The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

25.2 - Stephanie Anne's Task - Fabulous firsts or superior seconds?
The debut novel and the second published novel often garner much attention by critics, particularly for authors who gain a great deal of notoriety for their first books. Now you be the critic. Choose an author and read his/her first and second books published. When you post your completed task, state which book you preferred and why.

What a lovely re-do! Gonna put that Costa book on my TBR b/c it still looked really good!

Here's a wikipedia list of debut novels!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category...

2009 YA Debut Novels:
http://www.booklistonline.com/default...

Best Debut Fiction NPR List:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

Goodreads Debut Novel List:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/62...

Don't let the lists above fool you entirely. You MIGHT want to still do research.

For example, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is NOT Mr. Bradley's first book! It's the first in the series but he's done other works. Check out his website's bio -- http://www.flaviadeluce.com/view-auth...

Thanks! What a fun task this turned into!!!

Thanks Stephanie! Do you happen to know if the First Book theme in the Bookmarks magazine archive search is a reliable source for debuts?

So we can read ANY author's first book and second book?

Yup, Jayme! That's how I took the task!

okay :)

Just to clarify - when this says "first book" does that mean first novel, first adult novel, or literally first book?

I was looking at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which I've been meaning to read - that appears to be his first adult novel, but it looks like he wrote children's books and academic books before that.

Thanks!

Hmmm... now just trying to decide between reading Wise Blood and A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor or
At Swim-Two-Birds and The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story About the Hard Life by Flann O'Brien.

Yay, thanks so much, Stephanie Anne! I was planning on starting Wise Blood this week, not knowing where it would fit, and now it has a spot! :D AND I get to read A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories. :D

Thank you! This sounds like a great task now! I can't wait to see how everyone compares the two books and whether first or second books are better..

Hmmm...I was sort of interested in the books I originally chose and my library had them, but I think I may change now!!! YAY!

Sandy, I took it as first book ever regardless of genre or I'd do Sweetness :(

Love it!!

Just FYI, the first and second Agatha Christie novels are The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Secret Adversary (which is a Tommy and Tuppence!)

Dlmrose wrote: "Thanks Stephanie! Do you happen to know if the First Book theme in the Bookmarks magazine archive search is a reliable source for debuts?"

Stephanie and I co-moderate the Bookmark Subscribers group here on Goodreads. I've always found their thematic archives to be very reliable. I tried to use the Power Browser on their new website today for the First Book theme and I can't get the power browser to work. This has been one of my main sources in the past for helping me to find books for some of the seasonal tasks. Have you had any trouble using the power browser?

I think I just made an AWESOME discovery for myself. But only if we are allowed to read writers we have read before. If so, I can read:

Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices and Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult because I have yet to read all of her books and never read the first two. I AM GIDDY (if it is allowed, of course!)

Lisa wrote: "Dlmrose wrote: "Thanks Stephanie! Do you happen to know if the First Book theme in the Bookmarks magazine archive search is a reliable source for debuts?"

Stephanie and I co-moderate the Bookmark ..."

Thanks Lisa! I have not quite figured out the new site, but I was able to get to the themes via an individual book's profile. I keep my stack of past issues to find books for many of these tasks and your group to gather suggestions. I'm working my way through the Best Books of 2009 list now. Thanks!!

Nicole wrote: "I think I just made an AWESOME discovery for myself. But only if we are allowed to read writers we have read before. If so, I can read:

[book:Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices|..."
Ohhhh. . . I hadn't even thought of her!

First, thank you to everyone who posted kind comments about the task change. If you already completed the previous task or are in the middle of it, that is also fine.

I don't care what genre the books are, just make sure you are reading the FIRST book published and the SECOND book published by the SAME AUTHOR. It might even help to post the years the books were published in. So yes, you might still need to do a little research to figure out a pairing that works.

Second, thank you Lisa for answering the question! I hadn't been on the computer all day, so I appreciate it greatly. March Madness puts my reading switch to SLOW and my alma mater, Ohio University, is playing tonight! Go BOBCATS!

Stephanie wrote: "First, thank you to everyone who posted kind comments about the task change. If you already completed the previous task or are in the middle of it, that is also fine.

I don't care what genre the ..."

Congrats on a major upset - I have a #14 team playing tonite too. It's probably too much to ask to have 2 #14s win in one day!

Stephanie wrote: "First, thank you to everyone who posted kind comments about the task change. If you already completed the previous task or are in the middle of it, that is also fine.

