The Secret History
I want to go home right now and finish reading The Secret History. It’s so good. I’ll post a review in the next couple of days.
It’s similar to The Likeness in that the main characters are an insular group of eccentric college students. However, The Secret History’s plot is better developed (more sophisticated). The Likeness is your standard murder-mystery fare.
What should I read next? On deck are: Moby-Dick, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Neverwhere.
Lauren Leto
Lauren Leto 
I would have to push Neverwhere. It’s been in my top 5 since the first time I read it. Gonna have to go check out The Secret History. It sounds interesting.
“100 Years” is one of my all time favourites so I’m going to push for that one.
p.s. I’ve only read one of Donna Tartt and I’m trying to remember if “The Secret History” is the one. Is TSH the one with the strange and rather ritualistic university students?
I remember reading an interview with Tartt around the same time, and when asked how she came up with her subtle imagery and vague allegory, she stated modestly that she didn’t intend any of it, she just had the feel of the story in her mind and just put pen to paper. Sometimes genius just stems from a simple idea.
Damnit that is so awesome.
100 years of solitude: a sprawling epic with incredible character development, you evolve with the family its heart breaking and bitter sweet.
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, General Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”- The whole book feels like that sentence.
Supposedly Marquez got his inspiration growing up with his grandparents listening to them tell bizarre and fable like stories, so there might be some truth on some of the pages.
If you liked Good Omens or the third Hitchhiker’s Guide book, Neverwhere could be a good next book. It’s a quick read too, I bet you’ll be through it in three days. American Gods is another good Gaiman book.
How have you not read Neverwhere. Not even a question. Just a statement. It’s soooo good. I want to psychically high five Neil Gaiman all the time.
The “Hundred years..” is beautiful. “Neverwhere” is good, but it’s for teenagers and you should have spent a lot of time in london to really enjoy it.
I’m siding with “Hundred Years”. I’m an avid Marquez reader, and that one is hands down my favorite.
I’ve got TSH on my bookshelf to read after I finish “The Little Stranger,” which has actually been a fantastic read.
I’m with “Hundred Years” too.
It’s fantastic, my Márquez favorite. And, as Andrew said, there is some truth in the pages. I’m from Colombia and, althought is not like that all the time, you can sure go “Yeap, that’s us”, sometimes.
Secret History is one of the best books of the last twenty five years.i I was badly disappointed by Little Friend.