Kyle Kerr

Favorite Debut Novels

12/5/07 | Awesome, Books | 0 Comments

I would love to say that my favorite debut novels are mine and all of my friends’ who are writers… but, considering you can’t read those (yet), I’ll go with some books that are actually in print.  In no particular order…

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This book looked intriguing to me; the cover had a bunch of books on it, so it caught my attention, and I knew from the blurb that it was about writing, and writers and books in some way.  But I never bought it.  I would walk by it, stop, pick it up, and ultimately put it back down again.  Yet, one day, I received it in the mail (I’m part of the Literary Guild book club, and they send you books every month), and decided to keep it.  Again, I didn’t read it straight away, but let it sit for a few weeks, always picking it up when it came time to read a new book, and, again, always putting it back down.  You see a pattern?

Well, I finally picked it up.  And let me tell you something… I couldn’t put it back down for the life of me.  There is mention of an enchanted book in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that, once you pick it up, you can never stop reading it.  Well, I’m pretty sure this was the book Ron was talking about.

It’s the story of a woman named Margaret, whose father owns a bookshop and deals in antique and rare books.  She has always associated with this life, and probably gets along better with the fictional characters in her books than people in real life.  She gets a letter from a very famous old writer named Vida Winter (someone on the level of, I don’t know, a mixture of Nora Roberts and JK Rowling… in level of fame and skill, not storylines), who wants Margaret to write her biography.  The story of this woman’s life, I have to admit, is kind of like following Alice down the rabbit hole.  With every new thing Vida tells her, the story gets weirder and crazier, but, at the same time, so very interesting.  A truly amazing first novel; her second one can’t come out soon enough.

Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Okay, this book has been out since July of 1995, but it was still Terry’s debut novel.  This is the first book in his Sword of Truth series, which just ended with its 11th book, Confessor (which debuted at #2 on the NYT bestseller list!), last month.  As you can tell by the title, this is a fantasy series, which is truly a remarkable feat that Terry got on the NYT bestseller list.

This may come as a shock to some of you, but this is actually my favorite fantasy series of all time, NOT Harry Potter.  (I’m just much, MUCH more obsessed with HP… there’s a difference!)

I have to admit that I bought WFR on a whim because I saw a special $2.99 paperback version of the book, and figured it couldn’t hurt.

Richard is a simple woods guide, when he stumbles upon a woman in the woods who is being chased by four men.  He helps her get away, and ends up aiding in killing the four men (who ambush them, so it was self-defense).  Kahlan (pronounces Kay-lin), is in search of the First Wizard from her own land, which is blocked off from Richard’s by a magic boundary (not going to get into how she got through).  Then they go on a perilous journey back through the boundary, almost get killed a million times, and drama, drama, drama.  Richard, Kahlan, and everyone he comes into contact with are all destined for great things, and are powerful and wonderful (in their own ways, good and bad) beyond reason.  SO good, you guys.

Terry’s books are anywhere from 650-1000 pages each, and they are ALL page-turners.  If you are a fantasy fan, or if you are just a fan of unbelievable fiction and superb writing, you should check out this book—and the rest of the series as well!

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

This book got a lot of attention when it came out a few years ago.  Like The Thirteenth Tale, I would walk past it in the bookstores and never buy it.  That is, until I went on a book-buying spree one day (which isn’t as unusual as it sounds… these sprees happen quite often).

Lee Fiora realizes that she doesn’t like the public school she’s going to—she doesn’t fit in—and decides that she is a much better fit at a prep school in Massachusetts (—on a side note, it has taken me 3 years to be able to spell MA in one shot… go me—).  She comes from a lower, middle class family, and is only able to attend the school because she is granted a scholarship, in a place where “money was everywhere on campus, but it was usually invisible.”

Many people want to liken this novel to The Catcher in the Rye, and I can see why they would want to; Lee is an outcast and doesn’t seem to understand the basic norms of socialization (she never hires a prostitute just to talk, but does other, equally as awkward things).  After reading the memoir Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison, it almost seems like Lee has Asperger’s Syndrome, which would make absolute sense.

