20 Books Published in the 80s and 90s to Read Now

One of the categories for A RAD Reading Challenge is a book published the year you were born. While I obviously can’t recommend a book for each and every one of you for the year you were born, I thought it would be fun to look back at the 1990s (the decade I was born in!) and the 80s (just for fun!) to highlight a few books that have stood the test of time!

I’ll share some resources at the bottom of this post that will help you find books published the year you were born, too— be sure to check those out and comment here with what book you’re reading from your birth year!

Here are 20 popular books published in the 80s and 90s:

more recommendations:
A RAD Reading Challenge for 2026
A RAD Reading Challenge for 2026

get ready for 2026 with the 8th annual edition of a rad reading challenge! nine prompts and one year to stretch yourself in your reading.

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A 2025 RAD Reading Challenge
A 2025 RAD Reading Challenge

get ready for 2025 with the 7th annual edition of a rad reading challenge! nine prompts and one year to stretch yourself in your reading.

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39 Books to Read by Latinx Authors
39 Books to Read by Latinx Authors

whether you are joining in on a rad reading challenge for 2024, or you are just looking to diversify your reading, or you want to amplify and support Latinx authors for another reason, i hope this list of books (both that i’ve read and that are on my tbr list!) is a helpful guide!

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A RAD Reading Challenge for 2024
A RAD Reading Challenge for 2024

This is one of my favorite things to create year after year — A RAD Reading Challenge is back for 2024!

The focus this year is to intentionally read DIVERSELY. (it matters!!! so much!!!)

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16 Modern Day Retellings or Remixes of Classics
16 Modern Day Retellings or Remixes of Classics

One of the prompts for A RAD Reading Challenge in 2023 is to read a modern day retelling of a classic, and I wanted to round up a handful of recommendations for those doing the challenge!

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A RAD Reading Challenge for 2023
A RAD Reading Challenge for 2023

This is one of my favorite things to create year after year — A RAD Reading Challenge is back for 2023 with nine new prompts!

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10 Books with Covers I Love
10 Books with Covers I Love

I think it’s pretty obvious by now that we all DEFINITELY do judge books by their covers, as well we should, when they are truly works of art!

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10 Books about Food for A RAD Reading Challenge
10 Books about Food for A RAD Reading Challenge

Even though I’m allergic to so many fun foods (what I wouldn’t GIVE to be able to eat gluten!!!), I still love a good book where food feels like a character. There’s just something about authors who can write about food in a way that brings it to life and makes you hungry…

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10 Books with One Word Titles for A RAD Reading Challenge
10 Books with One Word Titles for A RAD Reading Challenge

There’s just something about a one word title that I love — no need to get complicated, just short and sweet and straight to the point. They seem pretty rare, too, or maybe I just don’t read that many?! But I rounded up 10 solid recommendations for books with one word titles that I’ve read and liked!

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10 #booktok Recs for A RAD Reading Challenge
10 #booktok Recs for A RAD Reading Challenge

Truly the best part of TikTok, though, is #booktok — a beautiful place where readers of all kinds talk about books, share recs, and nerd out about reading. I’ve discovered so many amazing new books because of recommendations on #booktok, and have rounded up some of my favorites here today!

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10 Graphic Novels for A RAD Reading Challenge
10 Graphic Novels for A RAD Reading Challenge

If you missed it, I launched a new version of A RAD Reading Challenge for 2022, and you can find the printable version and Instagram story versions here. About once a month, I’ll be sharing recommendations for the different prompts to help give you inspiration and ideas for what to read.

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A RAD Reading Challenge for 2022
A RAD Reading Challenge for 2022

A RAD Reading Challenge is a fun, motivating, inspiring, and easy way to branch out and read more, get out of reading ruts, and discover new kinds of books. Join us this year!

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25 Books with More Than 500 Pages
25 Books with More Than 500 Pages

It takes some serious motivation for me to pick up a 500+ pager, as I usually like the speed and satisfaction of shorter, faster reads. Sometimes, though, the big books call to me! I love this category of the 2021 RAD Reading Challenge, as I think it will stretch a lot of us to read beyond our comfort zone.

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30 Books with One Word Titles
30 Books with One Word Titles

One of the categories for A RAD Reading Challenge this year is “a one word title” and I wanted to help you find one to read! I scrolled through my Goodreads of all the books I’ve read in the last few years and rounded up a bunch of books from all different genres to help give you inspiration.

