Creating book lists

Earlier this week, a writer friend of mine asked me for some recommendations for a book list for teen girls (I'll post the link when she gets it up on her site). I have to tell you, it totally freaked me out for about 12 hours. Asking a writer to compile a list of favorite books is like asking a computer to figure pi - it just goes on and on and on and on...

When I was growing up, I read everything and I do mean everything: all genres, all writers, all types of stories. Shorts and classics, sci-fi and true crime...seriously, everything. But there was one sort of sub-genre of fiction that I fixated upon briefly when I was about 12 or so: the sad and depressing main character stories.

So herewith are My Favorite Mental Illness Books:

LISA, BRIGHT AND DARK by John NeufeldTHE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath

I NEVER PROMISED YOUR A ROSE GARDEN by Joanne GreenbergONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Ken Kesey

SYBIL by Flora Rheta Schreiber

What does this say about me as a teenager? Only that we all get obsessed with certain things at different times of our lives.

Next: great true crime novels