Diary as Inspiration
I've read all of Palahniuk's books and I consider him to be one of the best writers of all time. If he isn't the bastard love child of Vonnegut, I don't know who is. I would allow several of my limbs to be chopped off, if I could have his talent.
That said, imo Diary was his best book ever. Rant comes close, but Diary was overwhelming in its beauty and layers of meaning. This book inspired me to write a piece of flash fiction centered around the line 'There are a thousand ways to kill yourself without dying dying' (sorry, that was from memory, I don't think it's an exact quote).
Diary, and Chuck, are also inspirations for my current WIP novel.
I'm not sure why more people haven't read it. I tell writers about it and they usually haven't heard of it. This is a tragedy. 
I didn't think the point was to inspire people to paint. At least for me, the point was:
1) if you are brave enough to push past your limits, you will suffer
2) life is pain and sometimes that's beautiful
3) mothers-in-law can be a major pain in the ass
it was obiesly about the Iraq war!
Billy I don't disagree with you. The things you mentioned are major themes in the book. The beauty of 'Diary' is that the book appears to be a mirror for the reader. Twenty people could probably read it and each person might disagree with its meaning.
For me, the most significant point was that Misty was killing herself without 'dying dying'. I think I read that line 8 times. How many of us move through life mindlessly, without any sense of what we have lost of our basic nature? This was the heart of the book for me.
The reason I love Chuck's books is because he explores people who have stopped giving a shit. People in mid-snap. This theme runs through all of his work. He explores the ugliest, most basic nature of who we are. It is very rare to find a writer who is willing to be so honest in their writing. Oh, we all think we are doing that, we all aspire to do that, but when pen hits paper we hold back. The only other writer I've ever seen come close to this level of honesty is Saramago. This isn't to say I don't love lots of different authors, or find them talented and entertaining. I've just never found a writer who could dive headfirst into the abyss and come back and tell about it.
The chapter where Peter does the Jung questions to Misty, I do that bit with everyone I meet. It's serious fun and funny. And people generally get a good kick out of it.
You're all I ever wanted and more, live on coffee and flowers
I don't care for Diary at all. I should've bought another book instead.
I want more than them
That's the difference
Eh some people don't like chocolate ice cream. You can't please all the people all the time.
those can all be done negatively, as well.
Diary was the first Palahniuk book I've read and it was after reading it that I had started painting again, even if it only lasted a few days. I hadn't painted in over 7 years at that time, so I could see it as inspirational in this direction. It was a great book and still largely underrated.
her very lifestyle is a sin
"Irina Marina is the blackest person I've never met. She also hates books. She buys them with her drug dealer money just to shoot them full of holes with her drug dealer gun." - labelleza