By Opal Frazier Johnson (‘28)

The Secret History

By Donna Tartt

Mon, September 22 – Sat, September 27  

Rating: 4/5⭐

Images courtesy of Amazon Books

How did I find this book?

Going into fall this year, I really wanted to try out some more books that have that nice, cozy, fall feeling that we all love. The Secret History was suggested to me by a friend who thought it had both the fall and winter vibes that I was looking for, as well as a mysterious element that is perfect for spooky season.

Summary & Overall Thoughts (Spoiler-Free!)

Set in 1983, The Secret History tells the story of Richard Papen, a college student from California who moves to the East Coast to attend Hampton College. There, he joins a prestigious group of Ancient Greek students and studies under a mysterious professor. As the school year moves forward, Richard makes friends and enemies among his peers and makes decisions that will change his life forever. 

The Secret History brings together beautiful writing, an intriguing plot, and characters to make a story that has been regarded as a classic since it came out in 1992. There are so many quotes in this book that I absolutely love, and it is paced really well. Once you step out of the fanciful writing and extremely aesthetic atmosphere of this book, it ends up being more of a comedy than you’d think. I think that this is one of those books that gets better each time you read it, so I’m excited to read it again.

Characters:

You will either love or hate the characters in this book. There is no in-between. If you look at what they do and say, the characters in this book are actually VERY bad people, but Donna Tartt’s fancy writing distracts you from that. This book is narrated by the main character in first person, and we are getting the story as that character is telling it to us. The narration takes a bit to get used to, but after I did, it was one of the best things about this book. Because it’s being told like a story, it makes you think about how the main character may be twisting the story to make certain things seem better or worse. Overall, the characters are fully developed, with their own backstories and relationships, and it was so much fun for me to learn more about the characters individually as I read more of the book.

Setting:

The setting of The Secret History checked all the boxes for aesthetics for me. It takes place at Hampton College in Vermont, and as I was reading, I could see the Pinterest board about this book. Donna Tartt has crafted a wonderful, however idealized, setting, and she uses that setting to enforce the message of the book.

Favorite Quotes:

“Death is the mother of beauty.”

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

“Love doesn’t conquer everything. Whoever thinks it does is a fool.”

“Forgive me, for all the things I did, but mostly for the things I did not.”

“I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.”

Content Warnings:

• Murder
• Death & Blood
•  Racism, Homophobia, Sexism, etc.
• Child Neglect & Abuse
• Alcohol & Drug Abuse/Addiction
• Gun Violence
• Suicidal Thoughts & Attempts (mostly at the end)

Spice Rating: 0.5/5 🌶️ 

There was no actual spice in this book, but there were one or two VERY faded-to-black scenes where something is implied, but nothing ever happens on the page.

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

By Neil deGrasse Tyson

October 15 – October 27  

Rating: 4/5⭐

Image courtesy of neildegrassetyson.com

How did I find this book?

In late September, I was in New York for a long weekend, and I went to a bunch of indie bookstores. The one where I found Merlin’s Tour of the Universe was at McNally Jackson Books in Soho. This bookstore is so fun and cozy, and it has a great selection of all genres, especially nonfiction and science. I also noticed that McNally Jackson books have different sections for books written by authors from different countries and cultures. I really enjoyed looking through those books, and I thought that it was a really great and unique way to organize the store. I found Merlin’s Tour of the Universe in their astronomy section, which is one of the most extensive astronomy sections that I’ve ever found at a bookstore. Overall, I would definitely recommend McNally Jackson Books to anyone who’s interested in books and is in or near NYC.

Summary & Overall Thoughts (Spoiler-Free!)

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the world’s most recognized and established astrophysicists, and he is a leading science communicator and author. In Merlin’s Tour of the Universe, he has created a character named Merlin who is able to answer questions that readers from all over the world have sent in. 

Merlin’s Tour of the Universe is written in a very clear and concise format, with each question taking 1-2 pages at the most. I really enjoyed reading this book because it wasn’t written for other scientists, but for regular people, most of whom don’t know much about astronomy. I would recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in astronomy whatsoever, because you don’t need any previous science knowledge to enjoy it!

Characters:

The narrator of this book is Merlin, a graduate from a Universe-ity on a distant planet, who has seen all scientific advancements in Earth’s history. I think that Neil deGrasse Tyson’s invention of Merlin as a narrator was an extremely good authorial decision, because Merlin is not only knowledgeable about the universe, but he is also written to be extremely funny and relatable. Through Merlin, Tyson is able to dumb down complex topics into something that anyone will be able to understand.