Welcome back to Goodreads Monday! This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and it invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.
This week’s featured book is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. This contemporary mystery was published in 1993 (wow, I had no idea it was published that long ago!) and has an impressive 4.10 rating on Goodreads!
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 their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.
Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt’s cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement – both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.
Why do I want to read it?
I gotta be honest and say that I don’t have the best track record with Donna Tartt’s books and by that I mean, the one book of hers that I have picked up, The Goldfinch, I never actually finished. No, I didn’t DNF it but I put it aside because I read it as part of a group read during probably the worst reading slump I’ve ever experienced and that was a big mistake! I now associate that book with my slump and… Well, I haven’t picked it back up since but I did enjoy it. (Yep, I’m going off on a tangent!) While I enjoyed Goldfinch, I didn’t seem to love it as much as many others did. Other people commented and said that they enjoyed The Secret History much more. It definitely sounds like a thrillingly dark read and although I’m pretty nervous about picking it up, I’m also excited to give another Tartt a try — and hopefully it’ll motivate me to pick up The Goldfinch again and *finally* finish it!
Have you read The Secret History or is it on your TBR?
dinipandareads 
I never picked up the Goldfinch bc I was working at the library at the time.. a few of my co-workers didn’t enjoy it. I decided not to chance it, since it’s so huge!! I hope you like this one!!
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I’ve heard some mixed reviews but the majority of people who’ve read it *really* seem to love it and… honestly, it wasn’t bad but I felt like a lot of the details went over my head and while the prose is beautiful, it was incredibly slow paced. Like… *incredibly* slow paced 😂 I do want to finish it though since I’ve committed so much time to it already and am so close to the end. We’ll see if that ever happens 😛
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hahaha! Yeah, I think you definitely should finish if you have made it that far. I would have to be in a pretty particular mood for a very slow paced read… I have faith that you can do it though!! 🙂
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I’ve never read any Donna Tartt…. should rectify that but my god this book is looooooong… I’m a bit of a commitment phobe Dini 🙈🙈🙈😂😂😂😂🧡💛💖
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This is a proper mood, Emer. Her books are seriously chunky monkeys — like The Goldfinch still intimidates tf out of me even thought I’ve made my way through so much of it. This one isn’t as chunky as that but… still pretty big 😂
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I don’t think this would be a book for me but I have seen many good reviews for it!
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I’ve never read a book by this author. I hope if you get to it you’re able to break your track record and enjoy it!
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Many people say that they preferred the secrect history over goldfinch, but I already own Goldfinch… so I guess I’ll have to start with it 😀
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Sooo I’m one of the oddballs that liked The Goldfinch more than The Secret History. I thought they were both written really well, but I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters in TSH. But several people have told me that’s kind of the point. They’re not supposed to be likable. 🤷♀️😃
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