Dusting the Greats: Donna Tartt Secret History

19Oct09

Dusting the Greats is a blog-in-blog about literature. Unpacking crates of books – the books that made my generation what we are – I try to remember why they were important. Today: Donna Tartt’s Secret History.

Four years ago I put down Ulysses having stated that, it does, indeed, end in a full stop. Then I carried it, along with my other pretensions, into the attic. I barred the attic door with five different locks. I hid the keys well. I left town. And I did not look back.

An infinite number of chick-lit, bit-lit, frock-fic and Vouge later, this weekend saw the resurrection of my past life. 90 plus boxes and bags of Literature have been moved from their dusty confines to the floor, table, bathroom and kitchen sink of my present abode. There they will get a good cleaning, before being installed in the pristine shelves of The New Apartment.

Or so I thought.

Last night, after 48 hours of uncomplaining and tender lugging, carrying and lumbering, the Better Man sat me down with a calculator and a scale sketch of The New Apartement. Apparently, it was time for a reality check. If I were to have all my books up, and he all his, we would be left with a negative amount of space for anything else.

So, cutting a long story short: join me as I sort trough the Greats and the Pretentious, the Influential and the Hardly Recognized, the Speckled with Damp and the Smudged With Chocolate.

First out:

Author: Donna Tartt.
Title: The Secret History.
Language: Swedish.
First Read: 1995 on holiday in Greece
Number of times read: Astronomical, mostly in bath or while treating parents with contempt
It influenced: Choice of major, choice of cigarettes, entire sense of self between ages of 14 and 18
Opinion today: Naïve, over-laden, but sweet, like memory of childhood birthday cake
Shelf or Attic: Shelf on strenght of time served.

The Book Taped and Battered

 

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Tags: books, Donna Tartt, reading the classics, Secret History