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A RAD Reading Challenge for 2021
A RAD Reading Challenge for 2021

A RAD Reading Challenge is a fun, motivating, inspiring, and easy way to branch out and read more, get out of reading ruts, and discover books I never would have read otherwise. I hope you’ll join me in 2021!

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RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Books about Faiths + Religions
RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Books about Faiths + Religions

I’ve been a Christian my entire life, but I love learning about the beliefs and faiths of other people, and from other cultures, as I find it helps me both understand people better and love them better.

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RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Books in Translation
RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Books in Translation

If you’re joining in with A RAD Reading Challenge this year, you know one of the categories is to read a book originally written in a language you don’t speak. I’ve rounded up a bunch of great books that weren’t originally written in English, to hopefully inspire you as you choose a book in translation for yourself!

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RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Books I Loved as a Kid
RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Books I Loved as a Kid

We all could use fun, nostalgic reads right now, couldn’t we? It felt right to share this recommendation post next as we make our way through A RAD Reading Challenge and I share some suggestions along the way.

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RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Short Stories + Essays
RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: Short Stories + Essays

This prompt from A RAD Reading Challenge is a stretch one for me — I’m not really a fan of short story or essay collections! I have read a few of the ones included here (Flannery O’Connor is a favorite of mine, and I loved that Marina Keegan collection) but I haven’t yet settled on what I’ll read for this category myself.

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RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: A Book with a Cover in Your Favorite Color
RAD Reading Challenge Inspo: A Book with a Cover in Your Favorite Color

This is the most color my blog will probably ever see! This prompt from A RAD Reading Challenge is a fun one — picking a book with a cover in your favorite color. Hopefully the books below will get you inspired to grab a colorful book, whether one of these (all ones I’ve read!) or one that just catches your eye from the shelf.

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20 Books Published in the 80s and 90s to Read Now
20 Books Published in the 80s and 90s to Read Now

While I obviously can’t recommend a book for each and every one of you for the year you were born, I thought it would be fun to look back at the 1990s (the decade I was born in!) and the 80s (just for fun!) to highlight a few books that have stood the test of time!

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Books Blowing Up our Instagram Feeds // A RAD Reading Challenge
Books Blowing Up our Instagram Feeds // A RAD Reading Challenge

I compiled this post from a hybrid of Amazon bestsellers, a Goodreads list of most popular books of 2019, New York Times bestsellers, and my own Instagram browsing. It’s not at all an exact science, but more a loose guide to what’s making the rounds, topping the charts, and getting buzz around the bookish world so far this year— hope you find some gems on this list to read and enjoy!

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Foodie Book Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge
Foodie Book Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge

Having a weird diet means that’s inevitable, yeah, but food is just fascinating to me and I absolutely love reading about, learning about it, cooking it, growing it, and eating it (of course). I’ve loved reading more foodie books in recent years, and thought it would be fun to include this category in A RAD Reading Challenge!

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Colorful Book Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge
Colorful Book Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge

I knew it would be fun to get creative with the prompts for A RAD Reading Challenge and include “A book with a cover in your favorite color” as one of them. There are SO MANY beautiful and colorful book covers out there, but I wanted to share a rainbow of ideas to get you started.

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Children's' Book Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge
Children's' Book Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge

Kid’s books are awesome. I know I’m no longer a kid, but I think I appreciate their beauty and whimsy and meaning so much more now than I did when I was younger… and I LOVED books as a kid! It was a blast to compile a bunch of my favorite children’s books and even more that I want to get my hands on soon.

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Classic Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge
Classic Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge

Classics don’t need to be intimidating! Lauren McHugh shares her best classics recs today, and you’re bound to find at least one you’re excited to read.

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Memoir Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge
Memoir Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge

Memoirs focus on one season or aspect of the author’s life, and they’re fascinating stories! Sharing a TON of memoir recommendations today — from my personal favorites to crowdsourced suggestions— to give you plenty of ideas.

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Poetry Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge
Poetry Recommendations // A RAD Reading Challenge

Don’t be intimidated by poetry! I guarantee you can find something here that speaks to you. I’m sharing a bunch of my favorite books of poetry, as well as a list of favorite poets I crowdsourced on Instagram. Let’s start the RAD Reading Challenge strong!

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A RAD Reading Challenge
A RAD Reading Challenge

I’ve long been a fan of reading challenges — they’re fun, motivating, inspiring, and great for getting me out of reading ruts and helping me discover books I never would have read otherwise. This year, I decided to whip up my own!

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All the RAD ReadsRachel Dawsona rad reading challenge, birth year, book recommendations, books, 1980s, 1990s, 90s, 80s, classicsComment