Diane is able to get teen angst down to a science, and this was a very enjoyable read.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Has anyone not heard of this boy’s story?  Well, in case you haven’t, here it is: He was home schooled and ended up graduating from high school at 15.  Then, having nothing to do, he decided to see if he could write a book.  (What 15-year-old wouldn’t come to the same decision faced with free-time?) So, he plotted out the storyline to what would eventually become the Inheritance Cycle (four books), the first of which was Eragon.  It was first self-published for Christopher by his parents, and they went on a marketing frenzy.  Eventually, it garnered the attention of Random House, who purchased the series for their Knopf imprint.  The rest is kinda history.

This book, honestly, isn’t the most well written in the world, but the ideas and storyline are first class all the way.  Eragon is a poor farm boy who stumbles upon, what he thinks is a precious stone, but actually turns out to be a dragon egg.  It is one of only three left in the world, all others having been exterminated by the evil king.  The egg hatches for him, and Eragon becomes the first Dragon Rider in a century.  Now, he is being hunted by the king and his minions, and must flee to the Varden, a group of rebels fighting to overthrow the king and free the land of Alagaesia.

This was one of those books that leaves you speechless.  And, for all those who have seen the god-awful movie version, it is no comparison to the book (which is better a thousand times over).

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Sounds kind of boring, doesn’t it?  It’s about a historian?  Well, sort of.  This story is actually about vampires, and one very famous one at that (Dracula… what other famous vampires are there?).

Most of the story follows Paul, a young historian, who gets tangled in the mysterious past of one of his professors.  We find out his story as he reveals it to his daughter, who has always been interested in his stories from the past and about her mother, who Paul met on this adventure to find Dracula and his missing professor.  The story is also a romp through an ancient Europe, as the story goes far back in time to when Dracula was born.

I actually had the immense pleasure of meeting Elizabeth.  It turns out that she worked on this book for about ten years (which makes me feel slightly better about my current six years), since she had to do so much research for the book.  Plus, she’s anal, just like me.  This book was amazing, and not what you would think upon hearing about it.  Just like all of my blurbs in this post (and any other post where I talk about books or movies), my description does not do it justice.  Just read it and see for yourself.

Duchess of Nothing by Heather McGowan

So, it’s poll time… who’s heard of this book?  In all likeliness, probably none of you.  I saw this book one day while perusing Barnes & Noble, and I’m usually wont to do.  And there it was, just sitting there, staring at me.  It was actually the cover that caught my attention, because I thought it was a really cute picture (the paperback cover is really ugly, though, by the way).  So, I bought it, and didn’t regret it.  This book is existentialism at its finest, and contains a lot of very dark humor.

The unnamed narrator lives with her boyfriend, Edmund, and Edmund’s 7-year-old younger brother in Rome.  The narrator is never named (hence me saying “unnamed narrator”), and Edmund’s younger brother is lovingly referred to as “Edmund’s brother” throughout the text.  After the first few chapters, Edmund leaves the two of them, and she is forced to look after the boy.  She insists on giving Edmund’s brother an education (of sorts), and brings him around the city teaching him about life (while he looks longingly at a group of school children on a field trip to the zoo).  At times she is very juvenile, and 7-year-old Edmund’s brother acts the adult in the relationship.

Through the course of the novel, you find out about the narrator’s past, and exactly how she became the way she is.  The story is told from the narrator’s point of view, in a very stream-of-consciousness sort of way (with no differentiation between inner monologue, narration, and speech, which is all combined in large paragraphs).  However, as chaotic as it sounds, none of these techniques diminish the book in any way, but only serve to strengthen it.  Really great book and, at only 224 pages, a really fast read.  And believe me, once you start reading, the narrator’s voice will suck you in so fast you won’t believe you’re reading anything, but having the thoughts yourself.



I hope you enjoyed reading about my favorite debut novels.  Do me a favor and check some of them out, and let me know how you like them!  Each of the novel titles is conveniently linked to their respective pages on Amazon.com, so what are you waiting for?!

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr