The First Cut Is the Deepest

on debut books & albums plus music by Toumba and books by Joe Milan Jr. & Deborah Willis

One of my favorite literary websites is Debutiful. Adam Vitcavage, a great fan of debuts, covers only authors’ first books in interviews, video readings, and podcast. I highly recommend it.

Debut novels and albums also fascinate me. I just finished Joe Milan Jr.’s novel The All-American, a book filled with riotous energy from its first page to its last. So many debut novels are aflame with passion.

Music affects me the same way. I almost romantically can remember listening to my favorite first releases, and can relate the specifics as if they were lovers. Blasting the CD of Olivia Tremor Control’s Dusk at Cubist Castle on my way home from the record store in 1996. Listening to the Arcade Fire’s self-titled EP in 2003 while on a morning run interrupted by a thunderstorm. A review copy of Angel Olsen’s debut album on my iPod while walking my dog in Prospect Park in 2012. The list goes on…

Do you have a favorite debut novel? Debut album? I’d love to hear about it.