication Date: 19 June 2018 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

A Time To Kill

John grisham.

John Grisham’s debut novel didn’t receive much attention until after he published the bestsellers The Firm and The Pelican Brief , but it’s my favorite page turner book of his. After the brutal rape of a 10-year-old girl, her father seeks his own justice and murders the rapists. With the Mississippi town aflame, young attorney Jake Brigance must decide how much he is willing to risk to defend the father. Just be warned, the beginning of the book is horribly graphic and extremely hard to read.

Publication Date: 1989 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Hello Beautiful

Ann napolitano.

After a childhood of being ignored by his family, William Waters finds refuge playing basketball in college. When William meets Julia Padavano, a lively girl extremely close to her parents and three sisters, he quickly becomes a part of the close-knit Padavano family. Although cracks start to appear in the family, William never imagined he’d be the wedge to drive them apart. A homage to Little Women , Hello Beautiful gorgeously describes family and sisterhood, mental health, and forgiveness, in such a way that you will never forget this story.

Publication Date: 14 March 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen chbosky.

In a series of letters, fifteen-year-old Charlie narrates his struggles to adapt to his first year in high school, especially after the suicide of his best friend from middle school and the death of his beloved aunt. He befriends two seniors, Patrick and Sam, and together they navigate a difficult year. One of the best YA books about the 1980s, The Perks of Being a Wallflower hits on the tough topics of abuse and mental health.

Publication Date: 1 February 1999 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

I Must Betray You

Ruta sepetys.

Although communist countries are falling all over Europe, in 1989, Romania is still ruled by the cruel dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Blackmailed by the secret police, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is forced to become an informer, walking the edge between deceiving the Securitate while still protecting his family. I Must Betray You is exactly what you want from young adult historical fiction books about the 1980s. Sepetys showcases the everyday teenage life in a unique setting with a narrative that is as compelling as it is informative. Publication Date: 1 February 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Save for Later

Book Club Books About the 1980s

Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Carol rifka brunt.

In 1987, fourteen-year-old June feels like she doesn’t fit in. Her only confidant is her uncle Finn. When Finn dies of a mysterious illness (AIDS) that her mother refuses to talk about, June is devastated. At the funeral, she meets Finn’s “friend” Toby, and the two strike up a friendship that will help them both navigate their grief.

Publication Date: 19 June 2012 Amazon | Goodreads

Colson Whitehead

In 1985, Benji Cooper is the only Black student at his elite prep school in Manhattan. In contrast, Benji spends every summer in Sag Harbor, an African American community of artists where the teens are allowed complete freedom most of the time. In this coming of age book, Whitehead uses the hilarity of teenage mortification to underscore Benji’s struggle to find his identity between his all-White and all-Black lives.

Publication Date: 28 April 2009 Amazon | Goodreads

Oona Out of Order

Margarita montimore.

On New Year’s Eve in 1982, Oona Lockhart is faced with a life-changing decision: travel abroad to continue her studies in London or pursue fame as a member of her boyfriend’s rock band. As the clock strikes midnight and Oona turns 19, she faints and wakes up as a fifty-year-old. Thus begins the mixed-up time-travel life of Oona, where every year she gets to randomly experience her life at different stages. One of the best recent books with time travel, Oona Out of Order explores whether or not we can change our destiny while having fun highlighting the differences between the decades.

Publication Date: 25 February 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Silver Sparrow

Tayari jones.

In 1980s Atlanta, James Witherspoon has his perfect middle-class family … and his secret other middle-class family. When his two teenage daughters from different wives meet, only one knows they are sisters. Their budding friendship threatens to expose the bigamy of their father and throw both of their families into chaos.

Publication Date: 24 May 2011 Amazon | Goodreads

Chris Bohjalian

On a snowy winter night in rural Vermont, Sibyl Danforth is an experienced midwife forced to perform an emergency c-section when the mother dies of a stroke. Yet, Sibyl’s assistant insists that the mother wasn’t already dead. Told from Sibyl’s teenage daughter’s point of view, Midwives explores the complex nature of childbirth as Sibyl stands trial for her actions.

Publication Date: 1 April 1997 Amazon | Goodreads 

Bestselling Books on the 1980s

Malibu Rising

Taylor jenkins reid.

In 1983, four famous siblings throw an epic summer party at their Malibu mansion. Secrets come out, the party gets out of control, and a fire will burn it all down by dawn. Malibu Rising is a gorgeous family drama that surpasses a simple beach read. The story of the Riva children abandoned by their famous rockstar father is heartbreakingly sad and yet still hopeful. Bringing the 1980s to life, the characters come alive as each sibling ponders if they can escape their parents’ fates.

Publication Date: 01 June 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Eleanor & Park

Rainbow rowell.

The new girl in town, Eleanor, with her unruly red hair and mismatched clothes, doesn’t fit in at her high school. Park doesn’t fully fit in either and tends to hide behind his books and his headphones. When the two misfits bond over comic books and music, a friendship springs up that reminds you of the transformative power of love in this stunning 1980s historical fiction for teens.

Publication Date: 2012 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

In the Woods

Tana french.

Mysteries can be a great way to experience a different decade and Tana French’s debut thriller is a perfect choice for books about the 1980s. In the summer of 1984, four children go out to the woods to play but only one returns. With no memory of what happened to the other children that day, the lone survivor Rob Roy grows up to become a detective, seeking to right what wrongs he can. When he and his partner investigate a case eerily similar to what happened to him so long ago, Rob’s memories start to return. Will this case lead him to solve his own mystery? Or will his memories blind him to the truth of this case?

Publication Date: 17 May 2007 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

More Than You’ll Ever Know

Katie gutierrez.

In 1985, Lore Rivera is an international banker, frequently traveling between Texas and Mexico City. Although married to Fabian with twin sons, after Lore has an affair with Andres in Mexico, she secretly marries him as well. When her double life is finally exposed, one husband is arrested for murdering the other. Uncovering this sensational story in the modern-day, a true-crime writer uncovers long-hidden secrets when she tracks down Lore to hear Lore’s side of the story.

Publication Date: 7 June 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Sun Down Motel

Simone st. james.

In 1982, Viv Delaney takes a job as a clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York, only to mysteriously disappear. Thirty-five years later, Viv’s niece Carly Kirk returns to the Sun Down Motel to investigate her aunt’s disappearance. You’ll love flipping between Carly and Viv as they try to figure out what is going on at the Sun Down Motel. The perfect combination of spooky, without being too scary, The Sun Down Motel is one of the top thriller books about the 1980s.

Publication Date: 18 February 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Interesting Books Set in the 1980s

Haruki Murakami

If you are craving something a bit different, you might want to try this mind-bending work from famed Japanese author Haruki Murakami. In 1984, Aomame notices strange discrepancies and finds she has entered a parallel version of her life, 1Q84. Quickly caught up in a religious cult, Aomame wonders what is truly real. Meanwhile, ghostwriter Tengo accepts an assignment to rewrite a book, a decision that changes his whole life and leads him closer to Aomame.

Publication Date: 29 May 2009 Amazon | Goodreads

Girl, Forgotten

Karin slaughter.

While protecting a judge getting death threats, new US Marshal Andrea Oliver can’t resist investigating a cold case. On prom night in 1982, the popular Emily Vaughn is killed. Emily was hiding a secret, but her wealthy family and friends closed ranks after her gruesome murder. Now, Andrea is determined to use her position and resources to find out what happened to Emily.

Publication Date: 23 August 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Passenger

Cormac mccarthy.

In his first book since winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Road sixteen years ago, Cormac McCarthy returns with the first book in a two-part series. In Mississippi in 1980, Bobby Western dives into the ocean to investigate a crashed ocean liner. As he explores the crash site, he is plagued by officials, the ghost of his father, and by his sister who loves him but could also ruin him.

Publication Date: 25 October 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Shoulder Season

Christina clancy.

