This book was in the Top 100 in the BBC's The Big Read. It has 660 pages - so not a quick book to read but worth it. The reviews and synopsis are on Amazon.com. This is a paperback.
Please make a journal entry when you get the book and another one when you've read it and are sending it on. Please PM the next person on the list for their address. Thanks.
Posted to lesezeichen on 10th March.

The list so far is;
1.lesezeichen, Dusseldorf, Germany
2. Honeyy,London, England
3. Leighspeak, Kent, England
4. mlbish,Chicago, U.S
5. vivdripper, Massachusetts, U.S.
6. wandering, Netherlands
7. sarana, Netherlands
8. fio-dagua, Portugal

Returned on Feb 2nd 2005.

Thanks to everyone who has taken in interest in this bookring.

Thanks for sending the book, reetpetite. It won't be long before I start it!

Received with thanks, today from lesezeichen.

I just have to finish The Lovely Bones (which should take me - oh, about a day I reckon :) ) and I'll start the The Secret History. I think I have read this before, several years ago, but I hardly remember anything about it. I signed up for the bookring because recently it has frustrated me when friends have talked about how great the book is and I can't join in, because I can't remember it!
Looking forward to refreshing my memory....

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though I felt like it was taking ages to get through it. I did vaguely remember parts of the book - I think I may have read some of it years ago, but not finished it for some reason. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do so now as I found the storyline quite compelling as the plot unfurled. I would like to read more by this author, as this book was very original.
A really good read.

Sent to Leighspeak today.

Just received this morning, thanks Honeyy! I will start to read it soon!

10th April: I'm hooked!

This is the best book I've read so far this year. I don't know why I passed over it so many times at my bookshop. The plot was fantastic, the characters well set out, the whole story was facinating, engrosing and wonderfully put together.

I really enjoyed it!

I'm so glad to have been part of this bookring, thanks ReetPetite, for letting me take part :-)

I'll be posting this out to the next person on the list on Friday 15th April 2004.

16th April 2004:

Sent to mlbish, controlled release, by air mail.

Received yesterday. Thank you! I'm looking forward to reading it, and will pass it on ASAP.

I finished this one a few days ago. It was great! I probably would never have read it if not for this bookring, so I owe a big thank you to ReetPetite. Also LeighSpeak, I forgot to thank you for the pretty bookmark. I've really enjoyed using it!

Also, it's possible that my review will contain spoilers, so read with caution...

What an interesting book. I wouldn't say it flew, but it certainly did clip right along, and I didn't really feel the 600 pages. I did prefer the story and writing and characters in Book I (the first half). Donna Tartt's decision to reveal the murder in the Prologue was brilliant, in my opinion. It really did create the tension and suspense she intended. It's true that Bunny was an irritating character, but I couldn't understand why his actions would warrant a murder and as the events unfolded, the plot just got more and more fascinating. Knowing what was going to ultimately happen just added to the excitement of the story.

The murder of the farmer was totally bizarre to me. I'm still not sure exactly what happened. I suppose that was the point, but I found it very weird. And the condition he was found in was really...hard to account for (to say the very least).

Book II was not as great for me. As the characters started to come unglued, I thought their behavior became more and more inexplicable. I suppose the tension and stress of hiding a murder would explain their tense and strange behavior, but I still found it hard to understand. It wasn't clear to me whether Charles and Camilla had the problems they did before the murder and they were just exacerbated by his excessive drinking and their stress or whether they mostly started after. I am thinking in terms of the 'domestic violence'-type issues. It was pretty clear that they'd had a sexual relationship for quite some time. And just in general, I thought the writing and tone was quite different in the second half of the book. I still liked it, I just didn't think it was as brilliant as the first half.

I was a little disappointed in the character of Julian. I had read reviews that discussed how much Julian manipulated his students, etc., but I didn't really see that. I would have preferred his having a little stronger role, which could have made him a much more sinister and interesting character. He could have been great.

On the whole, I thought this was a great book! I really enjoyed reading it and I'm glad BC has given me the opportunity.

I will pass it on as soon as I can. I'm traveling this week, but I'll try to get it out before I get back.

Mailed today. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I received this in the mail today. Thanks Reetpetite for sharing this one! Will get this out quickly to Wandering once I am settled and have an addy.

