The Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
This tells the events in the life of Laura from when she is about 12 until her death in her senior year of high school, when Twin Peaks begins.
Girl by Blake Nelson // cover
A high school girl growing up in Portland experiencing love, sex, friendships and drugs while she gets into the alternative music scene of the Pacific Northwest.
Girl by Blake Nelson The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath // cover
The poetess goes crazy and lives in a mental hospital for a bit after spending the summer working as an intern for a magazine in New York City.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby // cover
The French editor of Elle bores me with talking about what he thinks about and what his life is like now that he has locked-in syndrome.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby Was by Geoff Ryman // cover
A wonderfully interwoven story of the effect the Wizard of Oz has had on the lives of several seemingly unrelated characters.
Was by Geoff Ryman The Saskiad by Brian Hall // cover
A strange thirteen-year-old girl lives with her mother on a rundown commune, but travels to see her father in Norway with her best friend, then runs away to NYC.
The Saskiad by Brian Hall The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block // cover
A girl of seventeen who grew up in Hollywood had a pretty normal life, except for molestation by her father, a menage à trois and dreams about Tarot cards and art.
The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block The Bad Seed by William March
The mother of a seven-year-old serial killer first won't believe, then tries to protect, then resolves to drastic action with her weird daughter.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury // cover
In a futuristic world where all books are illegal, a fireman realizes he no longer wants to burn books—instead he wants to fix the screwed-up world.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Solar Storms by Linda Hogan // cover
A seventeen-year-old Indian girl who lived most of her life in white foster care returns to her homeland to learn of her place in her people's past, present and future.
Solar Storms by Linda Hogan Sister Safety Pin by Lorrie Sprecher // cover
A punk girl struggles with school, politics, friendship and relationships as she deals with her newly discovered lesbianism.
Sister Safety Pin by Lorrie Sprecher The Fruit Cocktail Diaries by Brian Carmody and Gretchen Hayduk
Two young New Yorkers document their lives in matching diaries, but never formally meet each other.
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons // cover
An eleven-year-old Southern girl takes care of herself while her crazy, mean family dies or otherwise abandons her, until she finds herself a foster home.
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons Warp by Lev Grossman // cover
In Boston, a group of post-college male slackers get into trouble, get drunk, and meets women while their thoughts are punctuated by quotes from books and movies.
Warp by Lev Grossman The Kingdom of Brooklyn by Merrill Joan Gerber // cover
During and after WWII, young precocious Issa lives in Brooklyn with her family, and interprets her existence in a very unique way.
The Kingdom of Brooklyn by Merrill Joan Gerber The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos // cover
Spanning a lifetime, this is the story of two Cuban brothers and their mambo orchestra, who had their heyday in 1940s Manhattan, and an episode of I Love Lucy.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos Trap for Cinderella by Sébastien Japrisot // cover
In a mysterious fire, two girls (one rich, one poor) are burned beyond recognition—one dies, and the other survives with acute amnesia to question her identity.
Trap for Cinderella by Sébastien Japrisot Exegesis by Astro Teller // cover
A computer science student writes an AI program to read text on the Internet; it surprises its creator one day by sending her an email: “Hello, Alice.”
Exegesis by Astro Teller Our House in the Last World by Oscar Hijuelos // cover
A young Cuban couple moves to Manhattan to begin what will eventually become, over the years, a rather dysfunctional family.
Our House in the Last World by Oscar Hijuelos Terminal Logic by Jefferson Scott // cover
An AI computer attempts to reset the world by sending its bots out of their gameworlds and into the real world, and only a genius programmer can stop them.
Terminal Logic by Jefferson Scott The Lost World by Michael Crichton // cover
A failed scientific experiment with dinosaur raising creates havoc in the lives of some scholars on an island off the coast of Costa Rica.
The Lost World by Michael Crichton Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing by Abram Shalom Himelstein and Jamie Schweser // cover
Punk kid moves to DC to find that the punk life is not at all how he pictured it, but it's still pretty cool.
Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing by Abram Shalom Himelstein and Jamie Schweser Automated Alice by Jeff Moon // cover
The author continues the Alice saga in which the girl is transported in the future to a world of people-creatures that try to frame her for the Jigsaw Murders.
Automated Alice by Jeff Moon Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg // cover
A dumb, gullible girl leaves her innocent life to go on an only-in-a-fantasy sexual journey to New York, a commune in Minnesota and finally Tibet. Horrible.
Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg The Yellow Sofa by Eça de Queirós // cover
A home-loving Spanish husband goes through hell when he must decide what to do when he discovers his wife, dressed in a negligée, embracing his business partner.
The Yellow Sofa by Eça de Queirós The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll // cover
A longhaired astronomer-turned-sys admin learns maturity while battling government bureaucracy and international suspicion as he hunts a German hacker.
The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll Blood Music by Greg Bear // cover
A scientist who is smart but doesn't think about consequences creates an intelligent virus that liquefies all Americans and America into one giant blob of life.
Blood Music by Greg Bear Summer Sisters by Judy Blume // cover
A poor girl from New Mexico is chosen by a popular rich girl to spend the summer in Martha's Vineyard, and her life is forever altered—but is it better?
Summer Sisters by Judy Blume Temporary Agency by Rachel Pollack // cover
In a fantasized Manhattan, a woman uncovers the reality of a Benign One's agenda with the woman she once idolized, then hated, and finally fell in love with.
Temporary Agency by Rachel Pollack A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson // cover
A young boy chronicles the peculiar history of the small town of Neely, North Carolina in a humorous and highly entertaining manner.
A Short History of a Small Place by T. R. Pearson Outside Providence by Peter Farrelly // cover
A working class kid divides his life between a fancy prep school with rich jerks, administrators and his girlfriend, and his hometown with his harsh father, paralyzed brother and mongrel pack of friends.
Outside Providence by Peter Farrelly Empress of the Splendid Season by Oscar Hijuelos // cover
In New York, the life of a disowned Cuban society girl turned cleaning lady is chronicled, with family, work, friends and the interesting events of life.
Empress of the Splendid Season by Oscar Hijuelos King: A Street Story by John Berger // cover
The lives of a group of street people are told by King, a dog, who lives with his people in a urban wasteland called Saint Valèry, until they are all evicted one night.
King: A Street Story by John Berger Kafka's Curse by Achmat Dangor // cover
At the end of apartheid in South Africa, the lives a white family and a colored-Muslim family re-create the ancient tale of Kafka and his forbidden lover.
Kafka's Curse by Achmat Dangor Burning Girl by Ben Neihart // cover
In what should have been a short story at the most, the author wastes 90% of the book leading up the finalé of the main character discovering that his best friend, his boyfriend and one of their friends brutally killed a fourth friend several years past.
Burning Girl by Ben Neihart Albany Park by Patrice Chaplin
A British girl of fifteen runs away to Catalonia, where she becomes so obsessed with a man that she fails to see that he is using her and lying to her; even after he abandons her and tricks her, she still thinks he will marry her when the time is right.
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway // cover
A terrible drought drives an Australian sheep farmer's daughter (and her mother) from the bush to Sydney—where education, women's roles, the misgivings of Australian society and her mother's declining temperament become the focus of life.
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway WLT: A Radio Romance by Garrison Keillor // cover
The quick rise and sudden fall of radio popularity is documented at one Midwest radio station, along with all the characters, from executives to voice actors to listeners.
WLT: A Radio Romance by Garrison Keillor White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty // cover
Intellectual Gunnar Kaufman moves from a white neighborhood in San Francisco to the ghetto of Los Angeles, where he becomes a star basketball player and the poet laureate to his gang, the Gun Totin' Hoodlums.
White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy // cover
A pair of boys becomes a trio for a time, on an adventure into Mexico that includes a horse ranch, a beautiful daughter and a strange old aunt, leading to a violent stay in jail and an unfinished feeling at the end of the book.
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy Slow Death by Stewart Home // cover
My interest was piqued by the story of London skinheads, but this book turned into a bore of a book about liquid genetics, tasteless gore and a bunch of brainless art scene wannabes who are willing to follow any orders for the hope of recognition.
Slow Death by Stewart Home Exposure by Kathryn Harrison // cover
Written in intricate layers, this story details Ann, a woman who was photographed in adolescence by her father, whose controversial pictures force the Ann's life to unravel uncontrollably, damaging her relationships and her life.
Exposure by Kathryn Harrison Go Ask Alice by Anonymous // cover
In a real diary, a fifteen-year-old girl's life is thrown out of control by drugs, but she is a good person who keeps trying to fix her life—just when things seem like they'll work out, she dies.
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham // cover
As the oldest daughter in a Hasidic family, much is expected of Rachel-but she has many modern ideas that upset the people around her.