After the death of her parents in 1981, nineteen-year-old Sherri Taylor decides to leave her sleepy hometown behind and jump full-tilt into an evocative adventure. She becomes a Playboy Bunny at a Wisconsin resort. Living in dorms with other bunnies, Sherri enjoys the sisterhood and the thrill of sex, drugs, and rock and roll until she is caught in a love triangle that will affect her for decades.

Publication Date: 6 July 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Music Shop

Rachel joyce.

In 1988, Frank owns a music shop where he sells vinyls of every genre and has a knack for picking out the perfect song for each customer. One day Ilse Brauchmann walks in and asks Frank to teach her about music. As Ilse and Frank develop a friendship that slowly deepens, past wounds threaten to ruin their relationship.

Publication Date: 13 July 2017 Amazon | Goodreads 

Modern Classics: 1980s Books

The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret atwood.

After the fall of the United States, the theocratic patriarchal society Gilead is now in power. Due to an epidemic of infertility, most of the elite women cannot have children. Instead, they use handmaids, women of the lower caste forced to submit to men to bear children. The Handmaid’s Tale is written as the diary of one such handmaiden, Offred, as she struggles to survive in a brutal society, hoping to one day escape.

Publication Date: August 1985 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Ender’s Game

Orson scott card.

In a future where humanity is at war with an alien enemy determined to destroy life on Earth, Ender Wiggin is a third child in a family of extraordinarily gifted children. Sent off to battle school at only six years of age, Ender – with his perfect mix of compassion and ruthlessness – is forced to become the military genius humanity so desperately needs. Ender’s Game is an amazing novel – not only thrilling enough to intrigue teenage boys who never read- but also so packed with complex themes and deeper meanings that will make you want to read it again and again.

Publication Date: 15 January 1985 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Color Purple

Alice walker.

In this modern classic, poor young Black girl Celie writes letters to God in the early 1900s, begging for help from her father who beats and rapes her. After Celie is married off to an abusive man and helps her sister run away, Celie begins writing letters to her sister. Talking frankly about domestic and sexual abuse and homosexuality, The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983.

Publication Date: 1 June 1982 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Joy Luck Club

How well do you know your mother? In 1949, four Chinese women, all recent immigrants to San Francisco, gather together weekly to play Mahjong, chat about their pasts, and hope for the future of their daughters. This tale of mothers trying to pass on their wisdom to their American-born daughters who don’t truly understand them will make you want to learn more about your own mother.

Toni Morrison

One of the top books on racism, Toni Morrison’s horror story shows the scars left behind by slavery. Although she escaped slavery by running to Ohio, Sethe is still not a free woman. She can’t seem to get the horrors of Sweet Home out of her mind and is haunted by the ghost of her baby, Beloved. When a teenage girl arrives claiming to be Beloved, Sethe’s past finally catches up to her.

Publication Date: September 1987 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

A Prayer for Owen Meany

John irving.

During a Little League baseball game, Owen Meany hits a foul ball that kills his best friend’s mother. Believing himself to be God’s instrument, Owen seeks to fulfill his own prophecy. Narrated by Owen’s best friend John Wheelwright, A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the best 1980s books and a beloved modern classic.

Publication Date: March 1989 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Nonfiction Books About the 1980s

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

John berendt.

In 1981, a death at the grandest mansion in Savannah provokes the question: Was it murder or self-defense? The shooting sends a tidal wave through the town that’s effects are still visible a decade later. With a colorful cast of characters, you’ll hardly believe this narrative nonfiction story isn’t a novel.

Publication Date: 13 January 1994 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Truth and Beauty

Ann patchett.

In 1981, Ann Patchett met Lucy Grealy in college, and, after attending a writer’s workshop, a close friendship bloomed that would last decades. As a child, Lucy lost half her jaw to childhood cancer. Through the years of reconstructive surgery, Ann and Lucy’s bond remains strong only to be separated by Lucy’s death at a young age.

Publication Date: 1 May 2004 Amazon | Goodreads 

The Library Book

Susan orlean.

In 1986, a massive fire tore through the Los Angeles Public Library Central Branch, raging for over seven hours and destroying hundreds of thousands of books. Susan Orlean weaves together the tale of the library fire, the history of the Los Angeles Public Library, and a behind the scenes look at the current library to show the importance of libraries to humanity.

Publication Date: 16 October 2018 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

I Forgot to Remember

In 1988, Su Meck, a young mother of two, was struck in the head by a falling ceiling fan leaving her with a traumatic brain injury. After only 3 weeks, she was discharged from the hospital and sent back home to take care of her kids – even though she had lost most of her memories – including, how to do basic functions, like read, add, or tie her shoes. Just thinking about how her doctors failed her and how her terrible husband mistreated her just makes my blood boil. Su Meck’s memoir might not be the best written, but she is certainly a true survivor.

Publication Date: 4 February 2014 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Which Books About the 1980s Are You Most Interested in Reading?

What do you think? Do you enjoy reading books about the 1980s? What 1980s books would you recommend? As always, let me know in the comments!

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Books that shaped the 1980s

Rubik's Cubes, Stephen King and Margaret Thatcher – the Eighties have plenty of cultural touchstones. But where to read about them? From Toni Morrison to Tom Wolfe, Alan Hollinghurst to Alice Walker, here are some of the writers who captured the decade best. 

Hold your boombox in the air for the 1980s... surely the most photogenic decade in history.

It was the decade 24-hour news was born and the Cold War died. The decade Diana became a princess, Prince Rogers Nelson became just Prince; greed got good (for a while) and poverty got worse. There was a Very Important war over an island somewhere near Argentina, and a pop concert to relieve a famine in Africa.

How could anyone forget Top Gun , The Smiths, Dallas , MTV, yuppies, powersuits, IBM and Rubik's Cubes? It was the decade Millenials were born, just as Mr. T pitied his first fool. 

History has not forgotten Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev or Michael Jackson, either. Nor the AIDS crisis and the rampant, structural homophobia that it spawned. 

A lot happened in the 1980s: a decade of massive social, political and cultural change the influence of which has dripped through every decade since. And, as usual, there were plenty of writers itching to make sense of it all. Here are 20 of the most significant.

“The Color Purple lingers as perhaps the cultural touchstone for black women in America"

The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)

This is the book that made Alice Walker the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize. And two years later, Steven Spielberg adapted it into a film that featured the screen acting debuts of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.

A heart-puncturing tale of one woman's spiritual awakening in the Deep South, it tells the story of Celie and her struggles to escape the cycle of brutality and humiliation meted out on her by men – raped by her father and married off to an abusive husband until she finds love in the arms of a vivacious female blues singer named Shug Avery.

But there's so much more to it than that. So much, in fact, that – as Victoria Bond wrote in The New Republic , " The Color Purple lingers as perhaps the cultural touchstone for black women in America, a kind of lingua franca of familiarity and friendship."

“It captures the quality of daily existence in media-saturated, hyper-capitalistic postmodern America so precisely"

White Noise by Don DeLillo (1985)

In its review of Don DeLillo  White Noise, the New York Times called the novel: "timely and frightening – precisely because of its totally American concerns, its rendering of a particularly American numbness."

That numbness, in DeLillo's mind, was a result the soul-ossifying impact of mass-media and consumerism on contemporary America that was eating society alive.

It follows a university professor of Hitler studies, who grows angry, paranoid and terminally obsessed with his own mortality after a toxic spill near his home. So when he discovers his wife has been taking an experimental drug to combat the fear of death, he vows to get his hands on the drug at any cost in this lucid reflection of the anxiety, self-absorption, and alienation of the 1980s.

"White Noise,"  wrote Lev Grossman in TIME , "captures the quality of daily existence in media-saturated, hyper-capitalistic postmodern America so precisely, you don’t know whether to laugh or whimper."

