Open Books Challenge 2025: A Diary Style Book or Memoir

Updated September 10, 2025
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Open Books Challenge 2025: A Diary Style Book or Memoir

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The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
Alexie, Sherman
Paper Book
A New York Times bestseller--over one million copies sold!   A National Book Award winner A Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Bestselling and award winning author Sherman Alexie tells the hearbreaking yet funny story about a boy...
Go ask Alice
Paper Book
A teen plunges into a downward spiral of addiction in this classic cautionary tale. January 24th After you've had it, there isn't even life without drugs... It started when she was served a soft drink laced with LSD in a dangerous party game. Within...
Devolution : a firsthand account of the Rainier Sasquatch massacre
Brooks, Max.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z is back with "the Bigfoot thriller you didn't know you needed in your life, and one of the greatest horror novels I've ever read" (Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter and ...
The unselected journals of Emma M. Lion. Vol. 1
Brower, Beth
Paper Book
"I've arrived in London without incident. There are few triumphs in my recent life, but I count this as one. My existence of the last three years has been nothing but incident."The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian's. But Emma's plans for a...
The great concert of the night
Buckley, Jonathan
Paper Book
"Why isn't Jonathan Buckley better known? His novel of love, death and melancholy comedy, The Great Concert of the Night, is captivating." --John Banville   David has just spent New Year's Eve alone, watching Le Grand Concert de la Nuit,...
Parable of the sower
Butler, Octavia E.
Paper Book
This acclaimed post-apocalyptic novel of hope and terror from an award-winning author "pairs well with 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale" and includes a foreword by N. K. Jemisin (John Green, New York Times). When global climate change and economic crises lead to...
The quarantine princess diaries
Cabot, Meg
Paper Book
Mia Thermopolis knows just what to do in a crisis: Rule. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a section of the diary of Princess Mia Thermopolis of Genovia fell into the hands of Meg Cabot, the Princess's royal biographer. As reported in media outlets such as Entertainment...
The perks of being a wallflower
Chbosky, Stephen
Paper Book
"A timeless story for every young person who needs to understand that they are not alone." --Judy Blume "Once in a while, a novel comes along that becomes a generational touchstone. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those books." --R. J. Palacio, #1 New York...
Cher the memoir / Part one
Cher
Paper Book
***The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller*** ***The Global #1 Bestseller*** The extraordinary life of Cher can be told by only one person . . . Cher herself. After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her...
A Noob's Diary of an 8-Bit Warrior : Bit Warrior
Cube Kid
Digital file
Walking on water
Evans, Richard Paul.
Paper Book
In this fifth entry in the New York Times bestselling Walk series, Richard Paul Evans’s hero Alan Christoffersen must say some painful goodbyes and learn some important lessons as he comes to the end of his cross-country walk to Key West.
Be ready when the luck happens : a memoir
Garten, Ina
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * In her long-awaited memoir, Ina Garten--aka the Barefoot Contessa, author of thirteen bestselling cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and cultural icon--shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table....
The postscript murders
Griffiths, Elly
Paper Book
"This droll romp is a latter-day Miss Marple." --Washington Post Murder leaps off the page when crime novelists begin to turn up dead in this intricate new novel by internationally best-selling author Elly Griffiths, a literary mystery perfect for fans of Anthony...
Hitch-22 : a memoir
Hitchens, Christopher
Paper Book
Over the course of his 60 years, Christopher Hitchens has been a citizen of both the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been both a socialist opposed to the war in Vietnam and a supporter of the U.S. war against Islamic extremism in Iraq. He has been both a foreign correspondent in...
Diary of a worm : Nat the gnat
Houran, Lori Haskins
Paper Book
Worm is thrilled when it's his turn to take care of the class pet, Nat the Gnat. But everything goes wrong when he leaves the lid of Nat's tank open. Can Worm make sure the class pet returns safely before Mrs. Mulch finds out Diary of a Worm: Nat the Gnat...
The secret diary of Mona Hasan
Hussain, Salma (Young adult fiction writer)
Paper Book
Mona learns to find her voice over the course of a year that sees her immigrating from Dubai to Canada in this novel for fans of Front Desk by Kelly Yang. Mona Hasan is a young Muslim girl growing up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when the first Gulf War breaks out in...
The last days of Ellis Island
Josse, Gaëlle
Paper Book
Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature "Josse powerfully evokes the spirit of the 'huddled masses' who landed on America's shores while creating a memorable portrait of a man torn between his commitment to his difficult job and the longings of his heart. Duty and desire...
Flowers for Algernon
Keyes, Daniel.
Ebook
 Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.   Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually...
Out of the fires : a journal of resilience and recovery after disaster
Lara, Carrie
Paper Book
After a fire destroys his home and neighborhood, a young boy must learn what it means to be resilient and to recover. Let me tell you about that one day everything was there, and then there was nothing. After a fire destroys his home and neighborhood, a young boy must learn what it...
Freedom: Memoirs 1954 - 2021
Merkel, Angela
Paper Book
The New York Times and USA Today bestseller For sixteen years, Angela Merkel was Chancellor of Germany and at the forefront of European and international politics. In her memoir, she looks back on her life in two German states--East Germany until 1990, and...
Isabel : jewel of Castilla
Meyer, Carolyn
Paper Book
Segovia -- 12th of April 1466 After Mass this morning, I climbed the narrow, winding stone steps to a window high in one of the castle turrets. I often come up here to see what lies beyond my prison. Segovia is surrounded by four thick walls, each with a heavy wooden gate. The aqueduct built by...
Sherlock Holmes and the telegram from hell : extracts from the diaries of John H. Watson, M.D. June 1916-November 1918
Meyer, Nicholas
Paper Book
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson cross the Atlantic at the height of World War I in pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram in this new mystery from the author of The Return of the Pharaoh. June, 1916. With a world war raging on the continent, exhausted John H. Watson,...
Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life
Russell, Rachel Renee.
Ebook
Nikki Maxwell is starting eighth grade at a new school--and her very first diary is packed with hilarious stories and art in this SUPER SQUEE updated edition of the first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dork Diaries series! Nikki confesses all in her first diary...
Push : a novel
Sapphire
Paper Book
An electrifying first novel that shocks by its language, its circumstances, and its brutal honesty, Push recounts a young black street-girl's horrendous and redemptive journey through a Harlem inferno. For Precious Jones, 16 and pregnant with her father's child, miraculous hope appears and the world...
Katie and the cupcake cure
Simon, Coco.
Paper Book
Katie gets inspired to found a club in this first book in the Cupcake Diaries series! Katie Brown is miserable when her best friend is invited to join the Popular Girls Club and Katie is left out. Is there an Unpopular Girls Club she can join? Luckily, Katie finds her way with a...
Dracula
Stoker, Bram
Paper Book
After discovering the double identity of the wealthy Transylvanian nobleman, Count Dracula, a small group of people vow to rid the world of the evil vampire
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