The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham The Tiny One by Eliza Minot // cover
In the wake the sudden death of her mother (Mum), we are taken back in time with the memories of eight-year-old Via. The childish perspective is related through remarkable writing.
The Tiny One by Eliza Minot The Watcher by James Howe // cover
A girl, abused by her family, creates haunting images in her mind as she sits at the beach near her home and watches people, and in turn affects their lives.
The Watcher by James Howe War Boy by Kief Hillsbury // cover
A deaf, mute punk kid leaves his abusive home to travel to San Francisco with his kweer best friend... when they get there they team up with three others for some direct action and a climactic ending.
War Boy by Kief Hillsbury Eating the Cheshire Cat by Helen Ellis // cover
Are all southern girls nuts, or is it just Sarina, Nicole and Bitty Jack? This story paints an astonishing, yet hilarious picture of mother/daughter relationships, girl-girl rivalry and gory, macabre violence.
Eating the Cheshire Cat by Helen Ellis Lo's Diary by Pia Pera // cover
The story of Lolita told from a different perspective-that of the girl who was abused and exploited by Humbert.
Lo's Diary by Pia Pera Cruddy by Lynda Barry // cover
A teenager whose family has a sick, strange relationship with knives tells the odd story of events in her childhood and the abuse of her father that have led her to be the way she is now.
Cruddy by Lynda Barry Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl // cover
The most important aspects of Ruth's life are based upon her relationships with people and her love for food and cooking.
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl Skipped Parts by Tim Sandlin // cover
Thirteen-year-old Sam moves with his irresponsible mother to a tiny town in Wyoming. There, he meets Maurey, a rancher's daughter, who shares his passion for books and curiosity about sex-they have a daughter before they both turn fourteen.
Skipped Parts by Tim Sandlin Sorrow Floats by Tim Sandlin // cover
Maurey is a drunk who is unwilling to admit to alcoholism. After social services takes her young son, she sets off on a road trip with a group of strangers who are smuggling illegal beer into the South.
Sorrow Floats by Tim Sandlin Social Blunders by Tim Sandlin // cover
Sam's life in the South spins into the chaos of a dark comedy when his daughter hands him a list of five men's' names-one of the five is his father through the rape of his mother when she was only fourteen.
Social Blunders by Tim Sandlin Place Last Seen by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman // cover
A little girl with Down's disappears on a family hike. The days of the search are chronicled by the pain and turmoil felt by both her family and the searchers.
Place Last Seen by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman Henry of Atlantic City by Frederick Reuss // cover
A beautiful story about a six-year-old boy who is captivated by the writings of the Gnostics. With his photographic memory he is able to remember everything he reads, but at his age he is unable to understand the differences between life, history and philosophy.
Henry of Atlantic City by Frederick Reuss Diamond Dogs by Alan Watt // cover
Trapped in the world of his abusive, manic father, Neil struggles to escape and free the mystery in his mind of his mother's disappearance, as well as handle the bizarre crime he accidentally committed, which his father wants to "help" him get away with.
Diamond Dogs by Alan Watt Youth in Revolt by CD Payne // cover
Through the journals of Nick Twisp, we see the evolution of an intelligent boy who becomes obsessed with a beautiful, intelligent girl named Sheeni. His life spins out of control, as the story of Nick's obsession and the distance he will go to fulfill it become truly outrageous.
Youth in Revolt by CD Payne The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby // cover
Murasaki Shikubu was the mysterious Japanese court lady who wrote the world's first novel The Tale of Gengi. With the little historical data that is known of her, the author creates a story of a strong, quiet, and woman, at times struggling within the confines of the world to which she was born.
The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block // cover
A collection of modern fairy tales set in southern California. It begins with a young Weetzie Bat, each book moves on to tell another interwoven story of her friends and her children, set in a world that intermingles fantasy with reality.
Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty // cover
An insightful, funny, nostalgic and far from juevenille look into the life of a sixteen year old girl, Jessica, in the year that her life changes because her best friend moves away. We never meet the friend (Hope), but Jessica's letters to her provide diary-like descriptions of this time in her life.
Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty Diary of a Mad Bride by Laura Wolf // cover
All of the emotion, frustration, fun and insanity of planning a wedding, as told by a character who is surprised to find herself engaged, but settles into her new life with drama and flair. Not recommended for anyone who is currently planning a wedding.
