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Despite all the acclaim surrounding this book, I could not muster one iota of sympathy or even empathy for the main character/narrator. I found the narrator to be unreliable but I‘m not sure if the author intended to use that storytelling method. I feel the intent was the main character was narrating as a confidential confession, but the ease with which he lied to friends and casual acquaintances made his confession feel hallow.

Ok. I‘m back to reading The Secret History, but at this point I‘m pulling for the FBI to catch these little 🍑 🎩!

Did the baguette sandwich & audiobook thing tonight. Alas, every Canadian baguette I‘ve tried since I got back is a slap in the face to France. This one had an okay crust but tasted like DUST. 😭

My reread of THE SECRET HISTORY is going great, though! It‘s got me thinking about the interesting/admirable divide, the Apollonian vs the Dionysian, and the ways we shape ourselves through performative behaviour, especially at university age.

The secret history is still in the lead for my worst book of the year.

I don‘t even know what this book is about, but several bookstagram accounts recommended it. Highly recommended it. So we shall see.

There is something seductive about life on a campus, it feels like the world entire, but it isn‘t. Here Richard chances on a group of classics students, a clique that sequesters itself away from the rest of Hampton College. This is a delicious book, I had no sympathy for the protagonists at all, I had no problem in enjoying it all the same. The group plays with Richard, but they love him all the same. This could be my favourite book.

A Secret history earned this spot without trouble.

1.8⭐️ “ I do, I do, I do love dark academia.” But OMG, this book is so pretentious. Whats sad is I was really looking forward to this read. There were moments where I felt like I was starting to get into this book, and then it would have this long stretch of boring pretentious, BS. And then nothing, and I mean literally, just a bunch of words on a page leading nowhere, kind of nothing. Now I get to go relive this monstrosity w/ my Book Club.

2✨ I really only finished this because it was a book club pick. It had moments that were really interesting, but I really struggled to get into the story. #HTBookClub @Littlewolf1

“I believe that having a great diversity of teachers is harmful and confusing for a young mind, in the same way I believe that it is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.” (Tartt, 1992, p. 46)

This was good! Loved The Goldfinch a bit more. But I am happy I was able to listen to the audiobook since I was not making a lot of progress on print.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Audiobook hold finally came in. I loved The Goldfinch on audio and I couldn‘t wait to listen to this one.

A riveting tale of dark academia, and murder, with an inquiry into the idea of ethics. Dark and mysterious, it follows the lives of 6 university students studying Greek literature, pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in search of a loftier goal, until it all descends into evil. The writing is thoroughly engrossing, filled with references to literatures and texts from around the world. Utterly memorable.

I‘m sorry guys I really tried to make it through this but I struggled😆😂
I‘ve been trying to read it for 3 months and finally picked it back up today cause I‘m on winter break from college but I don‘t even know 😂 I had to bail. Unfortunately this just wasn‘t for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

#WickedWhispers Day 25: #Shadow

A wanted to love this one because I know a lot of people do. But it was just ok for me. Spoiled rich kids making poor decisions without consideration of the people they are hurting.

Autumn always makes me think of university and schools starting

#HauntedShelf book cover hunt

Team #Flerken

What a train wreck!
I loved Goldfinch but this was insane! I‘m not sure I‘d have made it through a print version but audio was good because I could talk back to it.
Entitled trust fund college kids with no moral compass fail at life in a nutshell

Yes, I loved re-reading this novel.

Loving this…so haunting, compelling and brilliantly written.

My lovely bride and I just re-read this first novel by the brilliant Donna Tartt. And, wow, it really stands the test of time.

Audio books helping with Costco runs $300 doesn‘t buy a lot ( this story just took a TURN 😳)

My Libby hold finally came in ( 2 of them in fact = 22 + 11 hours of listening ) so my cleaning game just got some gas. Kitchen is getting a deep clean; drawers and cupboards emptied, vacuumed ( where do these crumbs come from?!) wipe down, and the stove and floor get the same treatment. It‘s a rainy day so it‘s a great way to spend the day

It was 1/3 of the way through this book that I realized dark academia is not for me. I then chucked the book in the return bin at the library and moved on to the next book.

Not all genres fit all readers!

#Schoolspirit
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

Amazon book haul 📚💙💜🙌🏻

20-3 Aug 24 (audiobook)
The first time I read this was because a colleague said it was her favourite book ever. I was not so impressed. I did enjoy it more the second time around (20+ years later). In many ways, The Secret History is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby - an outsider gaining restricted admittance to a gilded society verging on tragedy. But Henry is never the tragic hero - I do not wish for him to get the girl and get away with murder.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. I usually read in tiny fragments through the day, so a lot in a day but only a few pages or minutes at once. I‘m always so busy it‘s a lot of snatched moments on buses etc

2. Fangirl down by Tessa Bailey was an odd one for me - maybe I‘m just not attracted to golfers

3. Tagged my absolute fave modern classic

Here are my next 4 books for #52bookclub24
I wasn't blown away by The Thursday Murder Club, but it was OK. The Secret History by Donna Tartt turned out to be an unexpected gem that I had picked up thanks to this challenge. Sorry I'm Late was kind of interesting, but I found it much less relatable than expected. The 4th book was about Hungary's history in 1918-1919, super intriguing but difficult to read due to all the info that was in it.

