Read With Us: Why You Should Get Involved With a Bunch of Awful Characters

Our current Read With Us book is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Kym, Carole and I have somewhat of a tough job promoting this book. This is my attempt to explain why I think you should read The Secret History—even if the characters are awful. 

If you’ve ever been intrigued by dark academia, fictional murder, or the idea of losing yourself in a beautifully written, haunting novel, The Secret History is a book you shouldn’t miss. It’s a novel that pulls you deep into a world of elitist intellectualism, ancient rituals, and a crime committed by a group of people you probably wouldn’t want to be friends with. And yet, you won’t be able to look away.

It's a story of privilege, obsession, and tragedy. At the heart of The Secret History is an elite group of Classics students at a prestigious New England college, led by the enigmatic and charismatic professor, Julian Morrow. These students are pretentious, manipulative, and often deeply unlikable, but that’s part of what makes them so compelling. Tartt crafts them with such psychological depth that their flaws feel disturbingly real. You may not like them, but you’ll hopefully understand them.

The novel is narrated by Richard Papen, an outsider who desperately wants to belong. He gets swept up in the world of his privileged classmates, Henry, Francis, Charles, Camilla, and Bunny, until he becomes complicit in their dangerous secrets. As the story unfolds, we see how their obsession with the ancient world and their own intellectual superiority leads them down a path of moral decay and, ultimately, murder.

You may be asking yourself, "Why should I care about these unlikable characters?" Some readers hesitate when they hear a book has “unlikable characters.” But in The Secret History, this is exactly what makes the novel so powerful. These characters force us to confront human nature at its most arrogant and flawed. Their moral ambiguity makes them fascinating to read about, much like the Greek tragedies they revere.

It’s also refreshing to read a novel that doesn’t sugarcoat its protagonists. Rather than being forced to root for them, you’re invited to analyze them, to question their motives, and to see the chilling consequences of their actions. The result? A reading experience that feels immersive, intoxicating, and unforgettable.

At its core, The Secret History is deeply rooted in the study of Classics, particularly in the themes of fate, hubris, and the power of the gods. One of the most significant literary influences is Euripides’ The Bacchae, a play about the destructive power of Dionysian ecstasy. The students, inspired by their studies, attempt to recreate an ancient Bacchic ritual—an experience that goes horribly wrong. Their desperate need to transcend the mundane leads to irreversible consequences, echoing the tragedies of the ancient world they idolize. You may be more well-versed in the Classics than I was, but I understood the book better after I read about Euripides' play and the Maenads. Julian (the Classics professor) says “Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it,”, foreshadowing his students’ fates by drawing parallels to Euripides’ Maenads. Maenads were the female worshipers of the God Dionysus, and in Euripides’ play The Bacchae, they murder King Pentheus for banning them from worshiping their god. Like King Pentheus, Bunny Corcoran will later be lured into the woods by his own friends in an effort to avoid answering for their crimes. Despite the graphic violence of The Bacchae, bacchanals are romanticized by Julian in The Secret History, as he speaks of them as a sort of spiritual cleansing, a cathartic release of "primitive impulses".

Much like the doomed characters in The Bacchae, the students in The Secret History believe they can control what they don’t fully understand. Their intellectual arrogance leads them to believe they can stand above morality, but Tartt masterfully shows how hubris always brings ruin.

The Secret History is not just a murder mystery or a psychological thriller—it’s a novel about the allure of beauty and knowledge, and the dark paths they can lead us down. Tartt’s prose is lush and hypnotic, making even the bleakest moments feel poetic. You may be drawn in by the dark academia esthetic, the philosophical undertones, or the brilliance of Tartt’s storytelling. If you love immersive stories, morally complex characters, and books that make you think long after you’ve turned the last page, I think The Secret History is a must-read. 

Discussion day for The Secret History is scheduled for Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 7:00 pm Eastern time, so mark your calendars. We'll ask questions on our blogs that day and then host the always fun, educational, and entertaining Zoom discussion. I really hope you'll Read With Us (even if the book is filled with awful characters)!

The Weekly Loaf

My current weekly loaf came about because of our weather report. On Saturday we had snow and freezing rain, which then turned to rain on Sunday. The doomsday weatherman was predicting 20-40 mph winds with 60 mph gusts on Sunday night into Monday. Since our electricity tends to go out even if there are gentle breezes, I decided I better make some dinner early on Sunday while I still had a stove that worked. 

