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such a gem of an interview. being able to hear the audience's participation - it really truly feels like you're there.

donna tartt, 1993 on the secret history

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my most favorite parts of mirror of ecidyrue are the grindelwald scenes prisoner of nurmengard (6)

in my biannual read i almost always skip over the first half of the story to get to that part

i love the dantanian arc and so much beautiful lore exploration

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“The larger of the two - and he was quite large, well over six feet - was dark-haired, with a square jaw and coarse, pale skin. He might have been handsome had his features been less set, or his eyes, behind the glasses, less expressionless and blank. He wore dark English suits and carried an umbrella (a bizarre sight in Hampden) and he walked stiffly through the throngs of hippies an beatniks and preppies and punks with the self-conscious formality of an old ballerina, surprising in one so large as he. "Henry Winter," said my friends when I pointed him out, at a distance, making a wide circle to avoid a group of bongo players on the lawn.” ― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

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The Secret History Spoilers

Thinking about that one scene in The Secret History where Camilla accidentally stepped on a shard of glass. This small episode clearly sets out the roles within the group and shows how everyone reacts in the crisis. Instead of directly helping, Richard's first action is to call Francis and Henry. Then he just waits for Henry's instructions, though he was the one who studied medicine for some time. Francis reacts more emotionally and asks Camilla how she feels, but he is unable to act on his own and goes after the first-aid kit only after Henry's instructions. At first, Charles wants to take the glass out of her foot. Nevertheless, he can't bring himself to do it. Only Henry, though by the end of the book it's evident that he loved Camilla and didn't want to cause her additional pain, takes responsibility, removes the shard, and does what no one else dared to do.

The same thing happens with Bunny's murder and with Henry's death by the end of the book. His suicide solved several problems at once: it provided an explanation why Richard was shot, kind of diminished Charles' anger, since he wouldn't calm down otherwise, solved Camilla and Charles' relationship.

As far as I am concerned, Henry didn't feel guilty for any of the murders. It was Julian's betrayal that pushed him to commit suicide and the circumstances allowed him to solve most of their problems by it. I am not sure if he would do it in any other situation, but I think after realizing that the person he viewed as a God (aka Julian) was actually a coward from his perspective, life no longer held the same value for him.

[I've finished reading TSH today, and my brain is trying to connect all the dots, so I'll probably post a book review later on. However, I feel like this book doesn't need a review, but a bunch of analysis posts instead]

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hello ao3 author shaekspeares, i just need you to know that i think about papenathy from Sober II all the mf time. my girlfriend had me read TSH last year (it's her favorite book); and i have selfishly suggested we do a re-read together this winter, and follow it with your fic, which she has not read - but she is ofc not pleased with how things turned out for Francis in canon. thank you for your service. 🫡

hello anon tumblr user. i thank you for your ask and your spreading the good word. i am very pleased my papenathy lives on.

actually im almost done w x2 new papenathy fics (imagine that), of which one may or may not be in sober ii verse. happy 2025 etc.

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may i present klaus mäkelä, conductor of the oslo philharmonic

Draco would be so into conducting orchestras like he’d put his whole pussy into it and get so lost in the music, would make it look like a dance, and it gets to the point where the audience can’t help but be transfixed on him as well as on the music

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recent joys

1. fawn print

2. olive green/bright blue

3. warm socks

4. almond scent

5. big bottles of anything (contact solution, orange juice)

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breaking news!!!! spotify wrapped is released at the beginning of december Not for christmas music as many believe, but to allow you ample obsessive listening of your top 100 so you can tire them all out before the new year where u find new music all over again

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Henry and Camilla at the lake

The Secret History, page 98

McCaughey, Eleanor. The Secret History. 2013. Oil and acrylic on wood. Accessed on flickr.com.

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Henry and Bunny Polaroids in Rome. Bunny is probably complaining in his. I feel like in all the pics they have Bunny is looking away from the camera and Henry is looking too intensely at it.

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living far away from a coast in summer is actually torture i think governments should start torturing prisoners with images of beaches and summer houses and lakes while being stuck in nebraska

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OBSESSED with the way donna tartt reads the "cubitum eamus" scene in her audiobook. the little 🎵nothing🎵 lives rent free in my head

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bunny corcoran aesthetic

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why r ppl surprised ab the girl harmonizing with the ceiling fan on tiktok. like didn't we already discover that the constant whirring is the sound of grief and melancholy and mourning a life you once could've had from class of 2013 (audiotree live version) by mitski miyawaki

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"i do not need a core" I DO NOT NEED A CORE. i am ME! I am me! i am free from "aesthetics". sorry u dont understand my shoujo girl americana the secret history jazz chic newjeans nostalgia core style.

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being young is like. is this burnout or am i just incapable of work ever. is this just a slump or have i already hit my peak at 12. is this me spiraling or am i fundamentally cursed to live an unpleasant life forever.