I have read over 200 books in 2025 and this one has been my favorite of the year
This was beautifully written and I highly doubt anything tops it
A group of eccentric, wealthy classics students at an elite New England college who, under the influence of their charismatic professor, delve into ancient Greek rituals, leading to an accidental murder of a farmer and later the deliberate murder of their own friend Bunny Corcoran, all while grappling with guilt, paranoia, and the disintegration of their friendships as they try to cover up their dark secret, exploring themes of beauty, morality, and intellectual obsession.
She wrote Goldfinch, right? That was too sad
“Dooonnaaaa Tartt doot doot doo doot doo doo Donna Tartt doot doot doo doot doo doo Donna Tartt doot doot doo doot doo doo Donna Taaaaartt…”
I wish I could read this book again for the first time. Just wonderful.
I'm going to agree to disagree.
Holy Cow. I disliked this book immensely.
(go listen to the podcast: "Once upon a time ... at Bennington College" - its about this book - in a way - and Donna Tartt, Bret Easton Ellis)
Same! I am a voracious reader, and once I got older I heard so many positive things about how this book was "One of the greatest of all time"
Read it a couple of years ago and wow, what a disappointment. I don't deny it had its good parts and is still well done compared to many, but best of all time? What are you people reading?
Yeah, I would be pissed about the spoilers if I hadn’t DNFed with no intention of trying again. After several hundred pages I had no clue why I would be expected to care about any of those people.
Same, I was absolutely gutted that I hated this book after years of hype and months waiting for my hold at the library. However, I read Tartt's The Goldfinch and LOVED it with a burning passion.
Wild I liked the goldfinch until the middle I skipped the drug induced self pity 300 pages.
bahahha that is valid, unfortunately i am a great fan of drug induced self pity
Yeup. Same for me as well. It was suggested as similar to Babel by R F Kuang to me and was such an incredible disappointment. It felt like it had the opposite theme entirely and I disliked every single character except Judy Poovey. (Who the protagonist hates for some reason? Even though she is constantly doing him favors and helping him out??)
Throw us a bone - what didn’t you like?
This was my fave
I loved this book. Read it around the same time as Tana French’s The Likeness and loved that as well.
The Likeness is sooo good
Loved this book and all of Ms. Tartts books. It’s not discussed as much, but I loved The Little Friend.
I haven’t read this one in a hot sec, but I think this post just pushed it to the top of my tbr 😭
I loved Secret History and consider it to be the OG dark academia tbh. The Goldfinch was also a really good read. Definitely a brick but the writing and plot were incredible imo! :)
god, I love Donna.
Damn I really need to read this
This has been on my reading list forever - I need to finally sit down and read it!
LOVED! I listened to this one on Audible, narrated by the author and it was just perfect
Bunny's voice is seared into my memory.
SAME! 🐰
This book is an all-timer. Sure, many others have attempted their own versions of "dark academia" but no one is doing it like the legend Donna Tartt.
Definitely check out The Goldfinch if you haven't..another book that has stayed with me for a long time.
And maybe venture to some of Brett Easton Ellis' work (part of the Donna Tartt cinematic universe :) - obviously American Psycho is his most well-known and absolutely worth a read, but I'd also recommend Glamorama and his newest book, The Shards.
Modern classic!
I read this years ago, and listened to the audiobook later to absorb it some more and love it so much. Just this year I picked up Tartt's The Little Friend and it is just as absorbing and excellent, although the subject matter is different. Still the same dark tone and mystery with intense characterization, but deep south coming of age instead of new england college. I loved it just as much!!
Such a great book.
I’m not going to read the comments because I chose this for my book club’s next read. I’ll start it in a couple weeks. I hope we all love it!!
💯
This is my favorite book of all time! I’ve been searching for something similar for a while but nothing quite gets it right. “Catherine House” was close, but not quite. In similar vein but more supernatural, I enjoyed “Bunny”
Her other two books are also excellent
Yeah, this is one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time.
This is one of my top 10 fiction books of all time.
I just got this in the mail and it’s on my TBR - I am excited to read it! Not sure if I’ll finish the year off with this book or maybe start of 2026 with it.
There are rumors about this being a true story. Bad in her time at Bennington college w/Brett Easton Ellis
This may be my favorite book! I should re-read it
Same!
I think about this book OFTEN!
This to me is like the OG of the whole Dark Academia genre and is why I love it so much. With each new book in the genre I’m chasing the high this book gave me.