First up was a pot of sausage corn chowder. I always think soup needs bread to go with it, so I ended up making rosemary bread. 

It's really just a white bread with rosemary added to the dough but it smelled good and I thought it might taste okay, too. I used this recipe for guidance. 

Just make sure you grease your pan completely and don't leave any spots ungreased where the bread might stick and tear. 

I will be making another Honey Oat Pain de Mie in my Pullman pan later today, and I will make sure to grease that pan completely. We're visiting Ryan tomorrow and I'd like to take him a decent loaf of bread, one without any tears in the side. 

I hope your Monday is off to a good start and the rest of your week improves as we head towards Friday!

Three Average Books and One Stunning One

Happy Valentine's Day! Reading is one of the things I love and I know that you do, too. I finished four books this week so I thought they needed their own post. They range from three to five stars, so I'll start with the three star books. 

Anne Lamott has been writing pieces on aging for the Washington Post recently and I've enjoyed reading them. Her writing is simple, succinct, and honest. I've only read two other books of hers (Stitches and Almost Everything) but I wasn't overly impressed by either one of them. I felt a little more kindly towards Somehow or maybe I desperately wanted to read something positive. Listening to the audiobook that Lamott narrates once again made me notice her stream-of-consciousness style, with all its positives and negatives. She is much more faith-focused than I'm comfortable with, but she's lived and learned and knows what works for her. This small volume doesn't contain anything new or even say anything old in a unique way, but she does say simple things that are honest. That is often a rare commodity and it was worth reading.

 

 

Blob has to be one of the weirdest books I've ever read, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have something of value to offer the reader. Vi, daughter of a Taiwanese father and white mother, has dropped out of college and works at the front desk of a local motel with an impossibly perky co-worker. The boyfriend who gave her a “taste of what it felt like to be normal" has broken up with her and she has hit rock bottom, just trying to get through each day. After a night out at a gay bar with her co-worker, Vi notices a pair of beady eyes staring at her from a literal blob in the alley. She takes it home, leaves bowls of Fruity Pebbles for it while she works, and eventually discovers that she can command it to grow. She tries to make the Blob (named Bob) into her perfect boyfriend, but he starts to feel trapped (because he is).

This book features Bob the Blob but it's really a coming-of-age story about Vi. She is her early 20s but always felt awkward, unlikable, and friendless while growing up. She hasn't learned much and is still mostly friendless and temperamental. While Bob becomes more human, Vi does also. Vi is mostly an unlikable character, but by adding Bob to this novel, Su has written something more than a 20-something finding herself.This was another three-star book for me.

"For a while, he seemed happy enough to eat and breathe and exist--the perfect companion. I should've anticipated that molding him into a man would trigger something deeper, some sort of existential awakening. Now he's just like everyone else. He has needs and desires beyond me.... He could leave without me ever knowing why."

Colum McCann’s Twist is an exploration of connectivity—both technological and human—written with his signature poetic prose. Anthony Fennel is an Irish journalist tasked with covering the vast network of underwater cables that carry the world’s information. Fennell’s assignment leads him to the South African coast were he encounters John Conway, a skilled engineer and freediver, and Zanele, a South African actress on the brink of her own artistic and personal transformation. A Congo River flood causes breeches in the underground cables off the African coast, and the ship Georges Lecointe sets out for repairs with Fennell, Conway and crew on board.

