The 2000s were a period of change defined by a seismic shift in pop culture and society born from events that forever changed our world. Be it a massive economic recession and housing crisis, the birth of millennial culture in earnest, or the rise of the internet (and all the Y2K panic that came with it), the decade was as tumultuous as it was innovative. And nostalgia for the era is only growing, with fashion trends coming full circle, social media posts riffing off shared experiences, and quarter-century-old pop hits continuing their rotation.
Looking to relive the glory days of mixed CDs and low-rise jeans? We've rounded up the best books about the 2000s, from sharp treatises on pop culture to stories that go in-depth on the decade's darker moments. And though books set in the 2000s might not be quite old enough to count as historical fiction, they're evocative of a time that, while only 25 years ago, sometimes feels like a different world. You'll also find a selection of some of the best books published in the aughts—novels, short story collections, memoirs, and works of nonfiction that have had a lasting impact on the literary and cultural landscape. Go on and get listening—no Walkman needed.
The best audiobooks about and set in the 2000s
What does it really mean to be a millennial? There's no one better to untangle that question than cultural critic and podcaster Kate Kennedy. In this book, she does a deep dive into the millennial culture that shaped her, from the Spice Girls and AOL instant messenger to purity culture and American Girl Dolls. This is a smart, engaging, and unflinching look at growing up and coming of age in the 1990s and 2000s. (Oh, and speaking of American Girl, former fans of the toy won't want to miss Dolls of Our Lives, a nonfic gem from podcasters Mary Mahoney and Allison Horrocks.)
This exuberant novel, written as a series of one-sided conversations with a job counselor, was made for audio, and narrators Rossmery Almonte and Kimberly M. Wetherell hit it out of the park. Cara Romero is a 50-year-old Dominican woman who's just lost her job in the Great Recession. She's matched with a counselor to help her find work, and over the course of several sessions, spills her life story—with a lot of asides. Almonte's voicing of Cara is nothing short of miraculous; this is a thoughtful, heartwarming, laugh-out-loud and cry-a-little-bit-too kind of book.
Before the explosion of queer media in the 2010s, there were the aughts: a decade notably devoid of mainstream queer representation. In these nostalgic, searching, and often hilarious essays, Grace Perry takes listeners on a tour of the 2000s media she loved (and loved to hate) and that, for better or worse, turned her into the gay woman she is today. Blending cultural commentary and personal memoir, she sheds light on the very millennial queer experience of searching for yourself in the sidelines.
This remarkable full-cast production of Garrett M. Graff’s oral history of September 11, 2001, is comprised of hundreds of interviews with witnesses, survivors, government officials, first responders, and more. In addition to the voices of dozens of talented narrators, the audio version includes archival recordings from the flights and presidential addresses. Moving, detailed, and compelling, this is an urgent and profound history of a day that forever changed America.
James Frankie Thomas's incredible debut is an indelible portrait of queer adolescence at a private Quaker school in New York City in the early aughts. Fay and Nell, two queer outsiders who don't yet have the language to describe their experiences of gender and sexuality, became friends on September 11, 2001. Soon their friendship grows into an all-consuming codependent relationship that will mark them for the rest of their lives. Kristen DiMercurio gives a standout performance in this intense coming-of-age drama.
This investigation by Pulitzer Prize winner Shari Fink tells of the tragic patient deaths that took place at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. After the storm knocked out the hospital's utilities, caregivers were forced to make increasingly difficult decisions—some of which, as survivors would later allege, resulted in the premature deaths of critically ill patients. Fink's balanced writing combined with Kirsten Potter’s well-practiced tone presents the facts without bias, allowing listeners to decide for themselves where they stand on the issues Five Days at Memorial raises.
For a heartrending fictional exploration of Hurricane Katrina and its legacy, queue up this listen. Set in the 12 days leading up to the storm, Salvage the Bones is a portrait of a family struggling to survive poverty in the small town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Fourteen-year-old Esch and her three brothers live with their mostly absent father, and as the hurricane bears down, their already precarious existence grows ever more threatened. Though grim and often bleak, this novel is also full of tenderness, spirit, community resilience, and the love Esch and her family have for each other.
