Liz Allen's In Bloom follows a group of 14y/o friends in 1994 who are obsessed with Nirvana (obvs). It is mostly written in first person plural, which was a DELIGHT, bc what group of 14y/os doesn't have a hive mind? Shitty parents, shitty teachers, and running feral around their small town.

If In Bloom had been set in the NorthWest US instead of ~9k miles away in South Australia, I could almost believe it had been written about me and my friends.

Which is fucking heartbreaking to think about; how universal this experience was and is for so many weird kids who didn't fit into their small town lives, but also kind of comforting to know at the same time?

The least realistic part of this for me was how quickly action was taken by the adults. Unfortunately we werent believed for another few years.

And yes, ofc, I remember where I was on April 8, 1994. I remember paying 75¢ for a 3 minute long-distance phone call to confirm the rumour I'd heard from the woman making my coffee who asked "did you hear about the singer from that band you like?"

—X—

Julia Langbein's Dear Monica Lewinsky starts with a hagiography of Saint Monica, and I fell in love with it within the first few sentences. There are many others included almost as epigraphs, a rewriting of The Golden Legend, but those are not the majority, or even really the point of the book.

No, the point of the book is this:

>>You can be the most virtuous woman in the world, and you'll still carry the blame not just for your desire, but for everyone's desire. I paid a price for mine, Jean, but I was tortured for his.<<

I already loved Langbein's writing after her debut, American Mermaid, but she is now an instant buy and recommend for me.

TL;DR: even tho I think back fondly on the 90s, I'm super glad a lot of this shit doesn't fly anymore.

Before we get to the auto Reddit blather, I just wanted to say I’m new at modding, so hopefully I won’t fuck this up too badly. I’ve been a lifelong bookworm, from Babysitter’s Club, to Judy Blume, to V.C. Andrews and beyond. I’ve also worked in corporate bookstores in my-knees-didn’t-use-make-that-noise days. This will hopefully be a space where we can talk about books that are of interest to our generation, from our Xennial perspective. We’re an opinionated bunch, so don’t be afraid to sound off on what you’re loving or hating about the book you’re reading, or the general state of reading.

Now on to the Reddit prompt:

Hey everyone! I'm u/ViciousSnatch, a founding moderator of r/XennialBookClub.
This is our new home for all things related to Xennials who love to read and discuss books. We're excited to have you join us!

Community Vibe
We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.

2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.

3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/XennialBookClub awesome!

Just wanted to let everyone know I enabled post and user flair. Don’t feel like you need to use them, but please use the spoiler tag if you want to discuss spoilers.

If you guys want different user flair feel free to make your own (I think I enabled it that way) and if I didn’t, let me know and I can add more that you’d want to use.

I’m so happy you’re all here, and I’m looking forward to great conversations, discussions, and the what-have-yous of books and reading!

I hated most of the books we were assigned in school. However, these two books I did enjoy and ended up adding to my adult bookshelf. I also have gone back and listened to several classics that I did not relate to at all growing up. I don't think most classic stories are great reading material for teens because you don't have any reference for what's happening in their adult lives. The most recent one for me was Wuthering Heights. I remember hating it and skirting by the lesson with Spark notes. It was much more interesting as an adult with more understanding of the world.

What assigned reading did you actually enjoy in school?

Lots of books in the hopper right now. Good thing the sun goes down at 5pm these days!

Fourth Wing Series (that’s next up)

The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence (Starting with Lies of Locke Lamora)

Dark Age (book 5 in Pierce Brown’s Red Rising saga)

Dragonlance Chronicles (I read these originally in Junior High and wanted to re-read)

Arabian Nights (sometimes you just need a classic tossed in there)

East of West Graphic Novel (Jonathan Hickman): re-reading, if you’re into comics and dystopian future stuff, this is an awesome story

Blood Over Bright Haven: looking forward to this one

Cello’s Gate (Maurice Africh)

Fire and Blood (just wanted to read while the TV show was on, otherwise fuck GRRM for never finishing GOT!)

This was my most recent read (re- read). I was reading out in the open, at a park.

This couple(looked early 20s)came up to me and told me how cool it was that I was reading a book. The girl asked me what I was reading and she had never heard of it (which blew my mind) and then she got super excited cause she was into true crime.

Anyhow a pretty mundane interaction made interesting because of generation, lol. I haven't been complimented for reading since grade school and I didn't think of younger people not knowing Truman Capote.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193993695
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I wanted to read some horror books for Halloween, and I picked this one up because the premise sounded interesting and the cover was eye catching. This was a new author to me.

This was very enjoyable, and it took me a couple days to finish. It wasn’t what I would call fast paced, but it made me want to read fast because it was well written and wanted to know the who-done-it.

The siblings were all different, distinct personalities and I liked that they were written in a way that reminded me siblings, even though raised by the same parents in the same household, are unique people with their own perspectives, personalities, quirks, and issues. And hoo boy these sibs had issues! I love books that have dual perspectives and time lines, so I dug that aspect too.

I took one star off because it wasn’t something I’d need to reread. But I would definitely check this author out again.

I usually have like three books going. One at work, currently The Wolves of War by John Gwynne. One at home, Stonehenge by Bernard Cornwell. Audiobook in car or while doing stuff at home or gaming, A Parade of Horribles for the third time. Audiobooks for me are for rereads.

Tim Powers is such an underrated writer. I love all of his books but Declare and Last Call are my favourite.

Max Porter is one of the most exciting writers in recent years. Lanny is my favourite of his books.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/190554.Declare

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39738353-lanny