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696 books
—
578 voters
1980s Books
Showing 1-50 of 21,361
The Handmaid's Tale (Hardcover)
by (shelved 249 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.15 — 2,427,380 ratings — published 1985
Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
by (shelved 156 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.98 — 491,105 ratings — published 1987
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Paperback)
by (shelved 133 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.11 — 544,692 ratings — published 1984
The Remains of the Day (Paperback)
by (shelved 131 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.14 — 360,642 ratings — published 1989
The Color Purple (Paperback)
by (shelved 129 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.28 — 752,892 ratings — published 1982
Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1)
by (shelved 118 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.89 — 364,722 ratings — published 1984
Watchmen (Paperback)
by (shelved 109 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.39 — 594,675 ratings — published 1987
Norwegian Wood (Paperback)
by (shelved 108 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.99 — 730,643 ratings — published 1987
Ender’s Game (Ender's Saga, #1)
by (shelved 107 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.31 — 1,474,606 ratings — published 1985
Matilda (Hardcover)
by (shelved 107 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.34 — 1,111,193 ratings — published 1988
Eleanor & Park (Hardcover)
by (shelved 104 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.92 — 1,260,339 ratings — published 2012
The Alchemist (Paperback)
by (shelved 103 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.92 — 3,575,121 ratings — published 1988
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Paperback)
by (shelved 99 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.04 — 554,346 ratings — published 1985
The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1; Rincewind, #1)
by (shelved 98 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.99 — 422,440 ratings — published 1983
The Name of the Rose (Paperback)
by (shelved 96 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.14 — 395,885 ratings — published 1980
Love in the Time of Cholera (Paperback)
by (shelved 96 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.94 — 547,419 ratings — published 1985
White Noise (Paperback)
by (shelved 90 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.86 — 127,265 ratings — published 1985
Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1)
by (shelved 84 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.28 — 448,360 ratings — published 1986
Misery (Paperback)
by (shelved 80 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.23 — 850,623 ratings — published 1987
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2)
by (shelved 79 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.20 — 316,446 ratings — published 1980
The Witches (Paperback)
by (shelved 79 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.18 — 428,813 ratings — published 1983
Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West (Paperback)
by (shelved 78 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.15 — 221,041 ratings — published 1985
Midnight’s Children (Paperback)
by (shelved 76 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.97 — 133,023 ratings — published 1981
The BFG (Paperback)
by (shelved 75 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.23 — 527,518 ratings — published 1982
Pet Sematary (Kindle Edition)
by (shelved 75 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.08 — 700,668 ratings — published 1983
The Joy Luck Club (Paperback)
by (shelved 72 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.97 — 709,865 ratings — published 1989
Less Than Zero (Paperback)
by (shelved 72 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.61 — 99,745 ratings — published 1985
The House of the Spirits (Paperback)
by (shelved 71 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.30 — 320,332 ratings — published 1982
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Paperback)
by (shelved 69 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.73 — 93,080 ratings — published 1985
Malibu Rising (Hardcover)
by (shelved 68 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.02 — 1,290,540 ratings — published 2021
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Vintage International)
by (shelved 67 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.97 — 236,510 ratings — published 1981
The House on Mango Street (Paperback)
by (shelved 66 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.68 — 234,528 ratings — published 1984
A Confederacy of Dunces (Paperback)
by (shelved 64 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.89 — 298,406 ratings — published 1980
Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)
by (shelved 63 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.23 — 1,301,484 ratings — published 2011
Life, the Universe and Everything (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #3)
by (shelved 61 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.16 — 250,699 ratings — published 1982
Mort (Discworld, #4; Death, #1)
by (shelved 60 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.24 — 272,352 ratings — published 1987
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Paperback)
by (shelved 59 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.00 — 77,998 ratings — published 1981
The Bonfire of the Vanities (Paperback)
by (shelved 59 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.92 — 87,250 ratings — published 1987
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Paperback)
by (shelved 58 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.11 — 152,681 ratings — published 1985
Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1)
by (shelved 56 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.58 — 241,718 ratings — published 1985
The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1)
by (shelved 55 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.91 — 664,710 ratings — published 1982
The New York Trilogy (New York Trilogy, #1-3)
by (shelved 54 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.86 — 87,042 ratings — published 1987
Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1)
by (shelved 54 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.79 — 451,306 ratings — published 1987
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #4)
by (shelved 54 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.08 — 185,465 ratings — published 1984
The Satanic Verses (Paperback)
by (shelved 53 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.71 — 71,837 ratings — published 1988
The Lover (Paperback)
by (shelved 53 times as 1980s)
avg rating 3.71 — 73,266 ratings — published 1984
The Light Fantastic (Discworld, #2; Rincewind, #2)
by (shelved 53 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.01 — 168,817 ratings — published 1986
The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter, #2)
by (shelved 51 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.26 — 588,619 ratings — published 1988
Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)
by (shelved 50 times as 1980s)
avg rating 4.27 — 299,404 ratings — published 1989
“I was fortunate to be a teenager in the nineteen eighties. Back then we had romance, even if it was only in our minds and not real. We had Hollywood, the Oscars, real movie stars, famous authors, and the Olympics. Now, of course, we know that was all just a façade.”
―
―
“I was tidying old papers when I came across a faded "1979" folder. Remember what a bad year that was for those who believed in a self-governing Scotland? In March, a referendum for a "Scottish Assembly", its terms skewed to ensure failure. Then a General Election which slaughtered the SNP down to a mere two MPs and brought Mrs. Thatcher to power. End of a dream?
Two things fell out of the folder. One was a giant paper rosette, all blood-red tartan and ribbons, inscribed "Have yourself a Dreich Decade!" The rosette came from irrepressible Murray Grigor, whose films and happenings still teach Scots to find self-confidence through self-mockery. Get a grip, he seemed to be saying, and you can turn these dreich 1980s into what they did in fact become - the most intense eruption of Scottish literature, drama, painting and history publication for a hundred years.
The other thing was a note from Tom Nairn. It began: "Dear Neal, the incorrigible optimist strikes again...”
―
Two things fell out of the folder. One was a giant paper rosette, all blood-red tartan and ribbons, inscribed "Have yourself a Dreich Decade!" The rosette came from irrepressible Murray Grigor, whose films and happenings still teach Scots to find self-confidence through self-mockery. Get a grip, he seemed to be saying, and you can turn these dreich 1980s into what they did in fact become - the most intense eruption of Scottish literature, drama, painting and history publication for a hundred years.
The other thing was a note from Tom Nairn. It began: "Dear Neal, the incorrigible optimist strikes again...”
―
