Lately, as I was browsing Borders down in Glendale, California, I've been drawn to a specific type of book, though the genre of these books I can't name because I have no idea what genre they belong to. You might think my request is a bit odd... But I assure you... I am totally and completely sane

These books I look for include this, but are not limited to this small list:

- Utopia
- Anarchy
- Vampire Romance (courtesy of my girlfriend... -.-)
- Sci-Fi-ish vampire/evil being (NOT ZOMBIE AND NOT EXTREME HORROR) worlds...
- A boy (or girl) whose lived a really rough life, and been brought into the bad side of things. (Mafia, cults, etc)
- Or just books in general dealing with a "hard knock life" type deal. Like that one book "The Outsiders" (That was a really good book...)
- The "hardcore" but "cool" kids... The one's who dress like goths and punks, but they're actually awesome people and help others out, and they're creative, etc. (A book about their life?)




Now, before we get confused, I'm not looking for books ABOUT these things... I'm not looking for the mein kampf or some person's ideals on how to wage anarchist war. I'm looking for books about a person who lives in a world such as the ones said above. People who have lived their lives in hard times, with adventure, excitement, daring, cunning, you name it.

Also, there are no restrictions on the contents within these books. If you believe it to be for "mature" audiences... Well, I'm old enough, and I've read things with that in it before. I've proven that I'm mature enough for such things by not being corrupted by them

Any help deserves much thanks, and so, receives it

There are some books i know of that match with some of the later points in your list.
"Go Ask Alice" by an anonymous writer is the diary of a young teenager who gets addicted to some drug and dies. Primary document sort of thing, though I've never read it so i don't really know if it's all that great.
"A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey is also a pretty good book, though it's listed as a memoir and was given some attention when the author admitted that the memoir was embellished (and publicly on Oprah! oh my!). I like how this one was written; you might enjoy it.
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini is also a story about a crappy life with a bittersweet ending. Also very well written.
"The Twilight Saga" by Stephanie Meyer could fit one of your points for the vampire bit, but I don't think it's something that you'd be particularly interested in. You've probably heard of it so there's really no reason to go on about it.
Of course, I would have to suggest to you my favourite book, even though it doesn't really have much to do with your desired criteria but I think that you would still really enjoy how it was written. "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer is amazingly written, even though the subject matter itself isn't particularly interesting to me personally.
Another one for the whole dark world scene is "Queen of the Damned"... i can't remember who wrote that one but it's a classic so you should be able to find it with just the title. Also, the originial "Frankenstein" might be appealing to you, though the language isn't particularly modern.

As for memoir of people who have suffered and gotten through, my greatest suggestion is "A Million Little Pieces". Or, depending on your age, you might also enjoy "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky (it might have been Peter Chbosky lol, I always forget >.<)

Hope that helped

as far as vampires go, anne rice all the way.

Anne Rice isn't really a vampire "romance" writer though.

Try Colleen Gleason (sp?) she's pretty good.

Perks of Being a Wallflower really isn't that bad of a book. Another book you might be interested in is Everything Changes by Johnathon Tropper. It's my favorite book probably.

Are you aware that James Frey was a lying fraud?

Lying fraud or not that doesn't make his work less enjoyable. It makes it less credable, thats for sure, but if it's a good fiction read, then it's a good fiction read.

Another good author to check out for vampires with a twist of romance is Laurell K. Hamilton.

The fact that he tried to pass it off as his own true story makes him less of an author in my eyes. Too many people really have been in the situation he pretended to understand, and I find it cruel that he betrayed the trust of so many.
I do agree that it doesn't make his writing better or worse, it just makes the reading of it less than enjoyable for me.

Yes I know that his memoir was greatly embellished, but I still think it was well written. I don't often read a book simply to like the author; the story itself was good, be it fiction or embellished history.

Plus, I commend him for still writing, even though many people are really disappointed in him for what he did with "A Million Little Pieces". A lot of people have boycotted his work and I don't think that's really fair.