There’s a movie called The Last Supper you might enjoy.
I'm so shocked The Secret History has never been turned into a movie or limited series
They were planning to in the 90s, but it didn't work out. The Goldfinch was made into a movie and it flopped hard. It scared Tartt off adapting any of her books into movies, so there's a good chance it'll never happen.
Do you recommend any other dark academia
Babel!
My Dark Vanessa
Read that one earlier this year
I enjoyed it 4 stars
Any other lesser known dark academia books you’ve liked?
I’m about 100 pages away from finishing this book and I love it so much!!
All the references to greek mythology was so fun to read from Achilles to Dionysus
This was a good read!
Now read The Goldfinch if you haven't already.
I loved the chapter about Boris
That was a DNF for me
I put it down for like a year then finally finished it out of spite
I finished it out of sheer stubbornness. The only other book that was even more of a slog was the Bible.
Yeah such a disappointment
This book started out so good for me, loved the writing but then it became about 100 pages too long by the end. Still liked it overall.
Couldn’t agree with you more about the length of this book—far too long for what it is. Loved the first 1/2-2/3.
Such an amazing book. Donna Tartt is top tier.
Straight up hate this book, it’s fascinating to me that so many loved it
It's fantastic when you realize that the book is a parody making fun of the exact type of people in the novel. They're supposed to be flat, dull, and huffing their own farts because these are the types at these colleges. Richard literally states the thesis in the first sentence. It's a shame that it spawned a whole genre (dark academia), fundamentally missing the point that aesthetic≠substance.
Yes...It was like an ecg... Undulating between booze and bars...and explaining or describing the 2 murders as if they were recapping holiday itineraries with tour guides.
You can dislike the people in it and appreciate the book still. For me it was as if Tartt the writer disappeared and Pinocchio became a true boy. She created life in the lab, and understood that the best thing authors can do is to become invisible and shut up artifacts, set aside the hard thing done.
But I didn’t. I disliked both the characters and the plot, I thought it was shallow, uninteresting, and bad. It had literally no redeeming features for me
I thought it was…fine? Really wish I would’ve loved it after hearing so many accolades, but it just fell flat for me.
I think it depends what you like
Its definitely a slow burn
Omg, I thought I was the only one. Absolutely could not stand it.
I feel like the characters are so thin-nothing in their connection really feels authentic, no one is particularly likable. And the whole book felt like it was setting Julian up to be this shadowy controlling figure and it was a misdirect. I forced myself to finish it because it was so recommended here but it could have easily been a DNF for me
This was exactly how I felt. I forced the finish because everyone said the ‘twist’ was so mind blowing and it just felt so flat. I would have been happier if more bad stuff happened to the characters who I truly despised by the end 🤣.
Same. Though I listened to it, and Tartt’s narration certainly didn’t help.
I started to listen and her horrid voice made me hate the book. Yuck. DNF… Was just thinking maybe I should try the book but already tainted my opinion. Just cannot.
This is one of my favorite books of all time and has never been topped for me in that genre. Give The Goldfinch a try if you haven't, I found I enjoyed it nearly as much. :)
I also adored The Goldfinch 🩵
I tried it recently too and DNF it
I can't imagine another dark academia book topping TSH but if anyone has any recs make them please
Just put it on hold. Looking like this will be #100 for me this year. The timing should be right.
Excited to read! I’ve gotten so many exceptional recommendations on this sub for the year. Thank you for taking the time to post, it truly means a lot.
200 books in 52 weeks?
I think close to 215 and im sure about 30% are audiobooks
That’s still an insane amount…. What percentage can you remember? Like do you reckon you could have a conversation about more than half of them?
There were some that weren't as memorable but I have been keeping track of my top 20 all year
My updated 2025 top 20
Tartt - Secret History
Due - Reformatory
Williams - Stoner
Martel - Life of Pi
Clarke - Piranesi
McGee - Erin's Diary
Peck - A Short Stay in Hell
Craig - Curse of Medusa
Bostwick - Troublesome Women
Becker - In the Family Way
McConaughey - Greenlights
Alcott - Little Women
Morgenstern - Night Circus
Backman - My Friends
Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
Backman - Anxious People
Blume - Margaret
Smith - Labyrinth
Grohl - Storyteller
Akbar - Martyr
I’m guessing a lot of audiobooks?
Has to be
Not necessarily! I’ve read 205 books so far this year and only 2 were audiobooks.