Good. Even though the characters are hard to relate to, the connection between them all is interesting to read. Connected by an event in their lives you get to see how it affects them all and how they deal with it.

#Penquin
#PenquinRandomHouse
@penguinrandomhouse

#College. #ShortSettings

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#SpringSkies
#secret #secrets
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

It took me a good while to get through, but I‘m glad I read this book. It seems like it‘s the origin of dark academia as a genre, and I‘ve wanted to read it for a long time. The prose is rich and the story of a group of Classics students at college is both bizarre and mundane. It reminded me of Brideshead Revisited even though this was written in the 1990s, with its intense secretive friendships, sibling relationships, class differences, etc.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A novel that brought me back to my cultish Arts undergrad experience, with an element of murder and mystery. Not an “easy” read, but a “worth it” read for sure!

#LitsyLove #FreebieFriday giveaway.

To enter comment or repost and tell us your favorite #chunkster or a chunkster you want to read.

Open to all members. (International and US)

Enter & Share. Just remember to use the #FreebieFriday hashtag and tag us: @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TieDyeDude @Read4life

Winner randomly selected tomorrow

#SetInYrFaveSeason #NewYearNewBooks @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks My favorite season would be fall, and while this takes place over more than one season the combo of the back to school vibes and some spectacular Vermont foliage scenes make this feel like a fall book. Really all dark academia books have that New England autumn vibe. Or maybe they all have that vibe because Tartt captures it so well here and this book was the original, hmmmm 🤔

Interesting story in dark academia style.

Two4Tuesday

1. There isn‘t a language in the world that I don‘t want to learn, including Klingon. Qapla‘!

2. The tagged book is the first that came to mind. Takes place at a private university among an elite group of Classics students.

Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author ! 😃

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView 💕
Thanks for the tags @JenReadsAlot and @The_Penniless_Author 😊

1) To play the saxophone! 🎷
To learn Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese properly
To ice skate
To ballroom dance
To do all kinds of dance!
To paint well

But alas, my talents lie more in the napping and stuffing my face bracket, haha.

2) Edited: OK FINE, THE SECRET HISTORY! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, RANDY?! 🤣🤣

Been seeing the tagged book everywhere recently either t.v shows or online so I think that the universe is trying to get me to read it. So in January after the (compulsory 😂) Xmas books I will be straight on it!! Has anyone else had this with a book and do you believe me or think I'm weird? 📚📖

This is incredible. I didn‘t know much about the plot when I started reading, which I think best suited my experience. My personal challenge while reading is that I kept comparing it to how much I loved The Goldfinch, and this didn‘t quite rise to that level for me. I reminded myself to manage my expectations and when I was able to do that, I became immersed in the story.

Full review at https://abookandadog.com

1/5⭐ DNFed 20% in. I'm not connecting to or intrigued by any of the characters or the mystery. It seems like the payoff won't be worth the journey given what we know from the beginning. It toes the line between reasonable and “edgy“ assholeness for the sake of it that a lot of literary authors think makes their books the bees knees. It does the slow gothic atmosphere well. The author is very good as the audio narrator.

The Secret History is as good as everyone says it is. Its enduring popularity is entirely deserved. I‘ll be joining the ranks of Donna Tartt fans, hanging desperately onto hope that a new novel is coming from her very, very soon – she‘s past due! Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-secret-history-donna-tartt/

What a perfect fall read. A classic dark academia novel with echos of The Catcher in the Rye. Loved it! 4 🌟

This book is so beautifully written. The characters are unlikeable, but they are nuanced and felt so real. The plot moved a little slowly for me, I got bored around the middle mark…but it picked up again in the last 100 pages. I can see why this is a modern classic and a core work of dark academia. Unique, poetic, thought provoking, slow moving. Personally though it lacked something, some spark, some warmth that would have made it perfect.

For day 24 of the #scarathlonphotochallenge and the word #kill - I was musing on this prompt while staring at the secret history for the millionth time so I wound up at the ancient greek personification of death. He might be a bit weathered in this carving but I still reckon he could kill me if he was trying.

#scarathlon #skeletoncrew

I read this book when I was around 15…20 years later I‘m giving it a re-read…my Lord it is STUNNING! #I don‘t remember the writing being so sublime and beautiful and compelling.I can‘t put it down.
“Does such a thing as the ‘fatal flaw,‘ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn‘t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”

I wanted to read this book for a long time because it is well recommended. I liked but didn‘t love it. I think is too unnecessarily long but I never felt bored because you want to know about these characters. It is about this selected group of unlikable students who attend this special program of classics with this eccentric professor. A murder occurred and you know who did and how from the beginning of the story.⬇️

📙Reading The Secret History transported me into another world, an alternative world of college students. This book definitely takes you on a journey of all possible human capabilities, even those that are evil! A must-read! It really takes you out of your mind.

⭐4.75/5

Wow. A LOT going on there. And not always comfortable.
So many triggers but especially so MUCH drinking.
3.75 ⭐