Category: Everything Else

Why I Love Debut Authors

I LOVE DEBUT AUTHORS!!

In fact if I had to choose between only reading debut novels for the rest of my life, or eliminating them completely, I would choose the former.

I know that most of you think I’m mad. In the last few weeks I have seen several tweets/comments knocking debut authors and even a post revealing a cautious attitude to them. I thought it was time for me to explain my passion for them and try to get you to embrace debuts as much as I do.

Take a look at the following list:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Sense & Sensibilty by Jane Austen
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Apart from being classics loved by millions of people across the globe, they are also all debut novels. You may not enjoy all of the books on the list (I certainly don’t!), but you can’t dispute the quality.

The thing about debut novels is that they tend to reflect whatever the author is particularly passionate about – authors put their whole being into that book, unsure as to whether or not they will ever write another.

It is also increasingly hard for authors to get their work published. That means any debut snapped up by an agent must really stand out from the crowd. I find that established authors can get away with printing fairly average books, but unknown authors have to produce something really special to even have a chance of seeing it on the shelves.

Many people noticed that my list of the best debut books of 2011 was much more appealing than the list of books written by established authors and I think this proves my argument – debuts are far more interesting and emotionally powerful than second or third novels.

Which is your favourite debut novel?

Do you think you can spot the difference between a debut novel and one from an established author?

In case you were wondering – all the books pictured in this post are debuts too.

Other

Links I Like

Town check out all the books from its library in an effort to avoid closure.

This essay on why Chinese mothers are superior seems to have started the largest Internet debate this week.

People got almost as heated about the number of spaces at the end of a sentence.

The difficulty of writing novels set in the Internet age.

Neil Gaiman is to star in the Simpsons.

Harper Collins release enhanced ebooks for The Chronicles of Narnia series:

Stieg Larsson was the top European writer in 2010.

The judges for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize have been announced.

Book scanning device adds fuel to copyright debate.

The BBC are going to adapt Sarah Water’s book, The Night Watch, for TV.

For those in the UK

The deadline to become a World Book Night giver has been extended.

Save Our Libraries From Cuts and Closures!

Listen to Amanda Ross talk about the TV Book Club. Don’t forget that the new series starts tonight!

Have a wonderful week!

Other

Read or Reject? #1

My New Year’s Resolution is to give up on books that aren’t outstanding. I don’t want to miss out on a gem that happens to have a poor beginning, so I hope that you can help me sort the wheat from the chaff.

Should I continue reading any of these books?

South Riding by Winifred Holtby

I love BBC adaptations of books, but prefer to have read the book before I watch them on TV. When I discovered that South Riding would be the next book to receive the period drama makeover I decided to give it a try.

South Riding is a snapshot of an English community after the First World War. We see the relationships between the villagers and the little things they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. It was easy to read and “charming”…… aaarrrgghhhh….. *runs away*. I actually read about 250 pages of this book before deciding it wasn’t for me. I’m looking forward to watching the BBC adaptation, but I prefer my books to have a darker element and a stronger narrative drive.

You’ll have to do a lot to convince me to read the last half of this one!

The News Where You Are by Catherine O’Flynn

The News Where You Are is the first real casualty of my New Year’s Resolution. I suspect that if I’d have finished this book I’d have given it 3.5 stars. I loved What Was Lost and was hoping that this one would be even better, but unfortunately it didn’t deliver.

Catherine O’Flynn has a special talent for writing modern dialogue – she makes it seem so realistic. I loved the first few chapters of this book – the characters came alive on the page and were both amusing and insightful. We get to meet a regional new presenter and learn a bit about some of the seemingly mundane stories he broadcasts. Unfortunately the plot didn’t seem to go anywhere and I found it increasingly difficult to motivate myself to continue reading. I gave up after about 100 pages.

Am I missing out on some amazing plot twists?

The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

I started reading this book last Summer. I can’t remember anything being particularly wrong with it; all I know is that other books kept calling to me more loudly and so this one accidentally fell by the wayside. My book mark is only in page 27 so I didn’t give it much of a chance, but I’m not sure it is for me.

Should I start it again?

Was I wrong to give up on any of these books?

Is there magic lurking in the final pages?

Tags Read or Reject?

Other Richard and Judy Book Club TV Book Club

The Spring 2011 Richard and Judy Book Club Titles Revealed

Post author By Jackie
Post date January 5, 2011
54 Comments on The Spring 2011 Richard and Judy Book Club Titles Revealed

I wasn’t a big fan of Richard and Judy’s Winter reads, but they have just revealed their Spring collection and the selection looks much more promising.