“No other living American novelist, not even Pynchon, has given us a book as strong and memorable as Blood Meridian”

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985)

"I venture that no other living American novelist, not even Pynchon, has given us a book as strong and memorable as Blood Meridian ," wrote the powerhouse American critic Harold Bloom in 2019. "It is the ultimate Western, not to be surpassed."

It follows the experiences of a boy, known as The Kid, with the Glanton gang (led by the blood-boilingly satanic The Judge), a historical band of scalp hunters who slaughtered native Americans and others along the Texas–Mexico borderlands in the 1840s for bounty, pleasure, and eventually just habit.

It is a story soaked in menace, and awash with nuance, and with blood festooned across almost every page. And yet, McCarthy's primary-colour prose lifts it from the realm of camp horror into a genuine devastation of the senses – a story so troubling, fearsome and intense that it has never lost its relevance. One of the greatest American novels of all time.

Did a fear of clowns exist before Stephen King wrote IT?

IT by Steven King (1986)

Did coulrophobia (the irrational fear of clowns) exist before Stephen King wrote IT , about a psychotic dream clown who murders children and feeds on their fear? It had to, because, in King's own words , “Clowns are scary … I mean, if I were a sick kid and I saw a f***ing clown coming, all the red lines would go off on my gear, because I'd be scared to death!”

Anyway, you can't talk about books of the 1980s without a shout out to Stephen King. It was the decade he wrote Cujo , The Running Man , Christine , Pet Sematery , Misery , The Tommyknockers ... take your pick.

But for sheer impact on popular horror, IT was the book that made clowns definitively scary for a whole generation. And the fact that Pennywise is still paying King's bills 30 years later with the recent double-movie adaptation starring Bill Skarsgård as the homicidal harlequin of Hell is testament to its timeless appeal.

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)

It's quiet. It's subtle. It's agonisingly English. Kazuo Ishiguro 's Booker-winning novel about the life and private tortures of an ageing butler with an upper lip as stiff as his starched collar was the heartbreaker Britain seemed to need in 1989.

Set between the wars, but published as the Berlin Wall was coming down, Y2K was looming, and Britain stood at the edge of a cultural cliff, maybe it was the nostalgia for a forgotten time when “things were always better left unsaid” that resonated.

Whatever it was, this haunting tale of lost causes and lost love rang a bell that echoed through the collective imagination from London to Los Angeles and all the way to Stockholm where, 18 years later, Ishiguro was awarded the Nobel Prize for his ability to reveal “the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

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12 Totally Rad Reads That Will Stoke Your 80s Nostalgia

The decade of acid wash jeans, exaggerated shoulder pads, and hair that would make one a foot taller (looking at you, Steve Harrington) will never truly die. Shows like Stranger Things and films like It are determined to keep us in a constant state of 80s nostalgia. To feed this insatiable 80s binge (we’ve thankfully tracked down a pair of Moon Shoes), we’re adding some books to the mix. Some set in the 80s, some transporting us back to that time, these righteous novels are a must for those who lived through the best decade in history and for those who’ve longed to experience it.

Want to take a trip back to the 1980s art scene in New York City? Molly Prentiss’s novel is a supernostalgic read for fans of A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD and THE INTERESTINGS. In TUESDAY NIGHTS IN 1980 the lives of an art critic, a mysterious orphan, an exiled Argentinean painter, and his muse are forever entwined after a tragic event. Teeming with fond memories of the 80s and art, this novel is a must-read for the nostalgic and art lovers alike.

Welcome to SoHo at the onset of the eighties: a haven—and heaven—for artists and writers looking to make it big. Among them is James Bennett, an art critic for The New York Times who has synesthesia, a condition that enables him to see and describe things in incredible ways. When he meets Raul Englaes, an exiled Argentinian painter, both of their lives change.

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If you’ve ever glanced down the science-fiction aisle of your favorite bookstore or library, chances are you’ve seen the name Philip K. Dick. You might recognize some of his books even if you haven’t read them, such as THE MINORITY REPORT, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, and of course, DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? You might recognize the last book by its popular 80s movie title, Blade Runner . The film is full of 80s nostalgia in a disturbing futuristic sense that quickly gained a cult following. DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? tells the same story of Deckard as he hunts down and “retires” any androids he finds. Of course, that’s not so simple when the androids look like humans. Like many of my favorite science-fiction books, Philip K. Dick calls into question what it really means to be human and how far one would go in order to survive.

After the World War destroyed most life on earth and most humans have emigrated to Mars, companies begin building incredibly human-like artificial intelligence. It’s so realistic that most people can’t even tell the difference between a “real” human and a “fake.” The relationships and loves that ensue are sure to please fans of science fiction and romance alike.

11 Unconventional Love Stories to Set Your Heart Pitter-Pattering

By Erica Nelson | February 11, 2016

In the vein of the film Lady Bird and perfect for fans of Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s big-hearted debut THE NEST, LAURA & EMMA follows Laura as she raises her daughter, Emma, as a single mother in 1980s New York City. Born into old money, Laura is awarded many privileges but burdened with many expectations. Featuring a cast of quirky and effervescent characters, LAURA & EMMA takes on topics like class, single motherhood, and privilege.

“Masterly deftness, funny sentence by funny sentence...a moving and intricately braided story of two mothers.” — JONATHAN FRANZEN, The Guardian

This “beguiling, addictive read” ( People, Book of the Week) and Belletrist Book Club pick about a blue-blooded single mother raising her daughter in rarefied New York City is a “carefully observed family story [that] rings true to life” ( The New York Times Book Review ).

Laura hails from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, born into old money, drifting aimlessly into her early thirties. One weekend in 1981 she meets a man. The two sleep together. He vanishes. And Laura realizes she’s pregnant.

Enter: Emma.

“Unputdownable” ( Library Journal ) and “wryly observed” ( Vogue ), Laura & Emma follows Laura as she raises Emma in New York City over the next fifteen years. With wit and compassion, Kate Greathead explores the many flaws and quirks that make us human. Laura’s story hosts a cast of effervescent and original characters, including her eccentric mother, who informs her society friends and Emma herself that she was fathered by a Swedish sperm donor; her brother, whose childhood stutter reappears in the presence of their forbidding father; an exceptionally kind male pediatrician; and her overbearing best friend, whose life has followed the Park Avenue script in every way except for childbearing.

“Kate Greathead’s debut novel gamely takes on class conflict, single motherhood, and the discreet pretension of the 1980s Upper East Side” ( New York magazine) and is a “layered story about mothers and daughters and identity” ( Entertainment Weekly ). Told in vignettes whose every “restrained and understated sentence has been polished to glittering brightness” ( Vox ), Laura & Emma is “an incisive comedy of manners about class divides and the ‘burdens’ of being born privileged” ( Esquire ) and “a thoughtful novel of trying to find oneself despite an assigned place in the world” ( Publishers Weekly ).

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By Off the Shelf Staff | March 11, 2019

A decade rife with coming-of-age stories, Luiza Sauma's debut is just one of the many that paints a portrait of restless growing pains against the backdrop of the 1980s. FLESH AND BONE AND WATER begins in 1985 Rio de Janeiro with 16 year old André’s who has lost his mother in a car accident. Living in a new city and his father working to support the family, André befriends Luana, the beautiful daughter of the family's maid. When André unexpectedly receives a letter from Luana decades later, a different side of the story reveals itself—filled with desire, meditations on race and class, and power.

8 Under-the-Radar Reads That Deserve All the Love

By Chris Gaudio | June 16, 2021

Do you ever have those days where you wish you could go back to simpler times and spend hours trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube or watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off while playing hooky from school? If so, then you need to pick up a copy of READY PLAYER ONE. This is a fun, nostalgia-packed book for all those self-proclaimed video game and pop-culture nerds of the day. And the best part is, it’s set in the future where everyone does everything in a virtual reality world called the OASIS. This story follows Wade Watts on his quest to solve the greatest puzzle within the OASIS in hopes of winning and saving the world’s virtual safe haven from the power hungry IOI corporation. At its heart, this book is a treasure hunt sure to take readers on an epic quest reminiscent of their favorite 80s video games

Read the full review of READY PLAYER ONE .

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By Julianna Haubner | August 11, 2016

This one screams 80s nostalgia in a similar way as Stranger Things, including the story and everything! Charlie is not your average kid. As a result of a government experiment, she has the gift of pyrokinesis (she can start fires with her freaking mind). She finds herself running from the people who gifted her these powers, using her gift to keep her alive. If this isn’t the hottest 80s read out there, then we don’t know what is.

Master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic #1 New York Times bestseller—soon to be a major motion picture!

Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson were once college students looking to make some extra cash, volunteering as test subjects for an experiment orchestrated by the clandestine government organization known as The Shop. But the outcome unlocked exceptional latent psychic talents for the two of them—manifesting in even more terrifying ways when they fell in love and had a child. Their daughter, Charlie, has been gifted with the most extraordinary and uncontrollable power ever seen—pyrokinesis, the ability to create fire with her mind. Now the merciless agents of The Shop are in hot pursuit to apprehend this unexpected genetic anomaly for their own diabolical ends by any means necessary...including violent actions that may well ignite the entire world around them as Charlie retaliates with a fury of her own...

If you’re obsessed with the 1988 cult-classic film The Princess Bride , it is 100 percent worth reading the book, which is just sweet and funny. Do you remember the first time you watched the movie and felt the joy that accompanied it? Well, reading the book was like experiencing the story for the first time all over again, and there are few things as wonderful as experiencing the new and the old together. Reading the book gives the phrase “As You Wish” even more magical power than just watching the movie.

If Your Favorite Character is Dustin Henderson

In the mind of “Toothless,” his best friend didn’t almost die. His comrade was captured by a monster, thus his band of merry adventurers went on a quest to rescue him. For more eccentric goofballs in perilous situations, try the book that preceded the classic movie “The Princess Bride.”

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The premise of Tayari Jones’s SILVER SPARROW is like something out of your favorite 80s soap opera—but delivered with Jones’s trademark language and authenticity. In a story that will leave you devastated and turning page after page, two teenage girls form a friendship in 80s Atlanta. But only one of the girls knows their bond runs blood-deep as the girls are caught in the middle of their bigamist father’s sins. With a secret family and the sins of the previous generations roiling beneath the surface, it’s only a matter of time before their lives are irreversibly changed.

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By Taylor Noel | February 16, 2018

In this incredibly heartfelt story, two misfit teens find first love amid the backdrop of Omaha, Nebraska, in the mid-80s. Living in poverty with an abusive stepfather, Eleanor finds even more abuse at school from relentless bullies. Then she meets Park, a sweet teen from a good family, and the two find escape within each other, entering into a romantic relationship that they fight against all odds to keep. Unflinching, gorgeously written, and with characters who are so vibrant and complex, it’s pretty much impossible not to get emotionally invested. Plus the 80s vibes are alive and well throughout this story. We’re talking comics. We’re talking mix tapes. It’s all there and it’s all fantastic! Rainbow Rowell taps into something raw and relentless about first love and it’s easily one of the best YA books out today.

If your favorite character is Mike Wheeler

This young adult novel is also set in the 1980s and deals with first love between two outsiders. Except in Rainbow Rowell’s book, the kids are older and the monster isn’t a tulip-headed child-eater but an abusive stepfather.

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By Sarah Jane Abbott | December 22, 2015

It is 1980s New York City, and twenty-two-year-old Phoebe Hayes is in search of a new adventure. The recent death of her father is the catalyst behind her life-changing move to the Big Apple, where she can finally confront Ivan, the older man who has traumatically wronged her. Arm in arm with her best friend, Carmen, Phoebe sinks into the haunted artists’ underworld of the East Village. After a combination of sex, drugs, and self-destruction leads to some bad decisions, Carmen disappears, and Phoebe descends further into the darkness. The only way to save herself, and her best friend, is to confront the shadows Phoebe’s been running from.

Read more of Book Club Picks: 9 Irresistible Books I Flew Through This Spring

This “vivid portrait of a seedy, edgy, artsy, and seething New York City that will never exist again” (Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author)— the glittering, decadent downtown club scene of the 1980s—follows a smart, vulnerable young woman as she takes a deep dive into her dark side. Essential reading for fans of Sweetbitter , Fleabag , and books by Patti Smith.

New York, 1984: Twenty-two-year-old Phoebe Hayes is a young woman in search of excitement and adventure. But the recent death of her father has so devastated her that her mother wants her to remain home in Baltimore to recover. Phoebe wants to return to New York, not only to chase the glamorous life she so desperately craves but also to confront Ivan, the older man who wronged her.

With her best friend Carmen, she escapes to the East Village, disappearing into an underworld haunted by artists, It Girls, and lost souls trying to party their pain away. Carmen juggles her junkie-poet boyfriend and a sexy painter while, as Astrid the Star Girl, Phoebe tells fortunes in a nightclub and plots her revenge on Ivan. When the intoxicating brew of sex, drugs, and self-destruction leads Phoebe to betray her friend, Carmen disappears, and Phoebe begins an unstoppable descent into darkness.

“A new wave coming-of-age story, Astrid Sees All is a blast from the past” (Stewart O’Nan, author of The Speed Queen ) about female friendship, sex, romance, and what it’s like to be a young woman searching for an identity.

10 February Paperbacks We’re Crushing On

By Alice Martin | February 7, 2022

If you were raised on  Sixteen Candles  and  Pretty in Pink , love throwback music marathons, or just started binge-watching  Stranger Things , this novel’s for you. Set in small-town New Jersey in 1987 ,  THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTRESS is a funny and sweet coming-of-age tale starring Billy Marvin, a 14-year-old boy who spends his time biking around town with his friends, watching a ton of television, and planning a top-secret mission to obtain the newest issue of  Playboy  magazine, featuring Vanna White as the centerfold. Then he meets Mary Zelinsky, and everything changes.

Read more of Julianna's review!

A love letter to the 1980s and to nerds everywhere— The Impossible Fortress will make you remember what it feels like to love someone—or something—for the first time.

Billy Marvin’s first love was his computer.

Then he met Mary Zelinsky.

Do you remember your first love?

It’s May 1987. Fourteen-year-old Billy Marvin of Wetbridge, New Jersey, is a nerd, but a decidedly happy nerd. Afternoons are spent with his buddies, watching copious amounts of television, gorging on Pop-Tarts, debating who would win in a brawl (Rocky Balboa or Freddy Krueger? Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel? Magnum P.I. or T.J. Hooker?), and programming video games on his Commodore 64 late into the night. Then Playboy magazine publishes photos of their idol, Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White, Billy meets expert computer programmer Mary Zelinsky, and everything changes.

“A sweet and surprising story about young love” ( A.V. Club ), and a “quirky, endearing, full embrace of the late eighties” ( USA TODAY ), The Impossible Fortress will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you remember in exquisite detail what it feels like to love for the very first time. Heralded as one of the most anticipated novels of 2017 by Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, and InStyle.com, The Impossible Fortress is a surefire “unexpected retro delight” ( Booklist , starred review).

This absorbing graphic adventure is like Stranger Things meets Back to the Future , starring four spunky, strong, smart paper girls! Mac, Tiffany, KJ, and Erin are out in the wee hours of the morning delivering newspapers on Halloween when they spot three strange-looking figures, discover something that looks like a spaceship, and are pulled into an adventure that will send them careening through time. The girls are from the 80s and the series is full of nostalgic references and elements. Walkie-talkies! Walkmans! Old-school video game consoles!

In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four twelve-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.

