Are there any modern novels written in the "journal style" that don't suck ass?

[Orrex]

I hate the format. Hate it.

However, being the open-minded fellow that I am, it occurs to me that the problem may be that I've simply never encountered a good example of the genre.

Can anyone recommend a title? Or do they all suck?

[valerief]

1. You mean epistolary novels? nt

[Orrex]

2. Sorry--It's been a bunch of years since I had a lit course.

I thought that epistolary novels were written in the format of letters and correspondence.

But if the form also includes journals, then that's exactly what I mean.

:hi:

[valerief]

3. No, I'm asking because I don't know either! Ha! I didn't know if they were

one and the same!!!

[JVS]

5. One could be nitpicky, but it generally applies.

Epistolary novels in the strictest sense would be composed of a series of letters. Now where it starts getting slippery is that some of these have letters from one half of the exchange. For example, CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters is a one sided collection of letters, although content of some of the responses to the letters can be inferred by the next letter in the series. If you are willing to consider a journal a series of letters, then you can classify it as an Epistolary Novel too.

[JVS]

4. Al Franken's "Why Not Me?"

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. Oh, yes! That is fucking hilarious!

I pull it out every now and again and laugh my ass off.

[janx]

6. Are you talking about memoirs?

They're very popular these days.

[Orrex]

8. I hadn't considered those.

I was thinking of fictional works, though I suppose that a memoir might (or might not!) work in much the same way.

[Captain Hilts]

7. I really enjoyed Bridget Jones' Diary. Really. nt

[alsame]

10. The Color Purple? That was written as a diary and letters, if I

recall correctly.

[Richardo]

11. Flowers for Algernon

[Tyrone Slothrop]

12. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The whole thing isn't written in that style -- the novel is comprised of 6 nested stories -- but one of the 6 is presented as a journal, "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing".

It's one of my top 5 books of all time; it's fairly experimental and the themes are very progressive/liberal. I'd highly recommend it.

[MrCoffee]

13. Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womack

It's brilliant.

[Orsino]

14. Sorcery and Cecilia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot

(by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer)
It's a pseudo-Regency epistolary, in a setting that includes magic, and it's delightful. I recall it as laugh-out-loud funny on nearly every page.

Jane Austen funny.

There's a sequel called The Grand Tour, which is not quite as funny or engaging, but is definitely enjoyable.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. World War Z.

Not exactly a journal per se, but individual accounts of different people's experience in a zombie apocalypse.

Styled after the non-fiction An Oral History of WWII.