If you loved
Books like Diary
A hypnotic, dread-soaked descent into the dark, parasitic relationship between suffering and artistic genius. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Diary.
- claustrophobic
- unsettling
- dread-soaked
- surreal
- 01
Choke
Chuck Palahniuk · 2001
A pitch-black, visceral plunge into modern alienation and the desperate, absurd lengths we go to for a scrap of human connection.
- 02
Survivor
Chuck Palahniuk · 1999
A frantic, darkly hilarious countdown to oblivion that skewers the absurdity of fame, faith, and consumerism.
- 03
A Dirty Job
Christopher Moore · 2006
A hilariously morbid romp through the bureaucracy of the afterlife, anchored by the fierce love of a neurotic single dad.
- 04
Fluke
Christopher Moore · 2004
A sun-baked, laugh-out-loud descent into marine biology madness where the ocean's greatest mysteries are mostly just messing with us.
- 05
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
Jennifer Lynch
A suffocating, intimate descent into the darkest corners of a doomed teenager's mind as she desperately tries to outrun her own nightmares.
- 06
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Maria Semple
A sharp, epistolary romp through the absurdities of elite parenting and the messy chaos of a stalled creative mind.
- 07
Diary of an Oxygen Thief
Anonymous
A raw, cynical confession of emotional terrorism that forces you into the mind of a deeply unlikable but magnetic narrator.
- 08
Skinny dip
Carl Hiaasen
A sun-drenched, swampy romp of righteous revenge against spectacularly incompetent villains.
- 09
No One Belongs Here More Than You
Miranda July
A tender, delightfully weird exploration of lonely people fumbling toward connection in the most unexpected ways.
- 10
The gum thief
Douglas Coupland · 2006
A wry, fluorescent-lit exploration of retail drudgery and the unexpected connections forged between aisles of office supplies.
- 11
Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn
A sweltering, dread-soaked descent into the toxic heart of a small town and the jagged edges of a broken family.
- 12
Furiously Happy
Jenny Lawson
A wildly tangential, laugh-out-loud manifesto on fighting crippling depression with weaponized absurdity.