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The Most Influential Fantasy Books of the 1980s

Ann-Marie Cahill

Ann-Marie Cahill will read anything and everything. From novels to trading cards to the inside of CD covers (they’re still a thing, right?). A good day is when her kids bring notes home from school. A bad day is when she has to pry a book from her kids’ hands. And then realizes where they get it from. The only thing Ann-Marie loves more than reading is travelling. She has expensive hobbies.

View All posts by Ann-Marie Cahill

The 1980s were also known for creating cult classics. There are so many great stories that originated from the 1980s yet didn’t attract high popularity stats until many years later. This was especially common with films; however, you will find many books on this list that influenced future fantasy novels and movies. Films like Howl’s Moving Castle or video games such as Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have all been touched by 1980s fantasy books. We wouldn’t have Good Omens without the witty insight of Terry Pratchett and his comic fantasy series, The Colour of Magic . 

One final note: At the risk of putting a downer on these most awesome fantastical adventures, please note. If your favourite 1980s novel is missing from this list, there are a number of possible reasons. Some of the creators from the 1970s and 1980s were horrible people who did horrible things and actually gained some inspiration from their horrible acts to write their stories. That is NOT the influence we are going for here. Be kind, rewind, and use the internet for good. Research the history, and then sit back and enjoy our far more positive list of influential fantasy books from the 1980s. In chronological order, because we don’t do favourites here.

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980)

Yes, Butler is better known for Kindred (1979) and her Earthseed series (1993), but in the middle of the 1980s, she was inspiring a whole generation of fantasy novels with characters we did not have to like. In fact, I will go so far as to say you are likely to hate Doro, but his role in the story is so essential for a deeper understanding of how the world builds around him and the main character, Anyanwu. It was the first of the Patternmaster series, blending fantasy with some very science-fiction concepts and giving us an opportunity to see how the two can work together under the deft hand of talented writers like Butler.

Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

Winner of the 1981 Booker Prize, the English Speaking Union Literary Award, and the James Tait Prize…and yet none of them want to categorise it as “fantasy.” Instead, they call it historical fiction with fabulism. This was a turning point for fantasy in the 1980s; Rushdie showed us how we can be more vocal, more blatant, more direct in our political commentary within our fantastical escapism. This was always a loose allegory for the partition of India in 1947, but ignoring the fantasy elements of telepathic powers and supernatural powers denies the power of escapism in helping us understand complex social situations.

Magician by Raymond E. Feist (1982)

If you ever read Magician and thought, “This has D&D vibes” — you were right. Feist and his friends originally created the fantasy world “Midkemia” during their college years. It’s that same camaraderie that permeates the entire series and subsequently inspired 1980s fantasy books. By the way, there are really two parts to this: Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master . Feist’s world-building grows from the first to the second, so make sure you read both. Most fantasy fans will strongly proclaim Magician as a defining moment in fantasy novels in general.

Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce (1983)

Queen of the gender-role-reversal, many girls in the 1980s dreamed of being just like Alanna. There are a few problematic issues (such as with 15/17-year-olds in love with an 11-year-old girl ), which reflect what we accepted with the time. Revisiting this book, it is filled with many tropes from 1980s fantasy books, but then again, they weren’t tropes when this was first published . Instead, Pierce wrote the book she saw was missing from young girls’ lives and inspired us to look for more.

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (1983)

Can you really have any list of 1980s fantasy books and not have Sir Terry Pratchett on this list? The first of the first books to rise from the back of a giant turtle, The Colour of Magic , introduces us to Discworld under the (mis-) guidance of the inept wizard Rincewind as our tour guide. This is the best of Comic Fantasy and clearly one of the most influential fantasy books of the 1980s (and forever more). Pratchett was the king of one-liners and socio-commentary. For more great Discworld reading, check out Priya’s guide for Your Discworld Reading Order .

Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was by Angélica Gorodischer, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin (1983)

Normally, I recommend reading the original before the translated version if you can. But in all honesty, Le Guin is the perfect partner for this because she understands the same storytelling techniques and subtle magic of Gorodischer. Thanks to fellow Rioter Margaret for this recommendation; I devoured it and then lamented for not reading it during the 1980s. This is one of the best examples of how stories build a city. It is not one single work of worldbuilding but an intricate collection of connected stories linked by an Empire that begins to shine as a character itself. If this is your thing, you’ll love our 9 Books About Cities list .

Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono, illustrated by Akiko Hayashi, translated by Lynne E. Riggs (1985)

Eiko once said , “I believe all of us have at least one special magic power.” In a world filled with witches on broomsticks, Eiko’s Kiki stood out as a focal point for finding one thing you are good at and making it work for you. Seeing a fantasy book where the main protagonist did not have to be good at everything was refreshing. Being a witch did not instantly make you good at everything magical. Kiki could fly, and that was it. It was so good it was picked up almost immediately by Studio Ghibli to be made into a full anime film that is now a classic in its own right.

Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama (1985)

You know a book has had mega-influence when your main character has its own certified and nationally recognised celebration day. Seriously, May 9th is Goku Day, in honour of the main character from Dragon Ball . Let’s face it: this manga series is one of the driving forces behind the rise in popularity of manga during the 1980s, and it is still going strong. You can see the fantastic elements of Dragon Ball that have influenced many other fantasy stories since the 1980s. Thanks to Dragon Ball , we have power scaling, character transformations, power beams, and — let us not forget — shonen hairstyles.

The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (1985)

This collection of 24 folktales was a turning point for reading children’s stories of enslaved Africans. Hamilton was praised for her ability to write the tales in “ The Black English of the slave storytellers .” While the fantasy tales were not Hamilton’s own work, her retelling made them accessible to young people across the United States in a manner that did not hide the history of the people. This has always been one of the best examples of sharing original fantasy storytelling in a new format without removing anything from the original work.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (1986)

We all love the movie from Studio Ghibli, but this is definitely one of those moments where the book is better than the movie . Diana Wynne Jones has always been admired for her social observations, weaving them into her writing with wit and insight. Her works, including the Howl’s Moving Castle series, have been compared with Robin McKinley and Neil Gaiman, both of whom are good friends and have openly expressed Jones as an inspiration. This particular book became a keystone for Studio Ghibli, inspired by Jones’s storytelling and her fantastical portrayal of the main character, Sophie.

Redwall by Brian Jacques (1986)

Jacques originally wrote Redwall for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool. This was one of the biggest motivations for the highly descriptive writing style, using his words to paint the mental imagery of every single scene. Redwall offered the complete package for fantasy storytelling. Jacques included action, poetry, songs, and brave characters who seriously didn’t know what they were doing half the time — except that it was the right thing to do. While later books in the series began to feel a little repetitive, there is no denying the impact of the original Redwall , serving up a fantasy book so influential in the 1980s that even the repeated storylines still feel good.

Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody (1987)

Tamora Pierce (mentioned above) once described this book as a “dream date” with a broad collection of characters who often expressed conflicting interests. Some critics commented on the aloof nature of the main protagonist; however, many fan groups have pointed out the reflection of neurodivergence in the characters. These conflicting interests were a break from fantasy stereotypes and showed the potential of having characters who did not fit social norms. It is one of the earliest books to depict a neurodivergent protagonist in an empowering way. Yes, they are classified as misfits, but they are also considered for great opportunities. This is also possibly the birthplace of YA Dystopia, or at least before YA Dystopia was “cool.”

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (1987)

If you’re a fan of the Fantasy of Manners, then you have Ellen Kushner to thank. We’re talking about the fantastical school of etiquette, where highly regimented social settings dictate every step of the road that lies before our humble characters. It’s an eloquent dance of magic and melodrama — and no one did it better than Kushner with her groundbreaking Swordspoint. You can see the influence flow through fellow Rioter Alex and their 8 Takes on a Fantasy of Manners .

Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara

Originally published in Japanese in 1988 as Sorairo Magatama , Dragon Sword and Wind Child was later translated into English in 1993 and became a huge influence across the world. Fans of the latest Legend of Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom , may recognise the symbolic magatama featured on the cover from prehistoric Japan. Ogiwara was influential in her ability to take all the fantasy tropes of the 1980s and flip every single one.

