I don't know that it is fair that I voted for The Bluest Eyes. I read it, however my recollection of it is very dim.

great additions, y'all! i knew you'd come through! how did john grisham get to pass everyone else????

I just added Middlesex, but I think it violates the third criterion! Ooops... :-? (then again, so does Cat's Eye)

messy democracy: i luv it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd suggest Andrew Sean Greer's The Confessions of Max Tivoli. I love this novel (which bears an uncanny resemblance to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Still, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a great choice. Also woth considering: Geoffrey Wolff's The Age of Consent AND Old School, Brady Udall's The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, Russel Banks' Rule of the Bone, Richard Russo's The Risk Pool, Bobbie Ann Mason's In Country, Jim Shepard's Project X, Richard Price's The Breaks AND The Wanderers, Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, Sebastian Faulks' Engelby, Walter Mosely's 47, and, for what it's worth, I prefer Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. That's all for now.

jeff, why don't you add them? you don't know how to do that or are you just being humble?

(happy new year!)

I don't know how to do this. I just tried but failed.

how sweet. at the top there's a box that says, "find/add books to list." it's for finding/adding books to list. hope this helps!

(i knew you'd be the über-expert!!!!)

i'm going to read every single one of these books. word.

i love this list. thank you!!!!

does anyone remember whether Bastard Out of Carolina is a first-person narrative?

jo wrote: "i love this list. thank you!!!!

does anyone remember whether Bastard Out of Carolina is a first-person narrative?"

yes it is.

i find extremely and incredibly sad that i am the only one who voted for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close! what's with you, people????

thanks jeff.

don't blame me, blame amazon!! I expect it to arrive in the next shipment....

this list is shaping up quite nicely--great theme, jo!

This is a neat list. I feel compelled to point out that Claudius in (the Graves books) is writing as an adult.

I love the Book Thief, but it doesn't belong on this list. It has a compelling young main character, as it's told from Death's point of view...

Most of these books -- including To Kill a Mockingbird -- don't belong here. They are either narrated by adult voices looking back, or in the third person. Black Boy isn't even a novel -- it's a memoir. Written by an adult.

yeah, it's hard to keep it straight. what i was most interested in was the voice, the young person's voice. some authors do it really wonderfully. if it's an adult looking back they'll have an adult voice, and that is not the same.

Miranda wrote: "I love the Book Thief, but it doesn't belong on this list. It has a compelling young main character, as it's told from Death's point of view..."

Came here to say the same thing...

Miranda wrote: "I love the Book Thief, but it doesn't belong on this list. It has a compelling young main character, as it's told from Death's point of view..."

Miranda wrote: "I love the Book Thief, but it doesn't belong on this list. It has a compelling young main character, as it's told from Death's point of view..."
thanks for head's up, Brendan. I am heading over to the library now so that I can create my own list of actual young narrators cause that's what I am looking for.