Can't Wait To Get Back To It!

How can you tell when a book is really good?

I know when a book is really good for me when I don't want to put it down. I also find myself thinking about it while I'm doing the something else, wondering about the characters, and what is going to happen next. I can't wait to get back to reading it!

Luckily, I'm reading such a book right now (well, not right now, I'm typing this blog post, but you know what I mean).

Last fall I read Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, which was also such a book for me. The Goldfinch became one of my favorite books from 2013.

After reading The Goldfinch, I knew I wanted to read Tartt's two other books, so felt lucky when I saw a copy of The Secret History at Costco.

I am in the middle of The Secret History and am loving it. The book starts out with reference to the death of one of the characters, so that that character dies is not a surprise, but WHY does he die? And what happens after he dies?

Richard Papen narrates, unfolding his history with the main characters, a small band of students studying Greek at a small Vermont college.

Tartt creates a vivid world for her to characters inhabit. She also manages to create a sense of hovering doom at the edges of the story, not quite visible, yet slowly growing closer as the story progresses. I am loving it.

I can't say that her books would ever be categorized as light or fluffy, as her characters and story have depth and some, characters and parts of the story, are pretty dark. Deliciously so.

Next up will be her first novel, The Little Friend. Donna Tartt is definitely a can't-wait-to-get-back-to-her author!

         

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