Today’s TTT is our favorite debuts by authors. I’m going to mix them up between new finds and old friends.
‘Why did you disappear, Teresa?’ She gave him an anguished look.
‘My country was suffering. To the Basques there is such a thing as honour.’
‘To the British,’ Kelly said, ‘there’s such a thing as love. I was on the point of asking you to marry me.’ (Back to Battle, Max Hennessey)
In the Forests of the Night, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Atwater-Rhodes wrote this when she was thirteen and it was my introduction to urban fantasy. Her version of vampires enthralled me. I can’t remember if this is the book that introduced me to Blake’s poem — the first I ever memorized — or an X-Files novel that also referenced it. (Some kids have football player posters in their bedrooms. Mine was tigers, lions, cheetahs, and more tigers. Also, some aliens. Oh, and glow-in-the-dark stars.) At any rate, this is one of the few books from middle school I’ve managed to hang on to over the years.
A Man Called Ove, Frederik Backman. Easy contender for this year’s top ten list.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye, Rachel Joyce. And ditto.
Star Trek: Ex Machina, Christopher L. Bennett. Okay, this is one of the few Bennett novels I’ve not read over the years, but it’s CLB so I’ve faith it’s good. The only books of his I haven’t liked are the Department of Temporal Mechanics books.
Sharpe’s Gold, Bernard Cornwell. Bernard Cornwell is second only to Asimov as far as “sheer number of his books I’ve read” on this blog, and considering that Asimov is dead and no longer writing, Cornwell is bound to catch up.
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. It’s been years since I read this book, but phrases like “For you, a thousand times over!” still ring in my head.
The Awakening of Miss Prim, Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera. A cozy philosophical romance with a dash of GK Chesterton.
The Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani. I won this in a context nearly two decades ago, and this story of a Persian woman who learns to craft carpets fascinated me. Unfortunately Amirrezvani has only written one other novel besides this, Equal of the Sun, about a Persian princess who begins ruling her father’s stead and then had to confront a coup.
Pebble in the Sky, Isaac Asimov. The first book in his Empire series, which was later connected to both his Robots and Foundation books.
The Martian, Andy Weir. This book had no right being so funny & scientifically sharp.
Also, today is the 13th anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s death, so here’s some Amy, Amy, Amy! for you.
Reading Freely 
Love Ove, Prim, Kite Runner and AW, the video does not show for me in the States but I have her in many playlists!
She was an amazing artist. Glad to encounter someone else who’s read Prim!
was The Martian his debut novel, really!? Wow, I think today’s list is my favorite topic in all the years of TTT haha this is so interesting! Thanks for checking out my post too ~ OneReadingNurse
I really should read A Man Called Ove sometime.
Thanks for stopping by earlier.
Lydia
Such a great and varied list! I love man called ove, martian and kite runner!
I love The Kite Runner as well, but A Thousand Splendid Suns just a little bit more 😀
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2024/07/23/top-ten-tuesday-introductions-to-authors-i-enjoyed/
I haven’t yet read A Man Called Ove, but I have read other books by Backman. He’s one of my favorite authors now and I love forward to reading all his books. Same with Andy Weir. I’ve read Artemis but not The Martian. I did love the movie, though. 😀 Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Artemis was fun, though Jaz’s voice is very similar to Mark Watkins’. His Project Artemis is more different!
I loved the Martian way more than I was expecting to! & I really gotta read A Man Called Ove, I’m convinced I’ll love it since I loved Anxious People.
I was going to say “Hey, I thought you were gone all month”, but then I realized most of the month’s gone. XD Hope things went/are going well!
Ahah surprise! 😁😆I know, the month kind of flew by and yes things went well thanks !! 🙂 Hope you’re well too.
OM goodness! I’m just finishing this: The Awakening of Miss Prim, Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera. A cozy philosophical romance with a dash of GK Chesterton
Amazing book! I also liked Ove and Harold Frye
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Review soon.
The only one of these that I’ve read is The Kite Runner but it was definitely a strong, emotive read. After seeing A Thousand Splendid Suns mentioned a couple of times recently I really want go try and check that our sometime too by the author.
I’ve also seen the adaptation of Ove and loved it. I can’t quite believe the tone that was captured for such a difficult subject. I definitely want to check something by the author out sometime. I’m probably going to start with Beartown.
I read quite a few of your books, didn’t care much for the first two on your list but loved The Kite Runner and The Martian.
Thanks for visiting my TTT about Debut novels:
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2024/07/top-ten-tuesday-debut-novels.html
Thanks for the reminder that I need to read more of the Sharpe books. ☺️
There’s a new one coming out in October!
The Martian really was great! I thought about including it on my list, it really left an impression.
A Man Called Ove and The Martian have been popular picks this week – and for good reason! They are two of my all time favourites!
I’d love to read The Awakening of Miss Prim one of these days.
A Man Called Ove made my list too. I love all of Backman’s books.