Just in time for Father's Day! If you need to be reminded that your childhood wasn't actually all that bad, AbeBooks offers the most depressing summer reading list ever:
"In many ways, our childhood defines the rest of our life. Books about childhoods shattered by pain and suffering – both fiction and non–fiction – are commonplace today but they have a long history dating back to the English tale of the Babes in the Wood in the 16th century. Some like Oliver Twist and Anne Frank's Diary illustrate a period of history, while others, such as Lord of the Flies and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, have become deeply symbolic."
The list includes everything from classic genre fiction like Flowers in the Attic to big bucks contemporary memoirs like A Long Way Gone and Running With Scissors, my personal favorite being Ham on Rye, Charles Bukowski's strangely wonderful roman a clef of ass-kickings and acne. Great book. Check it out.