If this list has you feeling a little nostalgic for big hair, bubble skirts, and bright-coloured geometric patterns, Laura has 9 Fantastic Books Set in the 1980s , including We Ride U p on Sticks by Quan Barry. Or you can compare this list with Chris and The 22 Best Fantasy Books of All Time (*shots fired*).

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A Community for Surviving The Teen Years

Books From The 80s You Loved And Your Tweens and Teens Will Too

Written by parentingteensandtweens

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Way back in the 1900’s as my daughter likes to say when most of us parenting tweens and teens today were teens ourselves, life looked kind of different. Growing up in the carefree 80s and early 90s, most of us still only had a handful of TV channels before cable arrived.

Video games were nothing like they are today and certainly weren’t something we could carry around in our hands. Oh, and phones were attached to the wall with a thing called a cord (that wasn’t for charging).

As things were a bit lower tech, many of us still turned to books to fill our hours instead of screens. And luckily, some of us have been able to pass this on to our kids today, despite all the distractions- even if those books now often come on a screen (hello Kindle).

However, you may have forgotten some of your favorite teen and tween books from back in the day. So, enjoy a walk down memory lane and consider sharing some of these classic 80s books with your teens and tweens.

Not all these tween and teen book suggestions totally stand the test of time, but many are just as relevant and fun today as they were back in the “olden days.”

Best 80s book series for teens and tweens

Classic 80s books to read again (and again)

The Hardy Boys

The Wayside School Series

Anne of Green Gables

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Westing Game

How To Eat Fried Worms

Goosebumps Series

The Outsiders

The Midnight Club

The Agony of Alice

Number the Stars

Young adult novels have improved so much since the 80s

When discussing 80’s books on Facebook that we all remembered reading, many of us were shocked to remember the stuff our parents let us read back then. V.C. Andrews, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and Danielle Steele, to name a few. Not that teens today can’t read these too, but quite a few of us started these in middle school. LOL! Those were the days!

Many also fondly remembered all the Beverly Cleary Books, like Romona and Beezus . I honestly wasn’t sure if that was a little young for this age group, but just for nostalgia’s sake we thought we’d mention it.

Parenting Teens and Tweens can be challenging, but maybe this popular posts other parents found helpful can make it a little easier.

The Best 80’s Teen Movies Every Parent Should Watch With Their Teens

15 Of The Best Adventure Book Series For Tweens

The Best Audio-Books For Tweens and Teens (That Parents Will Enjoy Too!)

Powerful YA Books That Will Help Teens Cope With Grief

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• Parenting Teens
• Teens and Tech
• Teenage Mental Health
• Teen Relationships
• Middle School
• High School

15 YA Books From The ’80s And ’90s That Have Stood The Test Of Time

These are the books that have aged like a fine wine. (Presented in chronological order.)

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1. Stranger With My Face by Lois Duncan, 1981

YA thriller superstar Duncan is at her peak in this novel of evil identical twins, magical necklaces, and astral projection — problems we all struggled with in our teen years, right?

Get it from Amazon for $7.98+ , Barnes and Noble for $10.99+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

2. Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden, 1982

Not the first queer YA novel, but the first major one to offer its heroines the kind of happily-ever-after ending previously seen only in straight romances. It's not just groundbreaking; it's beyond sweet, and it’ll leave you reminiscing about your first love (and possibly sending some ill-advised DMs).

Get it from Amazon for $8.79 , Barnes and Noble for $9.89+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

3. The Secret Window by Betty Ren Wright

Wright's sensitive supernatural tales about girls with eerie abilities — who still have to deal with stuff like divorcing parents and school bullies — have aged incredibly well. Think of them as Judy Blume with a shot of The X-Files .

Get it from Amazon for $3.95+ , Barnes and Noble for $3.50+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

4. You've Been Away All Summer by Sheila Hayes

This story about the emotional distance that develops between two middle school friends remains resonant for anyone still trying to figure out why some friendships fade (and why your best friend's other group of friends are such assholes).

Get it from Amazon for $2+ , Barnes and Noble for $1.95+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

5. Dream Girls #1: Anything To Win by Rosemary Joyce, 1986

This series about the teen pageant circuit is roughly 50 times campier than your most beloved nighttime soap, offering everything from blackmail, to evening gown sabotage, to people very earnestly referring to cocaine as “nose candy.”

Get it from Amazon for $8.64 +, Barnes and Noble for $2.50+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

6. Anastasia’s Chosen Career by Lois Lowry, 1987

Lowry's volumes about neurotic tween intellectual Anastasia might be even more exciting to read as an adult — after all, now you understand how truly weird it was that she had a bust of Sigmund Freud.

Get it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for $6.99+, or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

7. Slam Book by Ann M. Martin, 1987

Soon after she started chronicling the babysitting life in Stoneybrook, Martin also published this extremely dark teen novel about popularity, cruelty, and that paper-based precursor to internet bullying, the slam book.

Get it from Amazon for $4.49+ , Barnes and Noble for $2.75+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

8. Beginners' Love by Norma Klein, 1987

Klein's YA novels have been largely forgotten, which is a damn shame. She writes about teen sexuality with insight and zero shame — and, in this book, presents a destigmatized view of abortion.

Get it from Amazon for $4.49+ , Barnes and Noble for $2.25+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

9. Cousins by Virginia Hamilton, 1990

Hamilton won both the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award for her thoughtful, evocative books about the inner lives of tweens and teens. In this one, she turned her eye toward both eating disorders and family discord, examining the fraught relationship between two young cousins.

Get it from Amazon for $2.49+ , Barnes and Noble for $5.99+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

10. Finding My Voice by Marie G. Lee, 1992

This isn’t just a beautifully written coming-of-age romance about a high school senior's final months in her small, racist hometown — it’s also widely considered the first contemporary-set YA novel with an Asian American protagonist, written by an Asian American author. (She now writes literary fiction as Marie Myung-Ok Lee.)

Get it from Amazon for $2.58+ , Barnes and Noble for $3.99+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

11. NEATE to the Rescue by Debbi Chocolate, 1992

The kids of NEATE were active and activist-y — over the course of this short series, they protested voter suppression, saved a refugee shelter from closure, explored the prejudice that biracial kids deal with, AND put on a pretty solid talent show performance. Kinda puts your seventh-grade experience to shame, huh? (Yes, fine, that baking soda volcano you made was cool.)

Get it from Amazon for $2.95+ , Barnes and Noble for $1.95+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

12. The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen * by Mitali Perkins, 1993

When Sunita Sen’s grandparents arrive from India for an extended visit to her California home, her parents freak out. Terrified that the grandparents will be disappointed in how they run their home, the Sens drastically change their lives — teaching Sunita a lesson in honesty, expectations, and how we never quite stop fearing our parents’ judgment.

Get it from Amazon for $5.39+ , Barnes and Noble for $11.89+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

*Originally published as The Sunita Experiment.

13. The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike, 1994

When you think Christopher Pike, you probably think ax murderers, cursed chain letters, and the occasional evil lizard person — and with good reason! But in this sensitive novel, set at a hospice for terminally ill teens, Pike mashes up standard scary stories with an exploration of what fear really means when illness is more of a threat than haunted houses or sexy vampires.

Get it from Amazon for $5.53+ , Barnes and Noble for $10.99+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

14. 18 Pine St 1: Sort Of Sisters created by Walter Dean Myers, 1994

Created by YA great Myers, this series follows a group of African American teens who meet up daily at their favorite after-school pizza spot — and was written specifically as a corrective to the overwhelming whiteness of ’90s YA.

