Genre X’s Big List of Recommended Media for 20s and 30s
List compiled by Jennifer Czajka, Monica Harris, and Mandy McGee of the Oak Park
Public Library in Oak Park, IL. For more information on the genre X project please check
out www.genre-x.com or email us at genre-x@oppl.org
BOOKS
Literary Fiction:
Company / Max Barry
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
/ Michael Chabon
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh / Michael
Chabon
The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things /
J.T. Leroy
The Fortress of Solitude / Jonathan
Lethem
Motherless Brooklyn / Jonathan Lethem
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated
Culture / Douglas Coupland
House of Leaves / Mark Danielewski
American Skin / Don De Grazia
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao /
Junot Diaz
Geek Love / Katherine Dunn
Hairstyles of the Damned / Joe Meno
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff /
Christopher Moore
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle / Haruki
Murakami
The Fuck-Up / Arthur Nersessian
Less Than Zero / Bret Easton Ellis
The Time Traveler’s Wife / Audrey
Niffenegger
The Rules of Attraction / Bret Easton Ellis
Fight Club / Chuck Palahniuk
The Virgin Suicides / Jeffery Eugenides
Special Topics in Calamity Physics /
Marisha Pessl
Then We Came to the End / Joshua
Ferris
Everything is Illuminated / Jonathan
Safran Foer
No One Belongs Here More Than You:
Stories / Miranda July
The Nimrod Flipout / Etgar Keret
Good Omens / Neil Gaiman and Terry
Pratchett
White Teeth / Zadie Smith
Snow Crash / Neal Stephenson
The End of Mr. Y / Scarlett Thomas
Infinite Jest / David Foster Wallace
The Cheese Monkeys / Chip Kidd
Trainspotting / Irvine Welsh
The History of Love / Nicole Krauss
BOOKS Cont.
Popular Literature:
Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss One
Song at a Time / Rob Sheffield
Size 12 is Not Fat / Meg Cabot
Me Talk Pretty One Day / David Sedaris
Bridget Jones’s Diary / Helen Fielding
Please Kill Me / Legs McNeil
Something Borrowed / Emily Giffin
Postsecret: Extraordinary Confessions
from Ordinary Lives / Frank Warren
Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire
mystery series / Charlaine Harris
Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in
America / Elizabeth Wurtzel
About A Boy / Nick Hornby
High Fidelity / Nick Hornby
Shopaholic series / Sophia Kinsella
Little Children / Tom Perrotta
My Sister’s Keeper / Jodi Piccoult
Nineteen Minutes / Jodi Picoult
The Coldest Winter Ever / Sister Souljah
A Hustler’s Wife / Nikki Turner
Good in Bed / Jennifer Weiner
Running With Scissors: A Memoir /
Augusten Burroughs
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low
Culture Manifesto / Chuck Klosterman
Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY /
Melissa Rannels
Strapped: Why America’s 20 and 30Somethings Can’t Get Ahead / Tamara
Draut
Stuff White People Like: the Definitive
Guide… / Christian Lander
Too Fat to Fish / Artie Lange
True to the Game / Terri Woods
The Wordy Shipmates / Sarah Vowell
Nonfiction & Memoir:
A Million Little Pieces / James Frey
D.I.Y. Design It Yourself / Ellen Lupton
Free Range Chickens / Simon Rich
The Glass Castle / Jeannette Walls
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering
Genius / Dave Eggers
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell / Max
Tucker
You Can Do It! The Merit Badge
Handbook for Grown Up Girls / Lauren
Catuzzi Grancolas
The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete
Protection from the Living Dead / Max
Brooks
BOOKS Cont.
Absolute Watchman / Frank Miller
Graphic Novels:
Sin City / Frank Miller
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy /
Alison Bechdel
Scott Pilgrim series / Bryan Lee O’Malley
Ghost World / Daniel Clowes
Blankets / Scott Thompson
Shortcomings / Adrian Tomine
The Sandman series / Neil Gaiman
Y, the Last Man series / Brian K Vaughan
Love and Rockets / Jaime Hernandez
YA Crossover:
Fables series / Bill Willingham
King Dork / Frank Portman
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
Gossip Girl series / Cecily Von Ziegesar
Little Brother / Cory Doctorow
Looking for Alaska / John Green
Cut / Patricia McCormick
Twilight series / Stephanie Meyer
Youth in Revolt / C.D. Payne
The Bell Jar / Sylvia Plath
The Book Thief / Markus Zusak
MUSIC
Alicia Keys – Songs in A Minor
Gwen Stefani - Love. Angel. Music.
Baby.
Janet Jackson – Rhythym Nation 1814
Arcade Fire – Funeral
Jill Scott – Who is Jill Scott?
