People often use a diaries, journals and letters to record everyday events, deepest emotions, and darkest desires. Take a peek into the secret lives of these characters through their “private” writings.
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal-if you consider mapping family dinner table conversation normal-is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T.S. from his family ranch just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum’s hallowed halls.
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
This funny, poignant, classic love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a charming, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
A masterpiece of satire, The Screwtape Letters comprises the correspondence of the worldly-wise devil Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey–a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Nazis occupying their island.
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The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen by Hendrik Groen, translated by Hester Velmans
Technically speaking, Hendrik Groen is….elderly. But at age 83 1/4, this feisty, indomitable curmudgeon has no plans to go out quietly. Bored of weak tea and potted geraniums, exasperated by the indignities of aging, Hendrik has decided to rebel – on his own terms. He begins writing an exposé: secretly recording the antics of day-to-day life in his retirement home, where he refuses to take himself, or his fellow “inmates,” too seriously.
These Is My Words by Nancy Turner
A novel based on the author’s own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon–from child to determined young adult to loving mother–she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose.
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The Diary by Eileen Goudge
When the two grown daughters of Elizabeth Marshall discover an old diary of their mother’s in her attic, it comes as a shock to learn that the true love of Elizabeth’s life was not their father. This is the mystery the two daughters must unravel as they stay up late reading the words penned by Elizabeth so long ago.
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Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
When 15-year-old Bee’s madcap and increasingly agoraphobic mother suddenly disappears before a family trip to Antarctica, Bee compiles a variety of email messages, official documents, and secret correspondence to figure out where—and why—she’s gone.
The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas
Beginning in 1865, a week after her wedding in Fort Madison, Iowa, Mattie Spenser confides to her diary as she and her new husband travel by Conestoga wagon to the Colorado Territories. The growth of Mattie as a person are all visible in these pages, full of what seems like genuine details of prairie life.
The Martian by Andy Weir
Astronaut Mark Watney is part the first team of explorers to land on Mars. Through a series of tragic events, he’s left behind, stranded and facing certain death. Told mostly through log entries, the story chronicles Mark’s efforts to survive in a hostile and unforgiving environment.
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