Get it from Amazon for $3.25 , Barnes and Noble for $2.99+ , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

15. The Bride by D.E. Athkins, 1996

This book has everything : ghost brides, angry supermodels, sinister threats, faked deaths, paparazzi, Porsches, marrying for money, dangerous saunas, and a rain of mysteriously dead birds! Someone option this book for a TV series. (Also, please let me write for this TV series.)

Get it from Amazon for $1.25 , Barnes and Noble for $1.99 , or find it at IndieBound or your local library .

Want more '80s and '90s YA? Watch Gabrielle Moss on AM to DM.

AM to DM by BuzzFeed News @AM2DM #PaperBackCrush author @Gaby_Moss joins #AM2DM to reminisce about "Sweet Valley High," "The Baby-Sitters Club," and the rest of the '80s and '90s YA that defined a generation https://t.co/s5FnFnf12U 04:54 PM - 25 Oct 2018 Reply Retweet Favorite

Gabrielle Moss is a lifestyle features editor at Bustle and the author of Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction and GLOP: Nontoxic, Expensive Ideas That Will Make You Look Ridiculous and Feel Pretentious . Her writing has appeared in Slate, the New Yorker, the Hairpin, and many other fine publications. She is definitely a Jessica.

Paperback Crush is out Oct. 30.

Topics in this article

9 Popular '80s & '90s Kids Books That Have Aged Poorly

• Some beloved children's books from the '80s and '90s may no longer align with current standards of acceptability.
• Themes in classic novels like "The Indian in the Cupboard" and "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" may be seen as problematic today.
• While still beloved, books like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "The Giving Tree" now face criticism for outdated themes and portrayals.

The 1980s and 1990s were a great time to be a kid, but some of the most popular children's books during these decades haven't aged so well. Over the years, ideas about what is or is not acceptable changed. In days past, readers might not have batted an eye at certain concepts and themes in a kid's story. Today, these same books may inspire cries of outrage or, at the very least, a raised eyebrow. It doesn't necessarily mean that the children's books of the 80s and 90s are bad . Rather, they are no longer aligned with today's standards in one way or another.

The world changed rapidly after the '80s and '90s, with a boom in technology and the world of social media shifting the way that society thinks and interacts. For this reason, those who were kids and teens during these decades tend to be extra nostalgic for the books, movies, and music popular during this time. There were hundreds of beloved classics published in the '80s and '90s , and many more published prior that maintained their popularity into these years. Many of them are still loved today, but modern readers may notice things about these books they hadn't in the days of yore .

9 Classic Kids Books From The 80s That Are Still Worth Reading

Though they were published more than 30 years ago, some 1980s children's books have withstood the test of time and are still relevant reads today.

The Indian In The Cupboard By Lynne Reid Banks

Indian in the cupboard perpetuates harmful stereotypes.

Reid Banks' The Indian in the Cupboard was published in 1980 and has been a popular children's novel for decades. It's a story full of imagination and whimsy, as a young boy discovers that an old medicine cabinet can bring his toys to life. Of course, the toy that reveals this magic is a tiny plastic Iroquois Indian, Little Bear, who eventually warms up to the boy.

This classic novel is still beloved today, but there are several ways that the story doesn't quite fly by today's standards. Though the protagonist, Omri, breaks down some common Native American stereotypes in The Indian in the Cupboard , the novel still perpetuates many others. Little Bear initially worshiped Omri like a god , and he was later overly literal and even violent. It's certainly not a bad book, but Banks' story is a little more uncomfortable when reading today.

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (Republished) By Roald Dahl

Even the changed oompa loompas were a problem.

Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was initially published in 1964, but even for the time, there were frequent complaints about the Oompa Loompas. The author initially described them as small African men whom Willy Wonka discovered and brought back to his factory to serve as his workers. There are some very clear problems with this, and Dahl later rewrote them to be creatures from Loompaland and republished the book in 1972 .

The republished version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is what circulated in schools in the 1980s and 1990s, and though the Oompa Loompas were no longer African slaves, the book still had some problems. Changing the workers' skin color and origin didn't eliminate the minstrel influence on the Oompa Loompa's singing and dancing, and the frequent descriptions of the " fat " Augustus Gloop have begun to make some readers uncomfortable today as well.

Where the Wild Things Are By Maurice Sendak

Max's punishment in uncomfortable when reading today.

Where the Wild Things Are is another book published in the 1960s that remained highly popular in schools through the 1980s and 1990s. The story itself is charming and full of imagination, with an outrageous adventure that many children would dream up. Much about the story is left to interpretation, making it a great starting place for young readers who are just beginning to dive into the themes of literature.

However, modern parents who have begun to read Where the Wild Things Are have complained about the harsh punishment that protagonist Max faces at the beginning of the story. After terrorizing his house in a wolf costume, the boy is sent to bed with no dinner, and this is no longer considered an acceptable punishment today . Of course, Maurice Sendak's book ends with Max getting a hot meal after all, but the suggested punishment itself has made some uneasy.

10 Great Movies Based On "Unfilmable" Books

Film adaptations of books are as old as movies, but some books don't lend themselves to the big screen. These films managed to adapt the unadaptable.

The Giving Tree By Shel Silverstein

The giving tree encourages unhealthy relationship dynamics.

Published in 1964, The Giving Tree is a classic book that was a key feature of any school library through the '80s and '90s (as with many other Shel Silverstein books) and was dubbed the 24th most popular kids' book in 1999. The story follows a boy (who grows into an old man throughout the story) and a tree that continues giving all it has until nothing is left but a stump.

In truth, The Giving Tree has always been a bit divisive since the story's overall theme is difficult to nail down. Still, the general consensus of the '80s and '90s is that it was a story about selflessness and that giving to others brings joy. Today, even this more positive takeaway from Silverstein's book is unpopular. Such extensive people-pleasing is now frowned upon, and the idea of unreasonably sacrificing everything for someone else's happiness no longer aligns with today's standards .

Goggles! By Ezra Jack Keats

Ezra jack keats portrayed his black characters as impoverished.

Goggles! by Ezra Jack Keats was a common book to see school teachers and librarians reading to their students in the '80s and '90s. The story follows two young boys who find a pair of goggles to play with but must outsmart some bullies to keep them from laying claim to the goggles themselves. It's a sweet and clever story, but Goggles! has since become divisive due to how it portrays Black children and neighborhoods .

Goggles! isn't the only book from this author to feature Black children in shabby surroundings, leading some modern readers to criticize Keats for perpetuating negative stereotypes.

Ezra Jack Keats is a white author, while the two young protagonists of Goggles! are Black. While this alone isn't enough to cause a problem, the fact that these young boys are frequently shown playing in garbage in rough-looking neighborhoods has made Keats' book age poorly. Goggles! isn't the only book from this author to feature Black children in shabby surroundings, leading some modern readers to criticize Keats for perpetuating negative stereotypes.

Harry Potter By J.K. Rowling

Harry potter's house-elves & goblins could be a problem.

There's no doubt that the Harry Potter books are still popular today—perhaps even more than ever. However, the series has always been a frequent flyer on the banned books list, and recently, the controversy surrounding Harry's story has been even more intense. Back in the 90s, Harry Potter was accused of encouraging children to practice witchcraft since the protagonist was sent to a magical school for witches and wizards. Today, it's other themes that have become a problem.

Modern society has deemed several elements of Harry Potter problematic. House elves, who are enslaved by wizarding kind (but like it), are a problem for obvious reasons, while goblins, who greedily hoard gold and run the wizarding bank, are said to carry antisemitic themes . Author J.K. Rowling's comments against transgender-inclusive legislature have only added to the controversy.

Bridge To Terabithia By Katherine Paterson

Bridge to terabithia's themes on gender norms are outdated.

Bridge to Terabithia was published in 1977 and, therefore, made children everywhere cry through the '80s, '90s, and beyond. The story and themes are absolutely heartbreaking, and this has allowed the surprisingly heavy story to leave quite a mark on the world of children's literature. None of this is the reason it hasn't aged well, though. Instead, the more subtle aspects of Katherine Paterson's coming-of-age story have simply become outdated.

