Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday - Debut Books

It's been a while since I participated in a Top Ten Tuesday. I'm super excited to be back with this awesome topic!


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists over at The Broke and the Bookish. I'm sure they'd love to share your lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten list.
Today's Topic is
Top Ten Debut novels


1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone - JK Rowling - Alright, I've been babbling a lot about Harry Potter lately, but I don't care, SS is a masterful work, and sets up the entire series. I'm still impressed that little things from here come up, even in Deathly Hallows. Good work, Jo.

2. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - I loved Catcher in the Rye when I read it, and I feel like it sets the tone for all of Salinger's Career. I'm actually more interested in his short stories, and all of the Glass Family works, but Catcher in the Rye was my first experience with Salinger, as well as his first work. Also, we're still talking about both this book, and the man after his death, and more importantly, 50 years after he stopped publishing anything he wrote.

3. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer - Few books have caused such a guttural response in me, but this is definitely one. For me, it was at once funny and heartbreaking. One of my favorite books of all time and Foer's debut.

4. The 13th Tale - Diane Setterfield - You know that feeling you get when you finish a book and you can't wait to read more by that author? That's exactly how I felt upon completing The 13th Tale. Only, in this case I was distraught (i'm being a big dramatic) to find that Setterfield hadn't written anything else. A truely strong, and haunting debut that I hope to see on other lists today.

5. The Virgin Blue - Tracy Chevalier - While Chevalier is better known for Girl With a Pearl Earring, and her latest novel - Remarkable Creatures, The Virgin Blue is no less a treasure. Set between modern day France, and the 16th century (I think, don't get mad if i'm 100 years off) it is a tale of strong woman, family trees and a beautiful color blue. My copy of the Virgin Blue, like all my Chevalier novels, is in tatters from obsessive rereading.

6. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - Any book that can make me feel like I'm going crazy along with the narrator is a-okay in my book.

7. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - I've seen this on so many lists today. I'm always fascinated that Lee never wrote another novel, especially since To Kill a Mockingbird is considered (rightly) such an important book.

8. House of Leaves - Mark Z Danielewski - Love it or hate it, this is a pretty damn impressive book. I was very disappointed with his follow up book, Only Revolutions, but House of Leaves remains a great debut.

9. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - My favorite of all the Bronte's novels, as well as Emily's first and only. If you've never spent any time on harkavagrant.com, check it out, there are some awesome Bronte comics there.

10. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson - This wasn't one of the best books I've read over the past year, but I enjoyed it. More importantly, Larsson gave me a book to talk about with my non-bookish friends.

Wow, that was a lot harder than I expected it to be! Hope everyone stays warm and safe during the impending snowpocalypse!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm reading Everything is Illuminated now and really enjoying it. It's taken me a while to get into the Brod storyline but I loved Alex from the onset.

LiteraryRR said...

The only book I've read of Tracy Chevalier is Remarkable Creatures. I enjoyed it, but probably won't read it again. As a matter of fact, it's one of the books I'm giving away in my Spring Cleaning Giveaway, if you want to come check it out ... =)

Nice list - I've enjoyed quite a few of these myself.

Carol said...

I like Tracy Chavalier - Girl with pearl earring being a favourite.

The Thirteenth Tale is another I enjoyed.
This is coming up on several Top ten debut author lists.

carol

JaneGS said...

I really have enjoyed the several Tracy Chevalier novels I have read, and Virgin Blue has been on my shelf for awhile now...you've inspired me to move it up on my list.

It's interesting how many seminal books are debut novels or even 1 and onlies!

Lark Andrea said...

Great list! To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite book of all time. I also have HP on my list.

Reading Lark's Top 10