Twist delves into the fragile infrastructure—both physical and personal—that keeps lives intact. The novel’s strength lies in its ability to merge the vast and the intimate: the unknowable depths of the ocean, the invisible threads of global communication, and the deeply personal struggles of its characters. McCann’s prose is fluid, his descriptions evocative and immersive. The novel thrives in its moments of quiet revelation, where themes of exile, love, and the weight of modern existence come to the surface. If there’s a drawback, it’s that Twist can sometimes feel elusive, its fragmented storytelling requiring patience. Because Fennell and Conway both wrestle with things internally, I felt a distance from these main characters and that made it difficult to get to know them. McCann's writing is lovely but I wanted more from the characters than their brokenness. Three and a half stars rounded up because of all I learned about undersea cables, how reliant we all are on them, and how they get repaired.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on March 25, 2025.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans is a stunning, wonderful work of epistolary fiction. Sybil Van Antwerp has built a career as a lawyer, later clerking for her law partner when he becomes a judge. She has also made a life as a wife and mother but lost one of her sons at the age of eight in a swimming accident. This tragic event had a ripple effect in her life, with those ripples still reflected in her relationships with her adult children years later. At age 78 and losing her eyesight, we learn about her life and the people in it through her letters to them, along with their responses. In writing about the challenges, sadness, and triumphs she encountered, we learn about Sybil as a flawed and realistic human being, but one who is also able to undergo changes and adapt even while she ages. There are literary references to Joan Didion and Ann Patchett, along with book titles that Sybil mentions in her letters. Olive Kitteridge is one of my favorite fictional characters, and I can now add Sybil Van Antwerp to that list. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates kindness, honesty, letters, books, and rich lives lived even by older characters. This one gets five big, gold stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on May 6, 2025. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I hope it includes reading a good book!

 
 

Unraveled Wednesday: 2/12/25

I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers today, with no more nonsense, just a Hitchhiker in progress. 

Whenever I've felt overly anxious (while the plumber is trying to figure out why our bathroom sink won't drain, when I'm making phone calls to a Republican representative, or thinking about children being taken in an ICE raid at a school) I pick it up and knit a few rows. The yarn is soft and lovely enough that it helps take the edge off my anxiety and lends itself to some meditative prayers with each stitch. 

I've finished four books this week, so I'll post all the reviews on Friday. There are a few average books and one stunning debut novel. 

What are you making and reading this week?

Tea, Anyone?

I went to a friend's house last week for "tea". John used to work with this man (let's call him Joe) and through the years we've also gotten to know his wife (who we'll call Jean). We used to get together once every month or two for dinner but Jean's 98-year-old mother lives with them and she has COPD. Her mother is becoming more frail, less mobile, and more confused every day. She can't be left alone, so Jean thought maybe we could have "tea" at their house while her mother napped. 

"Tea" was in quotation marks in the invitation, so I was expecting that we would have actual tea, maybe some cheese and crackers and just chat for an hour or so. But when we arrived, Jean had prepared tea fit for the Queen! There were roast beef and horseradish cheddar sliders, dainty cucumber sandwiches, Linzer cookies, lemon squares, chocolates, decadent chocolate cake, and of course, fancy English tea. There may have been some bourbon after we finished the tea. 

It was all incredibly delicious and we did sit and chat for almost three hours. Jean was able to check on her mother and we had a really nice time. This is something of a minor accomplishment because we knew Joe and Jean well as friends before we found out they were supporters of that guy. We rarely discussed politics but now we can even do some of that as they also think that that man is ridiculous and harmful in many ways. It's interesting how we can all speak, listen, and even begin to understand and respect differing points of view without raised voices or anger. Maybe the tea and bourbon helped? I would recommend it for almost anyone discussing things, or even just some friends enjoying "tea". 

Bits & Pieces

I've reached a place where I just don't know what to write about. Unraveled Wednesdays are always a high point, but after that I've only got some small bits and pieces. So that's what today's post consists of. 

 

• Do you have a favorite mug? My favorite has a picture of my kids on it and I use it almost every day. Sometimes it needs to be washed or I'm in a mood, so then I use my second favorite one. My mother might be appalled as I was raised to not use language like that; even telling my sister to shut up was considered "bad". But I'm the boss of what I say now, and at 67, there are definitely times when I'm thinking what my mug says. I haven't said it to anyone yet, but I know that day may be coming.
  

• Kat had recommended the 5 calls app if you want to easily make calls to your representatives. I was all set to download it, but it's only for iphone and ipad. If you have an android like I do, the 5 calls people also have a web site that works the same way. I've used it twice this week; all I had to do was input my zip code, choose what issue(s) is/are important to me, and then appropriate phone numbers and scripts are provided. You could spend all day making phone calls, but since I'm retired and have the time at least I feel like I'm taking some action by making a few calls. It may all be for naught but it also makes me feel a tiny bit better. 

• I have been considering deleting facebook and instagram, but just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I never post anything on either site, but I still have a fear of missing out on something that might bring me a little joy, like beautiful yarn. I certainly don't need any more yarn and haven't bought any in quite a while, so maybe someday I'll just do it. Edited to add: I just did it. So long, Mark Zuckerberg.
  