What a great book. I had heard so much about this and was not disapointed. Thanks ReetPetite! I'll be sending this off to Welcoming in The Netherlands today.

Received it yesterday - and I'm still wondering how on earth they got it in my mailbox... The packet really was much bigger than the opening in my box!

Thanks ReetPetite for sharing the book and vivdripper for sending it! I will read it a.s.a.p.

This book is very much unlike any other book I have ever read and it has left me wondering still what really happened. I can't help having the feeling that I missed out on some important details in the story. Maybe it is because the story is told from Richards point of view and I find quite some characteristics from him in myself; being naive, never thinking bad things about anyone until there is unmistakable evidence that they did do something wrong and always hearing (the true) stories last - if at all.

I liked this book although I also felt it takes a long time to get through it. This might be the kind of book that keeps revealing new facts every time you reread them - which I most probably will in the future.

I will send it along as soon as I get Saranas address.

Coming home after a rehearsal weekend with my singing quartet I found The Secret History waiting in the mailbox. Thanks wandering! I'll get on it as soon as possible. I have my final exam of this study year tomorrow, so after that it's nothing but books for me the rest of the summer... :)

Oh. My. God. I don't know what kind of book I was expecting but not this. Brilliant... The story gripped me with its big claws right on page one and didn't let go. What stood out the most for me, was the atmosphere. It was so tense, it was like there was a little soundtrack playing in the background with creepy music, saying "This is going soooo wrong..." Ofcourse a lot of that came from the prologue, which kept me thinking the whole time: how will things ever get out of hand that much? Each of the characters felt so real that they could've jumped out of the book at any moment. And the part where Richard spends the winter in Hampden... I shivered the whole time, even though I was reading it on a very warm sunny day.

One of the best books I've read in a long time, thanks for starting this ring Reetpetite!

I'll PM fio-dagua now...

There was a bit of delay, but The Secret History continues his journey today. This time it's off to Portugal...

hi there
the book is with me!
i´m sorry, it arrived few days ago but i forgot to do the journal...

This book arrived home today, thanks fio-dagua, I'd be interested to hear what you thought of it.
Thanks to everyone who took part in this bookring & kept it going. It's still in really good condition. You're all excellent BCers ;)

Will be going to fflloorr in Portugal.

Weeeeeeee!!!!!
The book arrived 3 days ago but only now did I have the chance to journal it.
Thanks a lot ReetPetite for the loan. As agreed, I'm starting a Portuguese bookring with this book. Here goes the list of participants, in no special order:
Xana
BlossomU
Ridufa
Mady
Maria-Nunes
Escalla
PreciousArwen
CorvoAudaz

And then back to me...
... and back to ReetPetite!

Enjoy the book!

What can I say? I loved it! It's a great book, very well written and I just couldn't stop reading it. I had great expectations and they were all fulfilled. Thanks a lot ReetPetite for the loan!

Received this one today. I've also finished my current read today, so this'll be next :)

Finished reading this one last night. However, I had big expectations that weren't fulfilled :( I expected a different kind of book and I couldn't relate to any of the characters. Also as I read more and more my dislike for the characters only increased... Nevertheless, I don't think the book was bad, just not as good as I'd expected it to be.
It'll go to meet its next reader tomorrow.

Just arrived, and me with a couple other bookrings at home ( bit of a record actually, three bookrings in the house), I got to finish those two others before tacking this. I hope to not take too long reading it, new journal entry as soon as I finish this.

I just finished it and mean to pass it along to next reader tonight. I enjoyed it a lot, though like others of course I did not like the main characters. It was an interesting revelation of how intelectual arrogance can work ( confirmed my empirical observations that people who use the word exegesis seriously in real life are up to no good ;) ), and pretty convincing, plus I always got a weakness for university or boarding school stories which this is. Maybe because of the Rendell blurb I expected some extra punch or happening by the end, I was disapointed there.

Thanks reetpetite and flor!

It's with me now! :)

With me now!
Reading it today.

It's on the list...

got it from Sandra/escalla yesterday.
I'll try to read it soon, but probably I'll not be able to pass it to the next person - corvoaudaz - before middle or end of October...
anyway, I'll let you know when I finish reading it.
Thanks for sharing :)

I really enjoyed reading this book :)))
thanks a lot for sharing!
it soon will go to the next reader.

Received Yesterday hand-on-hand. Since I'm the last on the list, I will take some time, not much.