Elly’s Comments (group member since Feb 07, 2022)

Elly’s comments from the ✦ The Library at the End of the World ✦ group.

yasmin ☾ wrote: "¡Hi!, my name is Yasmin, im 19 and im from Spain :).
My fav genre is romance and fantasy, i love coffee, tea and writing, also my all time favorites books are:
1. The infernal devices trilogy (a s..."

Hi, Yasmin, welcome! I've read a lot of books you've mentioned, especially when I was a little bit younger... but I have fond memories of them!
Especially the Harry Potter saga, which I'm a huge fan of, still!

Alright, here I am with my thoughts over The Secret History.

Before I start, I should say I've tried for the first time some sort of annotation system with sticky tabs.

This is how I used them:
- blu tabs for dividing prologue, book 1 & 2 and epilogue;
- yellow tabs for important development related to Richard's growth and evolution from a plot point of view;
- green tabs: memorable quotes;
- orange tabs: philosophical thoughts and quotes;
- purple tabs: well structured passages/beautiful descriptions.

Also, of course, I underlined phrases/paragraphs which I found particularly meaningful.
It was a fun experience and I get a better understanding of the book in all its perfection!


Characters:
As I've written in my official review, Richard was a great narrator, as far as he could be: being part of the secret history made him unreliable and oblivious, untrustworthy, disoriented while events unfolded. Donna Tartt made an amazing job getting us to confide in him to lead us through the pages, like a modern Virgil.
But Richard could never be Virgil, or Dante, or Achilles, or Socrates.
He was not a hero, none of them were.

Henry was mysterious, distant and too absorbed in his Hellenistic lifestyle to comprehend "the gravity of our situation", as Richard says in the prologue.

Bunny was despicable from the very beginning but how much we know about him, how much we know about his difficulties, his internal struggling, his mental health? Surrounded by an overly superficial family, his only real friendship with Henry, built during the first year at Hampden College.
Before falling apart, they were there for each other, maybe.
Maybe not.

Let's talk about Camilla and Charles. Camilla and Charles, so different, so similar. So distant even though they shared blood and something else, way more deep and meaningful. Their secret relationship was the most important subplot I've ever read in a book, the most intriguing, sad and horrible of them all.
A toxic relationship among friends it's one thing... a toxic relationship between a brother and a sister is on a completely different level.

Francis now. As I said before, I think Francis was the character I related the most. He was desperate for attention (romantically with Charles and Richard, from a friendship point of view with Camilla and Henry), he has a good heart, he suffers from panic attacks and his fragility was evident, honest, pure until the very end. I don't know, he has always tried to do the right thing, for the rest of them, without putting his own wellbeing first.
He couldn't live his sexual orientation freely and that simple fact impacted on him deeply.

Ending:

The ending made me cry, the first time, almost 2 years ago.
But today I finished the book with a sad, melancholic, little smile on my face.
Because you can't change the written words... but you can definitely hope for Richard and Camilla and Francis that, at some point in their miserable adult lives, they would have found quiet again, stability, even without happiness.

I looked at him. There was so much I wanted to ask him, so
much I wanted to say; but somehow I knew there wasn't time
and even if there was, that it was all, somehow, beside the point.
"Are you happy here?" I said at last.
He considered this for a moment. "Not particularly," he said.
"But you're not very happy where you are, either."

Even though this was Richard's dream, I've always felt like this was his last conversation with him. Emblematic of how lonely all of them were, trapped in a picture perfect illusion made of temples, ancient Agoràs, philosophical discussions over democracy and metaphysical entities.

I still had that hunting feeling of deep loss, when I finished it, for multiple reasons. I'm glad I've re-read this, still one of my favorite books of all time.

I’m going to post my favourite quotes and some considerations this evening 🙈

Hi Ana! As you can tell, I finished my re-read this morning but I needed some hours to collect my thoughts.

I don’t re-read many books but I’m glad I took this opportunity to start this adventure one more time 🙌

Hi everyone! Lots of new members in our group, as far as I can see!

Introduce yourself here, let us all know what are you currently reading, your go-to genres, your favorites books!

It's taking me a long time in order to finish The Historian, even though it's a super interesting narration. I love the plot, so far, and writing style is great. The only bummer is how descriptive the author tends to be: it's a big novel, a chunky tome, and I'll finish it one day or the other <3

Ana wrote: "Hello! Quick update:
I've reached 36% of TSH and I'm enjoying it so much! I'm finding myself really attached to the characters; I keep thinking about them even when I'm not reading.
The author doe..."

I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!

I'm just 14% in TSH...
I shouldn't have started The Historian but I couldn't stop myself! It's another great Dark Academia book, with a pinch of fantasy and adventure.

Hi everyone!