Diary of a Mad Bride by Laura Wolf The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken // cover
In Cape Cod lived an intelligent, giant boy who was over eight feet tall and died at the age of twenty. This is the story of the librarian who loved him.
The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken Thumbsucker by Walter Kirn // cover
The thumb can be like a security blanket—remove it and a person's entire life goes to hell. This boy is both intelligent and out of control, with a family that needs some security, too.
Thumbsucker by Walter Kirn The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides // cover
To call it 'haunting' would be cliché... rather, I want to say that this book filled me more with a feeling of being a helpless bystander, so far removed from the lives of five sister that all killed themselves—it is pure resonant imagery.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides The Time Machine by H.G. Wells // cover
I knew there must be more to this story than what was provided in the movie, but unfortunately Wells' original work still leaves a lot to wonder about. Unfortunately, in the original version we look at time travel through a scientist's eyes, and somehow loose the need for curiosity.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells The Evening Star by Larry McMurty // cover
Following the end of the life the of eccentric Aurora, the reader is also brought into the intricate world of her family, deep into their thoughts and unique perspective on life. They are very complete characters, but I didn't really get into this until the end.
The Evening Star by Larry McMurty The Clown by Heinrich Boll // cover
A young clown in post-war Germany reflects on his religion, his life, his career and his future in the numb days following his return to his hometown after his longtime companion (but not legal wife) leaves him to marry a Catholic man.
The Clown by Heinrich Boll Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk // cover
Sent out from his cult as a worker, a man is left behind when the members at "home" all commit suicide—leaving him in the strange predicament of being a man obsessed by death with the media obsessed by him.
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares // cover
Four girls that have been friends since their mothers were pregnant with them spend their first summer apart. To keep in touch they send a "magical" pair of jeans back and forth between them and all around the world—their summer turns out to be anything but what they expected.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
From boyhood to adulthood, a young black man passes despairingly through the strange world of segregated America in his mind an in reality, until his only solution is to become "invisible."
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Through the maze of the sick and depraved world, a science fiction author and a used car salesman meet in a small town for an unusual altercation, heralded by bad chemicals of the mind.
The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
As Shingo nears the end of his quiet life, he realizes that he can no longer behave passively towards the members of his family—they drive his actions, his thoughts and his dreams.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson // cover
A Japanese-American man is charged with the murder of his white boyhood friend, ten years after the Japanese internment. As the snow falls and the case is tried in court, we are brought into the lives of the San Piedro islanders, most importantly the accused man's wife and her secret childhood boyfriend.
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson The Doorman by Reinaldo Arenas // cover
A Cuban doorman working in New York City catches the attention of the pets in his building as he searches for a door to a better place that he can open for himself and the tenants.
The Doorman by Reinaldo Arenas Fast Eddie, King of the Bees by Robert Arellano // cover
Growing up as an orphan amongst a pack of pickpockets, Eddie's only wish is to know where he comes from and the source of his exceptionally large feet—the search for which leads him to lead the "bees" of an underground city in a revolution for independence.
Fast Eddie, King of the Bees by Robert Arellano You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers // cover
Six months after the death of a third friend, two best friends travel to random places around the world, giving away money and meeting people, with the goal of never stopping their momentum and escaping the omnipresent chatter in their minds.
You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers White Oleander by Janet Fitch // cover
Trying to find herself and survive, yet vulnerable and alone in the California foster care system, Astrid tries to break free of her cold, dominating, poetess mother who is locked in prison for murder.
White Oleander by Janet Fitch Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk // cover
A reporter embarks on a mission to destroy every copy of a collection of children's lullabies after he discovers that an African culling song contained within kills the people that hear it read.
Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. // cover
Years after the war when the author finally begins to document the firebombing of Dresden, he makes a promise to a war mate's wife that he will tell the truth and portray the soldiers as the children that they were, not the heroes people made them out to be.
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis // cover
The classic, hilarious tale of the crazy aunt and her orphaned nephew.
Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis The Acid House by Irvine Welsh // cover
A compilation of eerily ironic and sometimes darkly humorous short stories, and one longer vignette called "A Smart Cunt" in which a young man tries to make sense of his drifting life.
The Acid House by Irvine Welsh 
A list of (most of) the narrative books that I have read, in chronological order, since fall 1997.
New! Click on "cover" next to a title to and toggle image of the book's cover on and off.
My selection process is completely arbitrary. I'm always interested in suggestions of books to read... if you have any, please me. Thanks!
Last updated: 05 March 2006