In this in-depth examination of celebrity culture in the aughts, Sarah Ditum looks at nine female celebrities and offers a scathing critique of the sexist culture that destroyed their lives. She explores the ways early internet culture, exploitative media, and toxic expectations surrounding femininity, body image, and fame converged to paint complicated women living life in the spotlight as simple victims and villains. Her measured but passionate narration adds another layer of depth to this fascinating book about how we treat female celebrities—and what it can teach us about ourselves.
Former President Barack Obama made history in 2008 when he became the first Black American to ever hold the office. In this Grammy Award-winning audiobook released prior to his presidential run, then-Senator Obama shares his political stances, his experiences in American politics, and his hopes for the future of the nation he'd soon lead.
This forthcoming collection of essays from Colette Shade is a nostalgic ode to the Y2K era, a period that forever changed how we live and interact. In thoughtful analyses of topics ranging from TRL to body glitter, Ludacris to Smash Mouth, she crafts an unsparing, vibrant portrait of a singular decade. But a rosy retrospective this is not: Shade dives into how the 2000s negatively impacted Americans, be it through deleterious effects on body image or the housing collapse and failures of our aspirational economy.
15 of the best books released in the 2000s
Nearly 25 years after it was first published in 2000, On Writing remains one of the most accessible books on the craft. In a blend of memoir and masterclass that's both conversational and illuminating, horror icon Stephen King shares the lessons he's learned over the course of his prolific and wildly successful career. There's nothing like learning from the masters, and while King has much wisdom to impart to aspiring writers, this is a great listen for laypeople, too. The anniversary audio edition includes contributions from his two sons: an essay read by Owen and a conversation between King and Joe Hill.
Khaled Hosseini traces 30 years of Afghanistan's history through the relationship between two women who, despite their differences, form a deep and lasting intergenerational bond. Mariam and Laila are thrown into each other's worlds by war, and their relationship changes not only their own existence but the lives of those around them. Narrator Atossa Leoni gives a tender, moving performance of this intimate novel about love and family.
Alexander Chee's debut is a heartbreaking, almost unbearably beautiful, and endlessly layered novel about the lifelong effects of surviving trauma. Fee, a quiet, bookish Korean American boy growing up in Maine, joins a local boys' choir, where he and his fellow singers face abuse at the hands of the choir's director. In the wake of a violence he doesn't know how to speak about or process, Fee retreats into silence. This is a remarkable story about the ways the past haunts the present, and what it takes to confront monsters—both within and outside ourselves.
Nine narrators, including virtuosos Mark Bramhall and Cassandra Campbell, bring these deliciously strange and unsettling stories to life. Kelly Link's world is just a little bit slanted—nothing is quite as it seems, and magical, unexplained happenings occur alongside everyday concerns. Witty, dark, and wonderfully oddball, this is a must-listen collection about the weirdest experience of all: being human.
In this memoir about her unconventional and often dysfunctional upbringing, Jeannette Walls paints a complicated portrait of the parents who raised her. She writes about her family with deep generosity and the unflinching insight of distance, reflecting on both the neglect and violence she experienced and the desire her parents instilled in her to seek out her own place in the world, no matter how hard it was to find.
In Azar Nafisi's beautiful memoir about the power of literature, she recounts the two years she spent reading classic books with a small group of dedicated female students in Tehran. Amidst intense cultural repression, she and her students risked gathering to discuss the forbidden works of Jane Austen and Vladimir Nabokov. Still as inspiring as it was when it came out in 2003, this memoir is a celebration of community resistance in the face of oppression and a testament to the liberating potential of literature.