Barenaked Ladies - Maroon
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill
Beck – Odelay
Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/Love
Sounds
Blink 182 – Enema of the State
Kanye West – The College Dropout
Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
Hot Fuss – The Killers
Christina Aguilera – Christina Aguilera
Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory
Coldplay - Parachutes
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn
Hill
The Cure – Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Madonna – Like a Virgin
Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual
Madonna – Like a Prayer
Dave Matthews Band – Under the Table
and Dreaming
Marilyn Manson – Antichrist Superstar
Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Depeche Mode – Violator
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Dixie Chicks – Wide Open Spaces
Naughty by Nature – Naughty by
Nature
Dr. Dre – The Chronic
New Order - Substance
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Nine Inch Nails – Downward Spiral
Fall Out Boy – From Under the Cork Tree
Nirvana – Nevermind
Fatboy Slim – Dig Your Own Hole
Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
Fugazi – 13 Songs
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
Green Day - Dookie
Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
Oasis - (What’s the Story) Morning
Glory?
Outkast – Speakerboxxx/The Love
Below
Pearl Jam - Ten
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Portishead - Dummy
Postal Service – Give Up
Sonic Youth - Dirty
Stone Temple Pilots – Core
Price – Purple Rain
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
The Strokes – Is This It
Taylor Swift - Fearless
R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
TLC - CrazySexyCool
R.E.M. - Green
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
Radiohead – OK Computer
U2 – The Joshua Tree
Radiohead - Kid A
Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex
Magic
Weezer -Weezer
The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
White Stripes – White Blood Cells
Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
White Stripes - Elephant
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Whitney Houston - Whitney
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
The Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang
Clan
MOVIES
Revenge of the Nerds
Cult Classics:
Risky Business
A Clockwork Orange
Stand By Me
Dr. Strangelove
Grey Gardens
1990s:
This is Spinal Tap
12 Monkeys
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
American Beauty
Young Frankenstein
American History X
American Pie
1980s:
American Psycho
Back to the Future
Austin Powers
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Before Sunrise
Blue Velvet
Big Lebowski
The Breakfast Club
The Blair Witch Project
Caddyshack
Boogie Nights
Coming to America
Boyz in the Hood
Dirty Dancing
Brazil
Do the Right Thing
Chasing Amy
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Cinema Paradiso
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Clerks
The Goonies
Clueless
Heathers
Dazed and Confused
Drugstore Cowboy
There’s Something About Mary
Edward Scissorhands
Tommy Boy
Election
Trainspotting
Empire Records
The Usual Suspects
Fargo
Waiting for Guffman
Fight Club
Wayne’s World
Fisher King
The Wedding Singer
High Fidelity
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Kids
Mallrats
2000s:
The Matrix
28 Days Later
Memento
Across the Universe
My Own Private Idaho
Almost Famous
Natural Born Killers
Amelie
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Bowling for Columbine
Office Space
Donnie Darko
The Professional (Leon)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Pulp Fiction
Garden State
Pump Up the Volume
Ghost World
Reality Bites
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
Run Lola Run
I Heart Huckabees
Rushmore
Juno
Scream
Kill Bill
Slacker
Knocked Up
Swingers
Lars and the Real Girl
Little Miss Sunshine
Thirteen
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Waking Life
Napoleon Dynamite
X-Men
The Notebook
Zoolander
Oldboy
Old School
Requiem for a Dream
The Royal Tenenbaums
Sin City
The Squid and the Whale
Superbad
SuperSize Me
TELEVISION
30 Rock
My So-Called Life
America’s Next Top Model
The O.C.
Arrested Development
The Office
Beverly Hills 90210
Project Runway
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Seinfeld
The Family Guy
The Simpsons
Firefly
Six Feet Under
Flight of the Conchords
South Park
Freaks and Geeks
Twin Peaks
Gilmore Girls
The Wire
Lost
OTHER MEDIA
Video Games:
Big Brain Academy (Nintendo Wii)
Call of Duty series (Xbox 360)
Gran Turismo series (Playstation 3)
Grand Theft Auto series (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360)
Halo series (Xbox 360)
Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo Wii)
Super Smash Brothers (Nintendo Wii)
Rock Band and Guitar Hero (Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii
Websites:
BoingBoing.net – Online directory of interesting things on the internet
Craigslist.org – Online classifieds
Dailycandy.com – Delivers the latest trends
Digg.com – A forum for sharing interesting things with others
Facebook.com – Top social networking site
Flickr.com – Photo and video sharing
Gizmodo.com – Gadget blog
Hulu.com – Videos
ICanHazCheezburger.com – Funny cat pictures
Jezebel.com – Celebrity, sex, and fashion for women
LifeHacker.com – Tips and tricks for getting things done
PerezHilton.com – Gossip blog
Treehugger.com – Environmental news
Twitter.com – Micro-blogging and social networking
Wikipedia.org – User created encyclopedia
Yelp.com – User review site
YouTube.com - Videos
5/09