The books are:

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Hothouse Flower by Lucinda Riley

This Perfect World by Suzanne Bugler

Room by Emma Donoghue

You’re Next by Gregg Hurwitz

Trespass by Rose Tremain

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

The Blasphemer by by Nigel Farndale

I have read three of the selection:

Room by Emma Donoghue

My favourite read in 2010. I’m delighted to see it selected, but think it is a shame that The TV Book Club and Richard and Judy have chosen to highlight the same book.

The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale

I loved this book and am very happy to see it reach a wider audience. It is a fantastic book club choice as there is a lot to discuss. It also contains some of the best war scenes I have ever read. I highly recommend it.

Trespass by Rose Tremain

I have loved Rose Tremain in the past, but this isn’t her best book. It is quite slow and thoughtful so don’t get it if you like your reads to be fast paced.

I have heard wonderful things about Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and The Postmistress, but I’m not sure they are for me. I worry that the word “charming” is used to describe Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand and I wonder if I’ve read too many war stories for The Postmistress to stand out. I haven”t heard of the other books on the list, but look forward to seeing what others make of them.

What do you think of the selection?

Do you think that I’d enjoy any of the other books on the list?

Blogging Other

My New Year’s Resolution #2: Only Read Fantastic Fiction

Post author By Jackie
Post date January 3, 2011
100 Comments on My New Year’s Resolution #2: Only Read Fantastic Fiction

I have come to the conclusion that life is too short to read anything that isn’t amazing. Last year I spent far too much time reading things that were OK, but nothing special. I was sucked into completing entire prize lists, despite not falling in love with the books on them.

I’m making big changes on this blog

This year I’m going to make a big effort to abandon any book that doesn’t excite me. I hope that this blog will have no books rated 3.5 stars or less from now on. I also hope that I’ll be able to give up on books far sooner than previously. My experiments over Christmas have shown that I find this really hard, but I find the 80 – 100 pages I have given books in the past far too long. In my heart I normally know a book isn’t for me after just a few pages.

I am aware that some books take a while to get into and I would hate to miss out on a fantastic book with a slow start – so I am going to launch a new feature on my blog:

Read or Reject?

Once or twice a month I will write mini reviews for all the books I have abandoned, explaining exactly why I did so. If you have read and loved any of the books mentioned then I hope you will be able to prevent me from missing out on a gem, or at least let me know if the book is likely to change in style towards the end.

I’m hoping that this change in approach will mean I can quickly work through my massive TBR pile, allowing me to reject anything that is failing to entertain me whilst highlighting all the wonderful books that are out there.

I was particularly struck by a comment made by Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog on her end of year summary

I said “yes” to everything I was genuinely interested in reading. And since one can only tell so much about a book from a canned email pitch, I organized my galley shelves according to month of publication and did the actual deciding in the comfort of my living room, where I could pick up the books, flip through them, read a few pages or a few chapters, and make a more informed (and, ahem, deliberate) choice about what to read next.

And HOO BOY, it was amazing!

I’m not planning to do exactly the same as Rebecca, but her basic principle really interested me.

I hope that this will help me to work through my massive stack of books, the majority of which were bought for the wrong reason (because they were cheap!) and only complete the best of the bunch.

How will this affect my prize list reading?

I still plan to try all the books on the prize lists, but I’m not going to force myself to finish any that aren’t to my taste. I was interested to see how insightfully Gav from Next Read was able to review the Booker short list just by reading the first chapter of each book and I hope I can do a similar thing.

I hope that my blog will become a much more positive place to be. I will end up completing far fewer books this year, but you will know that the ones I do are special.

This is the hardest resolution I have ever made. I find it really hard to abandon books, but I need to be strict with myself or I will never find the time to read the ones that are already on my wishlist.

What do you think?

How many pages of a book do you think you need to read to know you’ll enjoy the book?

Other

My New Year’s Resolution #1: Buy More Books

Post author By Jackie
Post date January 2, 2011
54 Comments on My New Year’s Resolution #1: Buy More Books

Buying more books might seem like a really silly resolution (especially given the number of books I already own!) but I have decided that I want 2011 to be my most enjoyable reading year ever. I want to read the best books, not just the ones that happen to be in my library or available as a three-for-two offer in the big book shops. All too often I have read about a book which sounds fantastic, added it to my wishlist and then hoped I’d happen to stumble across it at some point. In reality this rarely happens. Often these books come from small publishers. This means they are unlikely to even turn up in a book shop, let alone become part of a special offer. I want to read the best books and would prefer to pay a bit more for a fantastic read than waste my money on an average one.

I also love the fact that these books are less well known. I want to highlight fantastic literature that you don’t necessarily know about, not just the ones you already do. It is often just a single person raving about an individual book and if someone is getting excited about something then I think it is worth risking a little bit of money instead of letting a wonderful book slip further into obscurity.

Top of my purchase list are these books: