Diaries?

[Spooncat]

I'm re-reading The Orton Diaries - Joe Orton - just wondered if anyone else has read this and what you thought - also how do people feel about reading published diaries? I've also read Kenneth Williams diaries -

 

I think with Joe Orton's diaries -he clearly envisioned them being published at some point - i wonder if that affected what he wrote in them?

 

[Kell]

I have The Diary of Anne Frank on Mount TBR, but I don't think I've ever actually read a published diary. Novels in the form of diaries, yes (Bridget Jones, Adrian Mole, etc), but not actualy published diaries).

[~Andrea~]

Anne Frank is a wonderful book. Terrible in the end obviously but what a great feisty character she was.

 

I haven't read any other diaries, and it has never really occurred to me to read published diaries, although I am sure they could make very interesting reading. I sometimes am intrigued by politicians diaries, and I wonder if i might give one a go at some point.

 

Did you hear about the man who wrote the worlds largest diary? He logged literally everything, practically his whole life was logged in ten minute sections. It was on TV recently, I can't remember why, perhaps because it had recently been discovered. I can't imagine I would want to read that though. I imagine writing it must have become something of a compulsion in the end.

[Spooncat]

Ive read Anne Frank too, havent heard of the worlds largest diary! I think reading someone's diary is a compliment to their autobiography if they've got one , like Kenneth Williams for example

[Deirdre]

I have read Anne Frank's Diary a couple of times, being dutch you can hardly not read it when you're in school. I have read a few fictional diaries such as the Adrian Mole diaries, Bridget Jones and Affinity by Sarah Waters. I must say I really enjoyed those.

 

I do own a copy of the unabridged diary by Silvia Plath. Haven't started to really read it yet, but browsed through it and found that it will be a difficult read for me (especially as English isn't my native tongue), but I'm always in for a good challenge, so I hope to read it next year.

[Kylie]

Ooh, I'd love to read Sylvia Plath's diaries, Deirdre. Let me know what you think!

 

I dug Anne Frank's diary out of my TBR pile recently and I was hoping to get to it by the end of the year but there's a very slim chance of that happening. I'm pretty sure I read some Adrian Mole when I was younger too. And I also have Bridget Jones waiting to be read.

 

I have a terrific book called These Is My Words by Nancy Turner. It's a fictional (although based on true events) account of a young woman's life in Arizona during the late 1800s.

 

I don't think I've ever read any factual diaries though.

[Deirdre]

Kylie, I also own the book These are my words. I have read this a couple of years ago and I absolutely loved it.

 

I think the problem with non-fictional diaries is that they are not half as entertaining as fictional ones. If I would look at my own personal diaries which I kept in Highschool, half the time they are just extremely boring to me, let alone to other people.

 

I own a book called The Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster too. I actually bought it and then came to discover that it was fictional too. The writer was however inspired by a woman who started her diary aged nine and kept it until she was 93. I would love to read a diary like that though, as so many exciting things must have happened through the decades.

[Adam]

I have The Diary of Anne Frank on Mount TBR, but I don't think I've ever actually read a published diary. Novels in the form of diaries, yes (Bridget Jones, Adrian Mole, etc), but not actualy published diaries).

 

I always wanted to read this, but I can never find it

[Anika]

I enjoy reading the diaries of writers as a way to gain insight on how they felt about the books they've written. At the moment I'm reading the last volume of Virginia Woolf's diaries. (There's 5 in all) There's also the condensed version called, "A Writer's Diary".

Edited November 11, 2009 by Anika

[funrun]

I love to read diary it sometimes tells how a person is feel and yiu can get to know the person in a personel way

Ann Frank diary was great