As a pop culture journalist and cohost of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, Aisha Harris has a lot to say about how our favorite music, TV, movies, and celebrity gossip influence us. In Wannabe, Harris explores the biggest pop culture moments of the 1990s that made her into who she is today. Taking it further, she explores racism, sexism, and toxic fan culture through the lens of pop culture. With plenty of radio recording experience, Harris delivers excellent narration of her writing that will draw you in from the start.

The 1990s were a radical time for many aspects of culture, from politics and technology to music and sports. In The Nineties, essayist Chuck Klosterman dives into a wide-reaching exploration of all things nineties, including Titanic, Oprah, AOL Instant Messenger, Blockbuster, Michael Jordan's baseball career, and so much more. This fascinating audiobook, narrated by the incomparable Dion Graham, demonstrates what the decade can teach us about our past, present, and future.

A prominent figure in 1990s music and television, Brandy Norwood is a beloved artist and global superstar. Now you can hear Brandy tell her personal story on A New Moon, an Audible Original exploring her life, career, and creative process, written alongside music journalist Gerrick Kennedy. The audiobook is interwoven with Brandy's music, transporting you right into the songs she discusses.

The '90s brought about a reawakening of "girl power" and fresh promises of gender equality. But the most prominent women across politics, television, pop music, and sports were more often villainized than celebrated by the media and public perception. In 90s Bitch, journalist Allison Yarrow explores how feminism was commodified in that decade while women who publicly sought power, fame, money, or sex were often shamed or misunderstood. It's a fascinating feminist journey through the media's toxic treatment of women with engaging narration by the author.

Celeste Ng's bestselling novel Little Fires Everywhere, a suburban drama set in the late 1990s, was adapted into a hit Hulu miniseries in 2020 starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. The story follows the well-off families of Shaker Heights, Ohio, through the summer of 1998 as their community is upended by the arrival of a quirky and charismatic young artist single mother and her teenage daughter. It's a captivating story about motherhood, secrets, art, and changing times, told with sparkling narration by actress Jennifer Lim.

In The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, not only will you get a hilarious horror thriller set in 1990s Charleston, but also a love letter to '90s mystery novels. Patricia Campbell escapes the horrors of life as a stay-at-home mom with her thriller-loving book club. When a mysterious yet charming man moves to town, he catches the book club's attention—especially when they suspect he might be connected to the disappearance of several local kids. Narrated by award-winning voice actor Bahni Turpin, this audiobook will make you laugh out loud and keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Stay True by Hua Hsu is a heartbreaking tale of college friendships, tragedy, and grief, but it's also a treasure trove of 1990s culture, both mainstream and alternative. As a first-generation Taiwanese American college student, Hsu hated the mainstream, instead embracing things like zines, indie rock, and grunge. When he first met Ken, whose Japanese American family had moved to California generations before him, Ken's basic music taste and Abercrombie & Fitch wardrobe were everything Hsu hated. But they struck up an unlikely friendship, one that ended far too soon after a senseless act of violence. This moving story, narrated poignantly by the author, simply couldn't exist outside of its immersive 1990s setting.

Octavia E. Butler is one of the most influential and beloved sci-fi authors of all time, and some of her most famous works were released in the 1990s. Parable of the Sower, the first book in the Earthseed Duology, feels just as relevant today as when it was published in 1993 with its themes of climate change, wealth inequality, and political unrest. In a violent dystopian world, a highly empathetic teenager named Lauren Olamina develops a new religious philosophy built around the idea that "God is Change." The story begins in the year 2024, so there's no better time to listen to the audiobook, which boasts brilliant narration by actress Lynne Thigpen.

Donna Tartt's 1992 literary psychological thriller The Secret History is a beloved novel that continues to influence writers, particularly in the world of mysteries, campus novels, and dark academia. Set around a group of bright young students studying under a classics professor at a small, elite university, it's less of a "whodunit" than a "whydunit." We know from the outset that the students were involved in the murder of one of their own, Bunny Corcoran, but understanding how things went so wrong takes time. It's a thought-provoking story, made even more gripping by Donna Tartt's narration of her own work.

Internationally bestselling author Haruki Murakami has made a huge impact on the literary world with his dream-like books that weave fantastical elements into the real world, creating his own kind of speculative fiction. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, first published in Japan in 1994 and translated into English in 1997, is one of his most iconic works. It starts with a young man in Tokyo looking for his wife's missing cat, but who soon finds himself in a surreal alt-world full of strange characters. It's a sprawling story that touches on desire, loneliness, and reality vs. subjectivity.

The coming-of-age memoir Angela's Ashes is one of the decade's most enduring books, a Pulitzer Prize winner that was later adapted into a film and musical. It tells the story of the author's childhood, born into an Irish Catholic family during the Great Depression in Brooklyn and later moving to the slums of Limerick, Ireland. It's a heartbreaking tale of poverty, alcoholism, and tragic loss, but it's also told with Frank McCourt's wry sense of humor and empathy for his younger self. McCourt's narration of the audiobook is something truly special—a world-class performance both deeply personal and universally moving.

