6. James Franco - Palo Alto
Named after his home town of Palo Alto, California, actor James Franco's first novel is a series of inter-connected short stories that tackle a range of hard-hitting issues, from broken homes and awkward sex to drug experimentation and run-ins with the law. In short, every vice and virtue that governs adolescent hormones. While Franco admits that some of the memories are autobiographical, many are the products of an imagination that seems to take as easily to literature as film. Praised by critics for its clever yet unpretentious prose, it was made into a movie starring - who else? - Franco himself in 2013. Since his first novel's release, Franco has gone on to pen another three, making him one of Hollywood's most prolific part-time writers.