• The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
• The Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend
• Alice, I Think by Susan Juby
• The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes series by Anne Mazer
• The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
• Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison
• The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
• Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos
• Diary of a Madman by Nikolai Gogol
• Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
• Diary of Tom Riddle by J.K Rowling
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney
• Dinotopia by James Gurney
• Diary of a Seducer by Søren Kierkegaard
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Dracula's Diary by Michael Corby & Michael Geare
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• For Love or Money by Michael J. Ritchie
• From the Files of Madison Finn series by Laura Dower
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (book) by Anita Loos
• A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
• The Little White Bird by J.M.Barrie
• Mémoires d'Hadrien (Memoirs of Hadrian) by Marguerite Yourcenar
• Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph by Frances Sheridan
• Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller
• Pamela by Samuel Richardson
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
• Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
• The Tale of Murasaki by Liza Dalby
• The Turner Diaries, by Andrew MacDonald
• The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Z for Zachariah, by Robert C. O'Brien

Diaries appearing in fiction

• 500 year diary, kept by the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who
• Eustace Clarence Scrubb's diary in Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis
• Tom Riddle's diary in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
• Superman's giant-sized diary kept at his Fortress of Solitude
• The diaries of Cam Triompe in the Elfquest comics (mentioned in the sub-series Fire-Eye and The Rebels)
• The diaries of every sentient being ever to live on the Discworld appear in Mort and other Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
• The character Darren Shan keeps a diary throughout the The Saga of Darren Shan, written by Darren Shan.
• Cathy's Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233 by Sean Stewart & Jordan Weisman.
• Caroline Snow's diary in Low Red Moon by Caitlín R. Kiernan.
• Mrs Dale's Diary in the BBC radio series of the same name.

The Diary of Horace Wimp by Electric Light Orchestra.

The Grail Diary kept by Dr. Henry Walton Jones Sr. in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones. Written by Indiana himself, it chronicles approximately 57 or 58 years of his life including all of his adventures.

Hoaxes

• Hitler Diaries by Konrad Kujau (1983)
• Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (1971)
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind by Chuck Barris (2002)
• The Education of Little Tree by Asa Earl Carter (1977)
• A Rock and a Hard Place by Anthony Godby Johnson (1993)
• My Own Sweet Time by "Wanda Koolmatrie," really Leon Carmen (1994)
• Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood 1939-1948 by "Binjamin Wilkomirski" really Bruno Grosjean (1995)
• A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (2003)

Disputed

• Various works edited by Beatrice Sparks (author of Go Ask Alice) including:
• Jay's Journal (1979)
• It Happened to Nancy: By an Anonymous Teenager (1994)
• Almost Lost: The True Story of an Anonymous Teenager's Life on the Streets (1996)
• It's My Candle: By an Anonymous Teenager - A True Story from His Diary (1996)
• Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, A Pregnant Teenager (1998)
• Treacherous Love: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (2000)
• Kim: Empty Inside: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager (2002)
• Finding Katie : The Diary of Anonymous, A Teenager in Foster Care (2005)