Gender plays a significant role in Bridge to Terabithia , with Leslie being a tomboy while Jesse likes " girly " things like art. Paterson was ahead of her time in challenging these standard roles, but the story slightly overcompensated, with Leslie being presented as being better than feminine girls like Jess's sisters. What's more, the school bully is frequently called fat by the protagonists, and the big reveal that she was beaten by her father is used as a sort of justice.

The Baby-Sitter's Club By Ann M. Martin

The baby-sitters are far too young in the baby-sitter's club.

The Baby-Sitter's Club book series is made up of dozens of novels, all published between 1986 and 2000. They follow a variety of different characters, beginning with Kristy Thomas, who runs a babysitting business. As these groups of girls take on jobs, they go through misadventures and dilemmas, learn important lessons, and support one another. It's altogether very heartwarming, but the characters' ages at the start of the series really date The Baby-Sitter's Club .

Kristy is only 12 when she begins her job as a baby-sitter in Ann M. Martin's novels, which is far younger than many would be comfortable with today. She and her friends were basically children looking after children, though this wasn't too extraordinary in the 1980s. Now, it's a little challenging to wrap our minds around.

The Rainbow Fish By Marcus Pfister

The rainbow fish gives away his own scales to make people like him.

The Rainbow Fish , published in 1992, was an attractive book to elementary school kids in the '90s, thanks to its shimmery cover. Of course, the story by Marcus Pfister was appreciated by parents and teachers since it seemed aimed at teaching kids how to share. The story follows a beautiful fish called Rainbow Fish, who refuses to share his shiny scales and, therefore, doesn't have any friends. He ultimately discovers that, to be happy, he should give away his shimmering scales until everyone, including him, has only one.

As good a lesson as this seemed back in the day, some modern readers have grown disturbed at the idea of children being taught that they should share parts of their own bodies to get friends . Of course, The Rainbow Fish is meant to be a metaphor for sharing wealth and physical belongings, but when taken literally, the theme hasn't aged well.

Upcoming events include 1980s adult swim party, ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ Eudora CPA carnival and picnic

photo by: Libby Stanford

Riders spin around at one of the rides at the Eudora CPA Picnic carnival on Friday, June 22, 2018. The carnival is one of many activities offered at the picnic.

FRIDAY (June 7)

Raven Book Store Author Event: Poetry Matinee, 6 p.m., Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St. Books available for purchase; see ravenbookstore.com for author lineup.

Opening night: “Fiddler on the Roof,” 7:30 p.m., Theatre Lawrence, 4660 Bauer Farm Dr. See theatrelawrence.com for ticket availability.

SATURDAY (June 8)

Lawrence Bird Alliance: Clinton Lake, Overlook Park Field Trip, meet 7:30 a.m. on turn-off north to Sesquicentennial Park.

Co+operiders Bicycle + Resource Fair, 8:30-11 a.m., The Merc, 901 Iowa St. Demonstrations, maintenance tips, kids’ activities, info booths and more.

Walking Tour: African Americans in Oak Hill Cemetery, 9-11 a.m. $10-$20, space limited; tickets at watkinsmuseum.org.

City of Lawrence: Electronics Recycling Event, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Free State High School, 4700 Overland Dr. See lawrenceks.org or social media for more information.

World Oceans Day gallery activity, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., KU Natural History Museum, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd. Come-and-go, all-ages activity; request an activity guide at the front desk.

Wag Dash, 10 a.m.-noon, Prairie Park Nature Center, 2730 Harper St. Obstacle course, treats and more. $25 per dog; see lprd.org for registration.

How-To Festival, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. See lplks.org for a schedule of presenters.

Second Saturday Book Sale, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. Books, DVDs, CDs and audiobooks priced at $2 or less. Enter at Kentucky Street side of library.

Women’s Jam, 1-2:30 p.m., Americana Music Academy, 1419 Massachusetts St.

Workday at Lawrence Community Orchard, 1-4 p.m., 830 Garfield St.

Spring Wild Foods Cook-Off, 2-5 p.m., Baker Wetlands & Discovery Center, 1365 N 1250 Rd. Free and open to all.

“BIG PIG” Bourgeois Pig 30th Anniversary Block Party, 2 p.m.-midnight, 6 E. Ninth St. Food trucks, live music and more.

Positive Bright Start: Community Festival, 4-8 p.m., Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper St. Entertainment, refreshments, children’s activities and more.

Poetry Night with Anamcara Press, 7 p.m., Raven Book Store, 809 Massachusetts St.

Lawrence Barn Dance Association: Contra Dance with Boys of the Prairie and caller Lisa Harris-Frydman, 7 p.m. beginners lesson, 7:30-10 p.m. dance, New York Elementary School, 936 New York St. Pay what you can ($8-$16); students/non-dancers, $5; children under 16 free.

“Fiddler on the Roof,” 7:30 p.m., Theatre Lawrence, 4660 Bauer Farm Dr. See theatrelawrence.com for ticket availability.

SUNDAY (June 9)

Common Ground: Compost Workshop, 10 a.m., John Taylor Park 200 N. Seventh St. Free and open to the public; please register at dgcoks.gov.

Pie Auction and Meet the Candidates, 1 p.m., Douglas County Fairgrounds, Building 21, 2110 Harper St.

Science Sunday: National Ecological Observatory Network, 2 p.m., KU Field Station, Armitage Education Center, 350 Wild Horse Rd. RSVP to [email protected].

KU Medical Arts Symphony Chamber Music Concert, 2-3 p.m., Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Mississippi St.

Repair Studio, 2-4 p.m., Lawrence Public Library auditorium, 707 Vermont St. Work with repair mentors to bring your broken items back to life.

“Fiddler on the Roof,” 2:30 p.m., Theatre Lawrence, 4660 Bauer Farm Dr. See theatrelawrence.com for ticket availability.

Priscilla Howe: Story Night in the Backyard, 6:30-7:15 p.m., 415 Elm St. Songs, puppets, stories. Bring blankets or lawn chairs, bug repellant. Designed for children, but grownups are welcome. Tips appreciated but not required.

MONDAY (June 10)

City Playcorps: Pop Up Adventure Playground, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St.

TUESDAY (June 11)

1980s Themed Adult Swim Night, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center, 733 Tennessee St. Ages 18+, $7 admission.

Book Event: “Fighting Mad: Resisting the End of Roe v. Wade” with Suzanne Valdez and Dinah Sykes, 7 p.m., Raven Book Store, 809 Massachusetts St. See ravenbookstore.com for more info.

WEDNESDAY (June 12)

Lawrence City Band Concert Series: “Hollywood Nights,” 8 p.m., South Park, 1141 Massachusetts St. Free and open to the public.

Astronomy Associates of Lawrence: Public Telescope Observing, 9-10 p.m. (after city band concert), South Park, 1141 Massachusetts St.

THURSDAY (June 13)

Opening night of the Eudora CPA Picnic, 5-11 p.m., downtown Eudora. Carnival rides, games, concession stands, live music. Continues through Saturday, June 15.

Local filmmaker Austin Snell, “16mm Film Techniques in 2024,” 5:30-6:30 p.m., Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. Seats limited, registration required; sign up at lplks.org.

Book Event: Matt Beat, “The Power of our Supreme Court,” 7 p.m., Raven Book Store, 809 Massachusetts St.

• Arts and Entertainment

A play of ‘great happiness and great sadness’: Theatre Lawrence to wrap up season with Broadway classic ‘Fiddler on the Roof’

Upcoming events include Final Friday Art Walk, Pride Parade and party, plus history, sales and more

Upcoming events include Family Fun Day, ‘Lawrence Rampage,’ Art Cart, queer storytelling and more

Upcoming events include Monarch Watch fundraiser, repair studio, music and more

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