A view of Boston and the Charles River from the 26th floor of my daughter Maria’s sophomore-year dorm. (Photo by me, taken yesterday.)
My wife Laurel and I were in Boston from Friday to this afternoon moving in our daughter Maria for her second year of college. Not as much time as usual to think of and write a book post, so I decided to stick with a second theme and write about some of my favorite second novels by authors. I’ll also mention a few not-favorite second novels.
A second novel can be excellent because an author has “practiced” with one published novel and is perhaps ready to move on to greater things. Or, in some cases, an author has been working up to that first novel for years and poured all kinds of effort and pent-up elements into it – creating the conditions to maybe disappoint somewhat with the next book.
I’ll only be mentioning authors whose first and second novels I’ve both read, so these will be my personal opinions and not necessarily the overall critical opinions. 🙂
One great second novel was Anne Bronte’s proto-feminist The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – whose quality was just a step below the Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights classics written by her sisters Charlotte and Emily. Unfortunately, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall would be Anne’s last novel because of her early death.
Nathaniel Hawthorne also hit a home run with his second novel: The Scarlet Letter. That came out a whopping 22 years after his little-known first novel Fanshawe; during the time between the two books, Hawthorne focused on writing short stories.
George Eliot? Her very good first novel Adam Bede was followed by her brilliant The Mill on the Floss. Some consider that semi-autobiographical work to be her best book, though fans of Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda might have something to say about that.
Mark Twain co-wrote his uneven debut novel The Gilded Age with Charles Dudley Warner. Twain’s second novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, of course became a classic.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s debut novel The Hobbit is delightful, even as his iconic follow-up The Lord of the Rings trilogy nearly two decades later has more sweep and depth.
In the not-great-but-very-good category of second novels, we have Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. It’s certainly well-done and memorable, but a bit of a letdown after Dickens entered the fiction realm with his hilarious The Pickwick Papers.
Carson McCullers’ novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter was a stunning debut for an author in her early 20s, but her somewhat-less-impressive (and much shorter) second novel Reflections in a Golden Eye is still quite riveting in its quirky way.
Your favorite second novels? Any you’re not particularly fond of?
Misty the cat asks: “If this bouquet is from 1-800-Flowers, where are the other 799?”
My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )
This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂 Not my voice. 🙂
I’m also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…
…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more, including many encounters with celebrities.
In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece – about the vicious ICE agency detaining two restaurant employees who worked in my town — is here.
Dave Astor on Literature 
I’m coming up dry on this one, I’m afraid. I know that one of a writer’s worst fears is the curse of the “sophomore effort.”
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Thank you, Liz! The “sophomore jinx” can definitely be on the minds of some authors (and some musicians and some baseball players, etc.).
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Dave, what a magnificent view Maria has of Boston and the Charles River! It immediately made me think of Emerson, Thoreau and the Transcendentalists and all that wonderful literary history associated with the area. What a place for Maria to spend her sophomore year!
Your question also had me thinking about books that continue beyond a first or second novel. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was wonderful but my heart belongs to Huckleberry Finn. Lately I’ve become particularly interested in series and trilogies, where a writer has the opportunity to deepen a story over several books. Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy, set in the Outer Hebrides, is one I especially enjoyed. Sometimes I think we need more than one book to fully enter a writer’s world. Another wonderful discussion, Dave! I’m looking forward to coming back and reading the follow-up discussion.
“When you are young a year is a big part of your life and seems to last for ever. When you are old, there have been too many of them gone before and they pass all too fast. We move so slowly away from birth, and rush so quickly to death”. Peter May, “The Lewis Man” (Lewis Trilogy # 2)
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Thank you, Rebecca! I agree about the amazing 26th-floor view from Maria’s dorm building. That entire floor is a study area — not a bad place to do homework and such. 🙂
Yes, “Huckleberry Finn” — a sort of sequel to “Tom Sawyer” of course — is a much deeper novel. Twain obviously became a more mature fiction writer as he continued the story of those two characters, although Tom was a rather annoying presence in his minor “Huckleberry Finn” role. So true that “sometimes…we need more than one book to fully enter a writer’s world.”
I read the first two novels in the Peter May trilogy you mentioned, and they were riveting. That’s a terrific/profound passage you cited from that author!
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Ken Keesy wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest first. I enjoyed that very much. His second book, Sometimes a Great Notion, was widely acclaimed but I found it hard to read. I’m not sure I finished it.
Welcome home, and good luck to your daughter on year two. Is she still part of the crew?
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Thank you, Dan! I agree that “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was better. “Sometimes a Great Notion” had a number of great moments, but was kind of uneven.
Maria will continue on the crew team, and she’s actually in a suite in her dorm with seven rowing teammates. 🙂 Thanks for the good-luck wishes for her!
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