I don't care what genre the ..."

Yeah Bobcats - they just won!!!

I just started In the Woods for another task but I think I'm going to switch it to this one since I also already own her 2nd book. Yay!

Stephanie wrote: "First, thank you to everyone who posted kind comments about the task change. If you already completed the previous task or are in the middle of it, that is also fine.

I don't care what genre the ..."

So it IS fine if you have read the author before? And it's okay if they are well established at this point?

I was just wondering if one could also use the first two books within a series published by the author (they were the author's first publications, of course), because I'm planning to re-read the Harry Potter books and have the first two of them lying around in french.

in french??

Would Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte work?

Jayme wrote: "in french??"

Yes, in French. I've read (rather: heard) the books several times in German (my Mom has the audiobooks, unabridged) and even more often in English (again, long live the audiobooks). So this time I decided to have a go at the French translation, mostly to keep my language skills going now that I don't have lessons in French anymore and are otherwise missing incentives to do much for it, especially when I've much to do at university.

Stephanie If we can get the Costa books is it still ok to use them?? Thanks for your help

Helen wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "First, thank you to everyone who posted kind comments about the task change. If you already completed the previous task or are in the middle of it, that is also fine.

I don't..."

ahem. as a Georgetown alum and season ticket holder, I have to say I no longer have the problem of March Madness sucking up my time. so there. :-P Thanks for giving me all my reading time back Stephanie. *grumble grumble grumble*

Cheryl wrote: "Stephanie If we can get the Costa books is it still ok to use them?? Thanks for your help"

I wouldn't see why not. It's any author's first and second book.

I'm just getting to this task... when I printed the tasks out a few days ago it said we were choosing books from The Costa Book Awards... just to be clear, did that change? Now we can choose any author and read their first and second books?

That is correct Coconut, you can either read books from the Costa book awards or chose any author and read their first and second books.

Any recommendations? I'm stumped on who to choose.

Who are your favorite authors Tanja?

Jayme wrote: "That is correct Coconut, you can either read books from the Costa book awards or chose any author and read their first and second books."

Thanks for the clarification. :)

Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton. But I'm not interested in hunting for their first books (some hard to find in libraries or stores).

I'm open to others actually. Even YA authors.

Tanja,

These are a few ideas, which I have been considering:

and by Gillian Flynn

and by Muriel Barbery

and by Jennifer Haigh

and by Laura Lippman

and by Kathy Reichs

Lisa, you should try the two Barbery books! They're really good. Gourmet enchanted me with its ability to describe food. I never thought food COULD be described like that. And I may have to re-read Elegance when I've read more philosophies and Anna Karenina :)

I'm putting Kathy Reichs on my TBR. Unfortunately, I'm avoiding any "dark" material for the next few weeks.

Nicole wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "First, thank you to everyone who posted kind comments about the task change. If you already completed the previous task or are in the middle of it, that is also fine.

I don't c..."

Absolutely! Just make sure you are going back to the first and second book by the author.

Isabell wrote: "I was just wondering if one could also use the first two books within a series published by the author (they were the author's first publications, of course), because I'm planning to re-read the Ha..."

This is fine.

Jennifer N. wrote: "Would Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte work?"

Yep!

Costa books (or Whitbread) are still okay since they are first books. They just happen to be first books that won awards. If you are sticking with one of the winners, make sure you find the second book published by that author. Wikipedia is a great resource if you want to go this route.

I have heard a lot about Gillian Flynn. I listen to Books on the Nightstand podcast and they are always talking about her. I am STILL not sure which two books I am going to read. After conquering the winter challenge, I have really slowed down for the spring challenge...I am working my way through all of the "best of 2009" reading lists for my website, so I need to see where I can fit those into the challenge.

I hope everyone is having fun with this task and I would love to hear what you are planning on reading!

YAY! With the change to this task, I can read the first two books in the Parasol Protectorate series, Soulless and Changeless. I've been wanting to since I heard of them! I am still going to check out the Costa List of winners for future additions to my TBR list, though! :D

I have no idea what I am going to do with this challenge.

Some favorite authors are listed on my profile but I also love the genre of mystery, crime, romance (without exotic).

I am going to try to look at Lurlene McDaniel now.

Could we read one book that is behind the other book. For example one published in 1999 and another in 2000 or one published in 1999 and the other published in 2001? The reason I am asking is because my library doesn't carry all the books.

I'm planning on reading Killing Floor and Die Trying by Lee Child - according to Fantastic Fiction, they are his first two novels.