And I gotta be contrarian

Though this is a novel, and by no means a literal biography; and though it could be a better book even taking that into account...

Still She Haunts Me by Katie Roiphe

A novelized story of the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, the author and the muse of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Though it is an interpretation of things of which history shall forever remain silent, it is also probably the best thing out there that even attempts to portrait the mind and heart of a historical pedophile without either denying his attraction outright or portraying the attraction as evil incarnate. And even has enough time to play the mental insecurity that we all pedos have sometime in our relations with a little girl - it is always stressful that we can't always say everything we feel, and Roiphe does get that.

I wouldn't give this book to any 17yo out there. But I certainly would give it to one who is already aware of his own pedophilia. He probably has never lived anything like that. Maybe even he never will. But just in case he does, he'll remember that many others have been there.