TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten books for your debut-loving book club

(Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish!)

I'm not part of an official book club, because I have commitment issues and struggle to read if I'm on a schedule. Oops.
If I was better at those things, I'd want to be part of a group that celebrates debuts. Reading someone's first novel is a great way to a) support them, and b) discover your new favourite author.
I think these ten novels would be brilliant to discuss as a book club:

10) 'Under Rose-Tainted Skies' by Louise Gornall

Louise Gornall's debut tells the story of a sufferer of agoraphobia, and while I haven't read it yet it's such an unusual subject to be dealt with in YA that I can't wait to see what it's like. Drawing attention to lesser-known issues is a brilliant thing, and in a book club setting it would be educating a selection of people who can then pass that information along.

9) 'The Rosie Project' by Graeme Simsion

I LOVE 'The Rosie Project' and its sequel, 'The Rosie Effect'. While dealing with serious topics, Graeme Simsion writes such humorous characters that you can't help laughing out loud even while you're inwardly cringing. 

8) 'Seed' by Lisa Heathfield

I haven't read 'Seed' yet, but if 'Paper Butterflies' is anything to go buy then it'll be filled with topics that will ignite debate. If enough group members like it, they'll probably want to read Lisa's second novel anyway!

7) 'Everything Everything' by Nicola Yoon

Just like Lisa Heathfield, Nicola Yoon's debut novel took the book world by storm and has quickly become popular amongst teenagers and young adults. With the illustrations and the quirkily fast writing style, it won't take long for the members of the book club to fly through this. 

6) 'Dear Daughter' by Elizabeth Little

Because people who attend book clubs normally have a wide variety of tastes, so I wanted to put a thriller on this list - just not Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins!

5) 'This Is Where It Ends' by Marieke Nijkamp

'This Is Where It Ends' was the first book I finished in 2016, and it's still haunting me. There's so much to talk about in this one, and you could link it to other books focusing on school shootings, such as 'Say Something' by Jennifer Brown and 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' by Lionel Shriver.

4) 'Ready Player One' by Ernest Cline

Purely because I love this book so much that I already want to read it again, and a book club would be the perfect excuse to do that. It's also being made into a film - book club cinema trip!

3) 'Our Chemical Hearts' by Krystal Sutherland

When I reviewed 'Our Chemical Hearts' I called it a problematic fave, and that's feeling truer as time passes. I've read a lot of reviews and it saddens me that disabled people are feeling alienated by the character of Grace. This is the perfect topic for a book club filled with varied people from different backgrounds to discuss.

2) 'The Girls' by Emma Cline

I haven't had a chance to read 'The Girls' yet, because the reservation list at the library is ridiculously long. It's making waves, and I can imagine it's been made so popular because there's a lot to talk about.

1) 'Looking For Alaska' by John Green

'Looking For Alaska' is controversial. The teenagers are portrayed in an unapologetic yet highly realistic fashion, and there's a lot of opportunity for discussion about the youth of today and their attitudes to sex, drugs, alcohol and death.

I hope you enjoyed this Top Ten Tuesday! I'm very tempted to start this as a Goodreads book club, because I've got so many more ideas for titles ('Beautiful Broken Things' by the unbeatable Sarah Barnard, 'Solitaire' by Alice Oseman and 'Panther' by David Owen all ones I'd particularly like to discuss).

If I made this book group, would you be interested in being a member?