Open Books Challenge 2025: A Diary Style Book or Memoir

Updated September 10, 2025
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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 ...
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 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 : into the Nether
Rivi?ere, Laura
Paper Book
The second volume in the unofficial Minecraft warrior adventure series follows Runt and Blurp on their quest into the Nether to face the impossible task of defeating an Ender Dragon.  "A Minecraft Movie leveled up at the box office, collecting a blockbuster $157...
Diary of a 6th grade ninja 2. Pirate invasion
Emerson, Marcus
Paper Book
Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and upMy name is Chase Cooper, and this is my second diary as a 6th grade ninja. It's only been a month since my last entry, but in a school as crazy as mine, a month is an eternity. My school recently had a day where everyone talked like a pirate, but it didn't...
Walking on water : the fifth journal of the Walk series
Evans, Richard Paul
Paper Book
In this fifth New York Times bestseller in the 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. After the death of his beloved wife, after...
The vengeance of mothers : the journals of Margaret Kelly & Molly McGill
Fergus, Jim
Paper Book
The stunning sequel to the award-winning novelOne Thousand White Women:A Novel. "Clever and satisfying...Fergus is a superb writer [and] the characters are as real as any pioneer women who braved the rigors of westering." --The Denver Post ...
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...
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...
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...
What is home, Mum?
Khan, Sabba
Paper Book
One of the top ten graphic novels for Spring 2022, as chosen by Publishers Weekly "Khan debuts with a deeply introspective, elegantly rendered graphic memoir about her experiences, faith, and family in the South Asian diaspora community of East London. . . . It's a...
Becoming who we are : real stories about growing up trans
Lisel, Sammy
Paper Book
Becoming who you are is a journey, and all journeys start somewhere.
My happy year by E. Bluebird
Meisel, Paul
Paper Book
With humor and charm, a bluebird narrates her first year of life--adventures, joys, and scary times too--in this companion book to My Awesome Summer by P. Mantis. "May 1: Today is my birthday." So begins the wondrous first year of E. Bluebird. In...
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...
Country girl A Memoir
O'Brien, Edna.
Ebook
"Country Girl is Edna O'Brien's exquisite account of her dashing, barrier-busting, up-and-down life."-National Public Radio When Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960, it so scandalized the O'Briens' local parish that the book was burned by its...
Dreams from my father : a story of race and inheritance
Obama, Barack
Paper Book
Now adapted for young adults--the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, which Toni Morrison called "quite extraordinary," offers an intimate look at Barack Obama's early days. This is a compelling journey tracing the future 44th president's odyssey through family, race, and identity....
Patrimony : a true story
Roth, Philip.
Paper Book
Patrimony, a true story, touches the emotions as strongly as anything Philip Roth has ever written. Roth watches as his eighty-six-year-old father--famous for his vigor, charm, and his repertoire of Newark recollections--battles with the brain tumor that will kill him. The son, full of love, anxiety...
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
One of the best-known and most popular horror stories ever. When Jonathan Harker visits Castle Dracula on a tour through Europe, his nightmare experience there is just the start of a macabre chain of events. The vampire Count Dracula follows him back to England, determined to increase his evil band...
Music from another world
Talley, Robin
Paper Book
A master of award-winning queer historical fiction, New York Times bestselling author Robin Talley brings to life an emotionally captivating story about the lives of two teen girls living in an age when just being yourself was an incredible act of bravery. It's summer 1977...
Diary of a void : a novel
Yagi, Emi
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker · NPR · WBEZ's Nerdette · The New York Public Library · Literary Hub A New York Times Editors' Choice "One of the most passionate cases I've ever read for female interiority, for women's creative pulse...

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