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, published in 1990, has cemented itself as a modern classic of war fiction. A veteran of the Vietnam War, O'Brien tells the fictionalized story of a platoon of soldiers in Vietnam through a series of linked short stories. It's a book frequently taught in schools today for its deeply human, nuanced perspective on the atrocities of war. With narration by Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston, the audiobook is a gripping and powerful way to enjoy this classic story.

The Outlander series, an absorbing blend of sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, and romance, is still gaining fans today. The 10th and final book in the series is expected in the next couple of years, and the popular Starz television adaptation is currently in its seventh season. But it all started in 1991 with the release of Outlander, a tale of a WWII combat nurse who accidentally travels through time via magical stones to 1743 Scotland. Davina Porter's marvelous narration of this grand adventure makes the audiobook well worth a listen.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection Interpreter of Maladies was published in 1999, right at the end of the millennium. It aptly reflects a period of change and transition through the stories of Indians and Indian Americans reckoning with identity, culture, and legacy in a changing world. Jhumpa Lahiri is a remarkably talented writer, and listening to Matilda Novak's incredible narration of the audiobook of Lahiri's first published book is a great way to introduce yourself to her work.

In some ways, Charlie's teenage experiences are typical: He goes through the same social awkwardness and first romances that many young people do. But Charlie must also contend with great trauma and tragedies, including the deaths of two people close to him. Stephen Chbosky's 1999 The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a tender portrait of young adulthood that teens and adults alike will be moved by.

Jurassic Park is a thrilling 1990 novel by Michael Crichton that explores the consequences of genetic engineering when used for capitalism and greed. The novel had a profound impact on popular culture, inspiring a 1993 blockbuster film and sparking debates on bioethics. The story centers on a theme park where dinosaurs have been resurrected through advanced cloning techniques. When the park's security systems fail, chaos ensues, putting visitors and scientists in grave danger. Crichton's meticulous research and gripping narrative make this a cornerstone of modern science fiction.

In Los Angeles in 1948, it's tough to find work, and Black war veteran Easy Rawlins is jobless and broke when a white man offers him a job—tracking down Daphne Money, the mistress of a wealthy politician. Desperate to pay his mortgage, Rawlins sets off on his new career as a private eye, searching for the mysterious blonde beauty in the world of jazz clubs and gangsters. This sharp, simmering mystery, written in 1990, is only further enhanced by the performance of accomplished actor Michael Boatman, who voices Easy’s character with a relaxed, genial tone, making him immediately likable.

Robert Jordan launched his legendary The Wheel of Time series in 1990 with this thrilling introduction to the saga's massive, winding magical universe. The story begins when five strangers are forced to flee from their besieged town, The Two Rivers, and must join forces to survive in a vast unknowable wilderness that holds surprising treasures and dangers. Their shared journey is an unforgettable adventure that’s perfect for any fan of high fantasy epics, and when paired with Rosamund Pike's exceptional performance, this listen is truly next-level.

A self-described "gay fantasia," Angels in America confronts the shattering AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Bringing a necessary, powerful work to a wider audience of listeners, this audio production of Tony Kushner's 1991 Pulitzer Prize–winning play won the Audie Award for Best Audio Drama. This full-cast recording features the actors behind the Tony Award-winning 2018 Broadway revival, including Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown, Denise Gough, Beth Malone, James McArdle, Lee Pace, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. In this audio edition, Bobby Cannavale and Edie Falco also provide narration.

Toni Morrison's 1992 triumph is set mostly in Harlem during the Jazz Age of the 1920s. It differs a bit from her earlier works, in that it follows a structure based on jazz music, with many of the chapters comprising solo compositions. It also features unreliable narrators, letting readers see events from different perspectives. At its heart, Jazz is a tragedy about a door-to-door cosmetics salesman who kills his teenage lover, and his distraught wife, who attacks the girl in her casket at her funeral. It is a novel about love, obsession, and betrayal, whose passions swell and dip like the notes in a jazz tune.

1993's The Giver is a bonafide classic whose simple, stunning message still resonates. With a voice equally capable of playing young protagonist Jonah as well as the wise and cryptic old man called "the Giver," narrator Ron Rifkin delivers an emotive performance that has a slightly rough quality, adding to the nostalgic feel of this title. At just under five hours, this audiobook offers a taught, poignant story of a world where residents see in black and white, adhere to a strict set of rules, and receive life assignments determined by the Elders at age 12.

Since it was first published in 1997, this fantasy kidlit classic has become a global phenomenon. On his 11th birthday, Harry Potter learns that he’s a wizard and leaves the muggle (non-magic) world he’s always known to take his place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Jim Dale—winner of two Grammy Awards and 10 Audie Awards—is a bona fide audio expert. When you listen to him skillfully embody each character, fully visualizing the unique world, there’s no mistaking the crucial role he plays in bringing this wondrous fantasy to life.