# Your favorite book written in the first person **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833 "2019-09-26T01:34:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/41 "2019-09-27T01:30:02Z")
For children’s literature, my favorite is probably **Bud, Not Buddy**. It’s gonna sound hella depressing when I tell you it’s about a 10-year-old orphaned black boy in 1930s Michigan who’s nastily abused by a foster family until he runs away and searches through the racist Depression-era midwest for his father. But it’s one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. There’s one particular scene that every time I read it to a class I have to prepare myself, and I still can’t keep from giggling hysterically. It may be my favorite children’s lit of the past couple decades. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/42 "2019-09-27T08:06:57Z")
Black Beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/43 "2019-09-27T09:34:51Z")
I’ve got to enter a claim for a great favourite of mine, “irrespective of person written in” – the twelve, I think it is, _Flashman_ books by George Macdonald Fraser. Their being in the first person, does allow for their special attraction: that the narrator / anti-hero is a totally loathsome human being – but he’s being completely honest in these his “memoirs”: he freely admits his loathsomeness, and recounts in detail the stratagems and thought-processes of his deplorable doings over many decades. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/44 "2019-09-27T10:45:34Z")
Definitely something by Mary Renault, but within that it’s so hard to pick. _Last of the Wine_ has the best lines (“_I had been many - I was one, and to I, myself alone grey-eyed Athene spoke saying ‘I am Justice, whom you have made both a slave and a whore’_”) and _The King Must Die_ is the most famous, but _The Persian Boy_ is the one that really enthralls me. ---
**Author:** ![Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/45 "2019-09-27T14:36:42Z")
**Written on the Body** by Jeanette Winterson A mini synopsis from Google Books: “_The most beguilingly seductive novel to date from the author of The Passion and Sexing the Cherry. Winterson chronicles the consuming affair between the narrator, who is given neither name nor gender, and the beloved, a complex and confused married woman._” An amazing read. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/46 "2019-09-27T15:08:23Z")
**The Wasp Factory** , by Iain Banks. It can be a tough read in places, but it’s worth it, and there’s a lot of the protagonist sharing thoughts and feelings. Even when you’d rather they didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/47 "2019-09-27T15:33:06Z")
Ariel by Stephen Boyette. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/48 "2019-09-27T15:41:43Z")
The Kinsey Millhone series by Sue Grafton (A if for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc). The series, IMHO, suffered somewhat when Grafton diverged from the pure first-person narration starting with S is for Silence. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/49 "2019-09-27T16:39:47Z")
Flowers for Algernon. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/50 "2019-09-27T16:54:55Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I saw it in fourth grade, in class. Terrifying. Ouch. Should NOT show that to little kids, even if Edgar Allan Poe is on the reading list (which he doesn’t seem to be, not since the 1970s anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/51 "2019-09-27T17:28:30Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Definitely something by Mary Renault, but within that it’s so hard to pick. > > _Last of the Wine_ has the best lines (“_I had been many - I was one, and to I, myself alone grey-eyed Athene spoke saying ‘I am Justice, whom you have made both a slave and a whore’_”) and _The King Must Die_ is the most famous, but _The Persian Boy_ is the one that really enthralls me. I agree about Mary Renault, my favourite author. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/52 "2019-09-28T07:44:40Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Definitely something by Mary Renault, but within that it’s so hard to pick. > > _Last of the Wine_ has the best lines (“_I had been many - I was one, and to I, myself alone grey-eyed Athene spoke saying ‘I am Justice, whom you have made both a slave and a whore’_”) and _The King Must Die_ is the most famous, but _The Persian Boy_ is the one that really enthralls me. Last of the Wine has a pretty good opening sentence hasn’t it? - “When I was a young boy, if I was sick or in trouble, or had been beaten at school, I used to remember that on the day I was born my father had wanted to kill me.” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/53 "2019-09-28T13:57:28Z")
Speaking of Stephen King, what about Rita Hayward and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body, two stories in his Different Seasons anthology that were also made into fantastic movies (The Body became Stand By Me). I consider Shawshank to be one of his stories made into one of the best movies of all time. And The Green Mile, story and movie too. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/54 "2019-09-28T13:59:21Z")
_The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_ followed closely by _The Martian_. You can’t beat that opening line. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/55 "2019-09-29T03:00:35Z")
> [@Eclipse\_Chaser](#): > > Last of the Wine has a pretty good opening sentence hasn’t it? - > > “When I was a young boy, if I was sick or in trouble, or had been beaten at school, I used to remember that on the day I was born my father had wanted to kill me.” Yeah, but you cut off before my favourite bit… “You may say this is nothing out of the way, yet I daresay it is less common than you suppose, for as a rule when a father decides to expose a child it is done, and there is an end of it.” Really grabs you by the scruff of the neck and positions you as an Ancient Greek audience member, ready to observe the story from an Ancient Greek point of view ---
**Author:** ![FollowMeDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6a8cbe/32.png) [@FollowMeDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FollowMeDown)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/56 "2019-09-30T11:49:44Z")
Henderson the Rain King, by Saul Bellows > **[Amazon.com: Henderson the Rain King (Penguin Classics): 9780143105480: Bellow,...](https://www.amazon.com/Henderson-Rain-King-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143105485)** > > Amazon.com: Henderson the Rain King (Penguin Classics): 9780143105480: Bellow, Saul, Kirsch, Adam: Books ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/57 "2019-09-30T14:51:37Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > _The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_ followed closely by _The Martian_. You can’t beat that opening line. **KTK** --please forgive me; I momentarily thought we were in the other thread, “Famous works of fiction…which you do not care for”. Clearly you genuinely love _Tristram Shandy_, as many do: I’m afraid its attractions / merit totally elude me; I was about to “concur with you” and say why. This, however, is not the place to do that… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/58 "2019-09-30T15:44:41Z")
Chaim Potok is one of my favorite first person authors. The Chosen and its sequel The Promise; My Name is Asher Lev and its sequel The Gift of Asher Lev are all fine reads. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/59 "2019-09-30T16:14:27Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > **KTK** --please forgive me; I momentarily thought we were in the other thread, “Famous works of fiction…which you do not care for”. Clearly you genuinely love _Tristram Shandy_, as many do: I’m afraid its attractions / merit totally elude me; I was about to “concur with you” and say why. This, however, is not the place to do that… It’s not an easy book to love, I’ll admit. It may not surprise you to learn that my favorite Shakespeare play is _Troilus and Cressida_. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833/60 "2019-09-30T16:33:58Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It’s not an easy book to love, I’ll admit. It may not surprise you to learn that my favorite Shakespeare play is _Troilus and Cressida_. You have the advantage of me there – I know one-and-a-half lines from another play, about the T/C couple; and that’s absolutely all. I certainly realise that _Tristram Shandy_ does have many fans – one of such, was a late uncle of mine (who was not named Toby :)). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-written-in-the-first-person/840833.md?page=4)