Good books written in first person present tense

I'm writing a visual novel and the standard for visual novels seems to be first person present tense, but I haven't read much of it. Do you guys have any recommendations of books which use first person present tense really effectively?

 

Michael Frayn's (Booker shortlisted) Headlong.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571225586/?tag=writingfor07a-20

You can use the 'look inside' feature to get a good sample of his method and style.

 

Thank you! I'll check that out.

 

JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte. It's Gothic and really good and I think it has the vibe you're going for.

 

Jane Eyre isn't in present tense and isn't a visual novel, so this is an interesting recommendation.

The Hunger Games trilogy is first-person present-tense.

 

I was wondering. I never got around to reading it, but it didn't seem likely.

 

You mean “I am wondering”

 

First person present tense is super common in YA, so I could throw some YA recs at you. But I'm wondering why you aren't just reading more visual novels?

 

It's a slow start (typical Victorian novel) but well worth it. One of my favourite classics.

 

I'm fairly certain that Fight Club and American Psycho both use first person present tense (mostly) and I think they use it very effectively for the stories being told.

 

I think the Odd Thomas series from Dean Koontz was pretty well done. It's not a visual novel, of course, but I think it is first person present.

 

I quibble: A quick look in Amazon's "Look inside!" for the first one suggests that they're first person past, but it's a recent past for the narrator, so he occasionally describes his reality in the present tense.

 

That may have been a bit of backstory, it’s a standard ‘as it happens-this leads to that-hero’s journey’ story line.

 

Oops! Never mind. I already mentioned it.

 

My book is from the playbook of not being a good example.