#classic read

Little Women – Louisa May Alcott.

Synopsis. The four March sisters couldn’t be more different: Meg, the eldest, is dutiful and patient; Jo is adventurous, with dreams of being a great writer; shy, musical Beth is the peacemaker; and headstrong Amy likes the finer things in life. They may not always get along, but with their father away in the Civil War and their mother struggling to make ends meet, the sister have never needed…

“The cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect.”

Quotes: “Forgive me, for all the things I did but mostly for the ones that I did not.”

“Beauty is terror.  Whatever we call beautiful we quiver before it.”

“It is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.”

Short Take: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.  But what happens when a close (closer than close) friend becomes an enemy? (A frenemy, if you will).  When that friend knows a damning secret about you and the rest of your (strangely) close-knit group of friends, at what lengths would you go to make sure that friend is (and stays) silent? How far is too far?  Read to find out what pushes people to the extreme of extremes. 

Long Take: My girl Donna Tartt is at it again! She is a story teller for the ages! Even more suspenseful and gripping than The Goldfinch, her second novel The Secret History is my favorite of hers so far. From small town California (far from the glamorous, posh life his friends would believe he lead) Richard finds himself admitted, with a scholarship, to an private college in Vermont. He stumbles upon a small, more than exclusive  group of students studying classics (and more specifically, Greek and Latin).  He is inducted into this clique (cult?) against his better judgement and explicit warnings from other staff and students, and quickly becomes ostracized from the rest of his peers at the school.  The six of them take every class together (and only with each other), eat dinner together, go on vacation together to the country... Inseparable.  Because he was a late inductee, Richard never feels fully a part of the group, until something horrific happens. When you do everything together, what happens when some of the things you do aren’t exactly legal (and are quite literally a mortal sin). When it’s harder than hard to get in, is it impossible to get out? The way Donna Tartt describes this motley crew, the picturesque Vermont landscapes, and the trials and tribulations of growing up will have you nonstop reading until you finish.

Similar to: This book reminded me so so so much of The Likeness by Tana French. 

OMG YAY of course!

16: Least favorite genre? Honestly I love all book genres so this question is kind of difficult for me. According to Goodreads some people’s least favorite genre is cookbooks and I’ve have to agree (kidding, they’re actually helpful). The genre I probably read the least is autobiography, not because I don’t like them but because I just never really pick them up to read in the first place.

17: How many bookshelf/bookshelves do you own? I am currently attending college and sadly there is no room in my dorm for a bookshelf, so I don’t have one there. In my bedroom at home I have one bookshelf, it isn’t huge but it fits all of my favorite books so I can read them when I come home :)

19: Biggest book haul? I once spent a day visiting almost every bookstore in town, and I think I ended up with 21 books whoops.

I really enjoyed that! It was very thought provoking and surprisingly engaging. Just enough darkness to be slightly haunting, but not completely disturbing.

The writing was just brilliant. I worried that this would be too complex and I wouldn’t be able to hook into the language used but I didn’t find that. I did have to look up some words, but more because I was curious as to the meaning of them and want to expand my vocabulary.

The concepts of youth and selfishness and what selfishness really is were fascinating and I’m still undecided on how I feel about what I have just learned. And my perception of beauty and what beauty is has been challenged as well.

I guess the main thing I have taken away is that aging is essential, and how you live the life you lead is up to one’s self.

Overall I loved this book. I am a fan. I want to now read The Importance of Being Earnest at some point!