• Speaking of yarn, someone has really messed up the closet in the back bedroom where my stash lives. I have two large bins and a small one for yarn but somehow that has expanded to a plastic chest with drawers and a trash bag. My needles and patterns used to be organized in a small bin and a notebook, but someone has been putting things back willy-nilly, to the point that I have to quickly shut the closet door so it doesn't all come spilling out. I'm envisioning this as at least a day-long project to take everything out, cull the stash, needles, and patterns, and organize it all when I put things back. I'll be ashamed to post before photos of this mess, but if I can get things under control, the after will hopefully be a big improvement. Since I've written it here, I'll need to actually do this (sometime, no promises when it will happen).
  

• There is power in clothing. I've never paid much attention to clothes fashion, but I wear what is comfortable and practical. In the winter, this is almost always some Duluth Trading overalls, a waffle weave shirt or turtleneck, and a Hitchhiker. I was looking through my Hitchhikers and came upon two alpaca cardigans that Ryan had given me for Christmas many years ago. I have been wearing one of them most days for the past week, and in addition to keeping me warm, they somehow make me feel more powerful; maybe grounded is a better word. I noticed this when I was making my phone calls. I don't think I will ever be featured in Vogue, but if it's good enough for Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift, and Audrey Hepburn, then a cardigan is good for me, too.  

• My BiL, Bill, is home after his cardiac adventures at Cleveland Clinic, seeing his doctors at home, starting cardiac rehab., and beginning the long process of recovering and regaining his strength. Thank you all for all of your good wishes and healing thoughts. They do seem to have made a difference and I appreciate all of them. Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” This whole process feels like a miracle to me.

I hope you all have as delightful a weekend as possible. Being happy in spite of the news is a form of resistance and one that I think we have to try hard to preserve.  Please feel free to share any bits and pieces and happiness that is going on in your life!

Unraveled Wednesday: 2/5/25

I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers today, with a warm FO, some disappointing unraveling, and a new cast on. 

I finished my Tunis Hot Waffles (ravelry link) mitts and they are as warm as I had hoped. I had to pick a lot of VM out of the yarn as I knit, but that just reminded me that this was very sheepy yarn. I wouldn't want to knit a cowl or sweater out of this as it would be far too scratchy, but it is perfect for a pair of substantial mitts.

The two-color shawl that I wrote about last week was a big disappointment. I dug through my stash, found two yarns that I thought would work together well and cast on. After three false starts and finally admitting that there was no way I was going to enjoy knitting this pattern, I gave up and started thinking in a different direction. The shawl I was going to knit was the Simon Shawl (ravelry link). I liked the look of the fabric in the photos and the attached i-cord was interesting. When I finally gave up, my fabric looked like this:

It didn't look anything like the houndstooth impression I had from the pattern photos and the i-cord in alternating colors just looked clownish. There is a definite right and wrong side and I didn't like either one of them. There was no discernable logic to the pattern, so that meant I would have to be looking at the multi-page pattern all the time. I could have knit more rows so I would have more real estate to judge as Kym often advises, but by the time I produced that little scrap above (36 tedious rows), I knew this was not the pattern for me. Maybe it's the yarn I chose, maybe it's a knitting skill that I'm lacking, but I do know what I like to knit and what I don't. 

But I do like the yarns I chose; they are ones I've been "saving" in my stash for eight or nine years. The gray is lovely and soft from Blue Sky Alpaca and the blue is a moody Madeline Tosh single called Stargazing. I looked at other two-color shawls for over an hour and you'll never guess what I decided on. 

 

A Hitchhiker that uses both yarns! It doesn't look like much so far because I spent a bit of time trying to figure out the best place to change yarns. I think I've arrived at a reasonable way to do it, so I hope to have more done next week. Forget that stuff I wrote last week about possibly being done with Hitchhikers; I may have been suffering from politically induced stress and prone to writing nonsense. Now that I've ripped out those 36 laborious rows, planned my Hitchhiker and cast on, I'm much happier. This Hitchhiker knitting might even help me deal with future politically induced stress due to extreme chaos.

After reading loads of books last week, I haven't finished anything this week. I am reading a couple of ARCs and listening to another weirdly fun book, so stay tuned for some reviews next week.

What are you making and reading this week?