X Reading List
This list includes all works of present and past non-fiction, fiction and other literary work about, associated with and by authors of Generation X. I have personally read each one and included a link to book reviews and my favorite quotes.
FAHRENHEIT 451
“There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.”
SEX, DRUGS, AND COCOA PUFFS
“Life is rarely about what happened; it’s mostly about what we think happened.”
13TH GEN
“An ‘80s-era survey of student knowledge of U.S. history blasted 13ers for being unable to identify American presidents, yet gave them no credit for their ability to identify prominent blacks and women.”
BACK TO OUR FUTURE
“This was the canary-in-the-coal-mine lesson that we should have taken to heart from that memorable 1980s send-off, the series finale of The Cosby Show, which aired during the 1992 Rodney King riots.”
ELEANOR RIGBY
“I didn’t mention my lifelong belief that we, as humans, are a wretched species indeed, and deserving of harsh punishments for the crimes we casually get away with in our daily lives.”
VOICES OF THE XILED
“They shower with a macabre spore thing what looks like a macramé brick with potato-eye tendrils reaching out. I wouldn’t want that thing touching me, but I guess the martian demands hygiene from its lovers.”
BICENTENNIAL BABY
“All of a sudden I realized there was a larger problem. That problem was that I had no desire to be anywhere. I thought back to the two jobs I had before that and the marketing internships that I have had, and it became abundantly clear that none of this was gratifying in any way, shape, or form whatsoever. So, I did the only thing I could, I left my cell phone on the desk, I closed my laptop and I walked straight out the front door.”
ICE STORM
“He could feel light in his scrotum, in every millimeter of that downy chicken skin. His ecstasy was religious. This orgasm would be compensation for Paul Hood’s troubles here on earth. Yes, the best orgasms were characterized not by joy –– he couldn’t remember a joyful one anyway –– but by earthly loss and the desire to fortify himself against it.”
PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
“And I thought that all those little kids are going to grow up someday. And all of those little kids are going to do things that we do. And they will all kiss someone someday. But for now, sledding is enough. I think it would be great if sledding were always enough, but it isn’t.”
Solo GenX Warriors 
I would suggest adding the Norwegian author Erlend Loe’s Naiver.Super, to the Gen X reading list. Although the book may seem too young for us, the main character is a 25 year university student who realizes that he is having a middle age type crisis at 25 and no longer interested in things he once loved. He wakes one day, cycles to the dean’s office and withdraws from university. He moves into his older brother’s apartment while his brother goes to Africa.”A few weeks have passed, I am sitting in my brother’s flat…I’ve been looking for a note with his address but I can’t find it. Besides this I hardly do anything at all. I flip through the newspaper or lie on the couch staring into space, I have no plans. I have a feeling it is all pretty meaningless. It’s no inspiring tempo. I have turned the tempo down all the wat to zero. I am thinking I need to start from scratch, How does one start from scratch.” The narrator starts reading one of his brother’s books about the elastic nature of time and that time is a human construct, It does not exist. In the meantime, he makes lists bout things he has that make him happy, what other things he wants, things he liked as kid. He He also travels to NYC with his brother. While the book about time reminds him how utterly insignificant in our expanding universe and helps him realize that he will not be happy if takes the path university and society expects him too, and that in the scheme of things the vast universe does not care what he decides to do in life. The trip to NYC opens his eyes to all the different opportunities and things, peoHe spends the bulk of his time in mindless activities, throwing a ball or hammering pegs into a child’s hammer-and-peg toy – likely there is a connection in his mind between these activities and the game of croquet earlier even though it was only the catalyst. He simplifies his life, quantifying it and compartmentalizing it in an effort to take control of the small things so as not to be overwhelmed by the endless number of large, life-changing things that seem beyond that control. It is almost as if he’s regressed back to childhood. He hasn’t. He still functions as an adult – he is perfectly capable of buying a car for his brother, for example – but he reduces his analysis of his life asking simple questions like, why don’t I have a girlfriend and what am I supposed to do with all the things I know? Eventually he is persuaded to join his brother for a holiday in New York where his plans for the future start to coalesce. It is there that it becomes apparent that the naivety of childhood is not an escape from the complexity of adulthood, but a compliment to it. This book was a best-selling sensation in Norway- in many ways, it the Norwegian Catcher in the Rye expect it dispenses with symbolism (the dream catching in the rye) and is hopeful book with a narrative looking for good in the world. Has ranked in the 10 best Norwegian books since 1986. It grabs most readers in the first two sentences, Loe’s writing style is deceptively simple and straightforward and it is very easy to read this slim masterpiece in one hour and a half hours. I COULD NOT GIVE A BOOK A HIGHER RECOMMENDATION,
Thank you for the information!