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Sometimes, I read a debut novel and feel horrible about myself. Why are some authors so talented? Why can't I be talented?

Here are 10 amazing debut novels that blew my mind and sent my confidence down the toilet. You should read them. They're a good time.

🏅  Best Debut Novels  👀

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Adult Historical Fiction

Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humor the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s.

Why I recommend it: I read this book for the first time when I was thirteen. Thirteen-year-old me was an avid reader of classics, but I mostly stuck to the sci-fi/fantasy/horror classics. I couldn’t get into the realistic ones. This book helped me realize that realistic classics didn’t have to be about stuffy British people who attend a lot of dinner parties. Many of the characters in this book are children, and the author perfectly captures the humor, mysteries, and confusion of growing up in a small town.

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Adult Historical Fiction

1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what would happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realizes that one day he must return to an Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

Why I recommend it: I loved the beginning. It hooked me from the first line. The main characters are friends, but they’re not always good to each other. That makes their relationship fascinating. They behave like realistic children in a difficult situation. Amir is selfish and does something really awful to Hassan. He spends the rest of his life trying to make up for it.

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The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger

Young Adult Fiction

It's Christmas time and Holden Caulfield has just been expelled from yet another school . . .

Fleeing the crooks at Pencey Prep, he pinballs around New York City seeking solace in fleeting encounters—shooting the bull with strangers in dive hotels, wandering alone round Central Park, getting beaten up by pimps and cut down by erstwhile girlfriends. The city is beautiful and terrible, in all its neon loneliness and seedy glamour, its mingled sense of possibility and emptiness. Holden passes through it like a ghost, thinking always of his kid sister Phoebe, the only person who really understands him, and his determination to escape the phonies and find a life of true meaning.

Why I recommend it: I read this book in high school English class and absolutely loathed it. I thought it was 300 pages of some spoiled kid whining about life. Then I reread it for college English class and still thought it was 300 pages of some spoiled kid whining about life, but I also "got" it. I could appreciate the voice and the author's talent for capturing teenage loneliness. I could also see the connections between this book and current young adult novels. It's definitely an influential book.

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Carrie by Stephen King

Adult Horror

Carrie may be picked on by her classmates but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. This is her power and her problem.

To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie—the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues. Until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of terror and destruction that no one will ever forget.

Why I recommend it: I read this book when I was a teenager. As a severely bullied kid, I kind of loved seeing Carrie get revenge. Then I felt disgusted at myself for rooting for Carrie. I guess this book will give you emotions that scar you for life.

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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Adult Literary Fiction

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.

Why I recommend it: It's the most realistic depiction of depression I've seen in a book. It also gives modern readers a peek into how mental illnesses were treated by doctors in the early 1950s. (Spoiler alert: The treatment was not awesome or particularly effective.)

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The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Adult Literary Fiction

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last—inexorably—into evil.

Why I recommend it: I completely believe that these kids would be murderers. They’re used to getting whatever they want in life. If they suddenly decide they want to see Italy, they go to Italy. If they want the most expensive meal on a restaurant menu, they order it. If their friend threatens to put them in jail, they murder him and go on with life. It's a very different lifestyle than I've experienced, which makes it fascinating.

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Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Adult Historical Fiction

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

Why I recommend it: The best word I can use to describe this book is “visceral.” It'll shock you. The novel is description-heavy and subtly suspenseful. You know at the beginning that Agnes will be executed eventually, and you spend the entire book waiting for it to happen. Agnes doesn’t know when she will be killed, so the reader and the character are both dreading the moment when someone shows up at the door to lead Agnes to her death.

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The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Young Adult Fiction

The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers—until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser.

Why I recommend it: This book was forced upon me by my middle school English teacher, and I didn't hate it! Even though the book was first published in the 1960s, I think it'll always be relatable because it's about loyalty, friendship, poverty, and kids attempting to do the right thing.

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Looking For Alaska by John Green

Young Adult Fiction

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe, boring and rather lonely life at home. He leaves for boarding school filled with cautious optimism, to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Why I recommend it: Because of the way the author captures emotion. Even though I can't stand Alaska, I can believe that Miles is infatuated with her. He’s built her up in his mind and made her something greater than she actually is. I think that’s realistic behavior, especially for a teenager who’s never been in love before. I can feel Miles’ awkwardness when he is trying to get Alaska’s attention, and I can feel his grief when he can’t have her. It takes a very talented author to make me feel something while I read. That doesn’t usually happen.

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A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Adult Literary Fiction

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Why I recommend it: Ove is a complicated guy, but his story shows that there are multiple ways to have compassion for others. He doesn’t have close friends, but he can tell what’s happening in his neighbors’ lives based on what kind of cars they buy. Even though he’s not social with his neighbors, he does take care of them in small ways. Sometimes small actions can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

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What's your favorite debut novel?