I'm glad our group is growing so fast, I'm truly happy.
I'd like to interact with you all outside this page, that's why I'm going to mention here my social network, specifically Instagram and TIkTok!

Again, I'll follow back everyone... just comment down here your names <3

TikTok: @ellygaunt
INSTAGRAM: @electraslibrary

"I know you must think I'm insane," he said, relenting visibly.
"And i grant you that anyone who pokes around in history long enough may well go mad."

― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian

CURRENTLY READING :

Ok, I had this book in mind for months and I finally bought it a week ago... and now, I need to read it. It's The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

I have high expectation, even though I know I shouldn't put this much pressure on me and this new author. I hope it goes well!

Just finished Ninth House and it was an adventure, not a five stars book in my opinion... but the setting and the characters were interesting and compelling!

You can find my thoughts and feelings in my REVIEW HERE❤❤❤

Charlotte wrote: "Currently reading Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong and it’s everything I hoped it’d be and more 🥺😭"

I have to check it out, I've never heard this title before... let us know if you're enjoying it so far or if you liked it when you'll finish it!

anna gubler swift wrote: "Shatter me by Tahereh Mafi
I was so excited to start this series <3"

Enjoy it <3

CURRENTLY READING:

1. Ninth House, I'm 60% in and I really enjoying it so far. The beginning is a bit slow but necessary in order to introduce the magic system and how it's linked with the real world.

2. The Secret History re-reading it right now, I missed this book so much.

Good evening fellow librarians, I hope you're enjoying your time here!



I usually share a lot of ideas, reviews, new titles and my books collection, on Instagram and TikTok: I get inspired by other content creators on BookTok and I'm glad to recommend novels to anyone who asks.

That's the reason why I've created this little discussion: you can leave your profile links here, (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, etc): if you want, we could share ideas on social networks as well!

I'll follow back everyone, for sure!

Hello, everyone!

We are going to start reading The Secret History tomorrow: you can choose whatever edition you prefer.

I've already read the original English one but this time I'm going to read the Italian translation I just bought xd

Have fun this weekend! <3

♡🌹 Hello Everyone, hope you're having a great day/start of the week! 🌹♡


While talking in the "❥ QUOTES that break hearts" SECTION, me and Ana Gonçalves decided to buddy-read one of my all-time favorite books, written by Donna Tartt: The Secret History.


▶ I'm sure many people have heard of this modern classic/piece of literature before; if not, here is the BLURB:


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.



▶ THEMES & Warnings:
mystery, murder mystery, thriller, suspense novel, crime, aesthetic longing (related to ancient civilizations), elitism, toxic relationships (both friendships and romantic interests), emotional damage, drugs, alcohol... and other heavy topics.

--> if you don't like heavy stuff, don't read this book.


(credits: enkivillage.com, Pinterest)

▶ If you want to join us, this discussion will remain open for everyone.

Write your name in the comments and we'll count you as member of the "buddy group reading"!

❦.❦.❦.

“This whole time, my whole life, that harsh, stony path was leading up to this one point.
I followed it blindly, stumbling along the way, scraped and weary, without any idea of where it was leading, without ever realizing that with every step I was approaching the light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel.
And now that I've reached it, now that I'm here, I want to catch it in my hand, hold onto it forever to look back on - the point at which my new life really began.”


― Tabitha Suzuma, Forbidden

Currently reading:


Song without Words written by Sof'ja Tolstaja, the wife of Lev Tolstoj.

I wanted to read something by her for a very long time: her marital struggling is vivid in this little empowering novel (I'm 25% in already).

We all know about Tolstoy's life, his literature, his thoughts on life and death and what lies in between... but he rarely spoke about his complicated marriage.

Sof'ja didn't hide her pain, in this work, and it's sad that no one gave her credit even after a century.

Shalini wrote: "Heyyy... My name is Shalini. I'm 21 years old from India. I love reading fantasy,romance and horror.
I can't really pick out one favorite book. I literally end up with atleast one new book boyfrie..."

Hi Shalini, welcome! Don't worry, girl, I have the exact same problem here: too many book boyfriend... not even one in real life xd

We are glad to have you here!
If you want, share with us what you are currently reading <3

ॐ ｔｈｅｒａｖａａｄａ ॐ wrote: "Hi everyone, thanks for the invite! I love reading, I mainly enjoy non fiction books, especially military and philosophy themed. I am a pretty dissident person, pessimist and nihilist, but at the s..."

Hi and welcome!
I've read your profile page and, aside from being a fellow Italian, we have something else in common: I've studied social sciences as well (psychology, anthropology, sociology and philosophy)... so I get your point of being an independent thinker all around.
It's always a good thing, even though sometimes it's difficult to speak your mind/ideas in our current society.

If you want to share with us what you're currently reading, that would be great!