It's hard to think of a YA phenom from the 2000s more massive than Suzanne Collins's dystopian trilogy, in which children in the authoritarian state known as Panem fight to the death in nationally televised games. It's hard to overstate the impact that The Hunger Games series had on both YA and dystopian fiction. Actor Tatiana Maslany narrates the special edition audiobook of the entire trilogy, and her superb performance is one you won't want to miss.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Isabel Wilkerson's epic narrative history of the Great Migration is a blend of meticulous scholarship, oral history, and personal narrative. She traces the lives of a few of the millions of African Americans—including her own family—who migrated from Southern states to the North, West, and Midwest between 1915 and 1970. Robin Miles gives this masterpiece the careful and nuanced narration it deserves, bringing the people Wilkerson writes about to life, and driving home the scope of the horrors they were fleeing.
Reeling from a libel trial, journalist Mikael Blomkvist desperately needs someone brilliant to help him crack a decades-old cold case involving the disappearance of a young heiress. He winds up with Lisbeth Salander, an angry, withdrawn punk genius hacker. When the pair begins digging, they uncover a deeper mystery tied to staggering high-level corruption. If you haven't yet listened to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you’re seriously missing out. Author Stieg Larsson crafts a meticulous, tightly woven world rich with questions of justice, sexuality, trauma, and morality. Hall of Fame narrator Simon Vance is the perfect voice for a gripping story that brings to life such a tangle of unique, dark characters.
Two World War II veterans, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal, become unlikely friends. Each has their own family drama in addition to the racial strife and politics of England. Archie Jones marries a Jamaican woman and they have a daughter. Samad marries later because his wife hadn’t been born yet, and they become parents to twin boys. Zadie Smith’s debut novel was groundbreaking, and still is, with all its twists and comedic conflicts as it shines a light on one particular area of London.
Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi features a character stuck in a dire predicament. Our hero Pi has survived a boat wreck and is floating in a lifeboat alongside a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. What happens next blends the grounded with the fantastical, as Pi navigates a perilous situation and learns deep life lessons along the way, in an acclaimed performance by narrator Vikas Adam.
This subtly haunting selection is indicative of the mysterious, slow-burning style of Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. No spoilers here, but it’s safe to say that the reason for Never Let Me Go's dystopian categorization remains a mystery for much of its playing time. Told in the first-person perspective, all listeners know at the start is that protagonist Kathy is a "carer" who was once a student at a boarding school named Hailsham. Narrator Rosalyn Landor’s ponderous, careful tone mimics not only Kathy’s own timidity and reflection, but also the way Ishiguro reveals plot details step by careful step. Listeners are dropped into Kathy’s life, where she recounts stories of places and activities she expects us to be familiar with; as listeners follow her spiraling reminiscences of love, friendship, and innocence lost, we catch glimpses of a melancholy we can’t quite explain, and of things not being quite right.
Focused on the relationship between a father and his young son struggling to survive and find hope in a world of utter devastation, this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy is deeply touching and intensely emotional. To quote Audible Editor Michael: "I recently went five years without crying. It’s not something I’m proud of; crying is a wonderful thing. I was just kind of like Zach Braff in Garden State. A few times I even tried to force it out of me by watching 'crying challenge' videos on YouTube, to no avail. Then I picked up The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It only took me two days to finish, and at the end, I found myself hugging the door frame to my bathroom making a very strange face. Only one tear came out, but it still counts, and since then I’ve gotten a lot better at it. Thanks, Cormac!"
On one unbearably hot summer day in 1935, three children lose their innocence after one event has significant and devastating consequences. 13-year-old Briony Tallis lets her imagination get the better of her when she sees her sister Cecilia with the housekeeper’s son, Robby Turner. Briony proceeds to make a mistake that will change her life and her family forever, and it will consume her with guilt that she carries for the rest of her life. Jill Tanner narrates this audio version of Atonement, reading Ian McEwan’s beautiful, heartbreaking prose with nuance and passion.
In this contemporary classic from 2003, Chicago couple Clare and Henry find their lives defined by Henry's unusual ability to travel through time. Though he has no control over where and when he travels, he's often drawn to momentous or emotional periods in his past or future. Lush, vivid, and bursting with passion, The Time Traveler's Wife is both a time travel saga and an operatic love story about two ordinary people struggling to build a life together amidst extraordinary circumstances. Through their dual narration, Phoebe Strole and Fred Berman perfectly capture this loving couple and their extremely complicated relationship.
