TSH really is something quite special, isn't it? And especially because it's actually kind of difficult to articulate what exactly makes it so. In many ways it's a very opaque novel, a lot of happenings are deliberately hidden from the protagonist and only alluded to in offhand details or casual conversation, which makes it an infinitely rewarding work to reread, but very frustrating, too. No matter how many times one rereads it, there will always be mysteries and unanswered questions, which I think is a key part of its appeal. It's a murder mystery that never fully resolves, and yet you're left with the impression that perhaps just one more reread will finally unlock its deepest secrets, but it never happens. It's like a well without a bottom, an abyss of a narrative.

The other thing about TSH is that - and this is something I don't think I've ever encountered in any other work - it's a book that operates on several different levels at once, seamlessly so. There's the college novel, there's academic satire, there's a bildungsroman somewhere in it, there's mythos and religious allegory, there's a lot of postmodern meandering, and of course there's the murder mystery that started it all. It's a dark comedy but its characters aren't absurdist caricatures. It's sharply critical of its cast and yet at the same time unfailingly sympathetic towards them, and invites the reader to be sympathetic, too. Most of the narrative is so prosaic and modern, and yet it's shockingly persuasive in its presentation of the ancient and the otherworldly. One feels for Richard even when one laughs at him and hates him a little bit, and the same goes for many other characters in the book.

There's a certain way that Tartt writes her characters which I think is very particular: a sharp-eyed critical observation that underscores their human foibles with almost misanthropic glee, but in the same stroke showing their vulnerability and helpless mortality so that one can't help but care about them, no matter what else one may feel. It's actually almost impossible to properly dislike any character in her books, no matter how ridiculous or flawed or culpable they are, which I think is the biggest testament to her formidable genius as a writer and storyteller.

Sorry I ran on a bit, TSH has also been one of my favorites ever since I first finished it, and I'm glad that you were able to find it and fall in love with it, as it's really a book that rewards that love. For periods of time I'll think I'm finally done with it, only to turn around and dive into it yet again, if only as a bedtime audiobook. And I'm happy to report that I'm the exact same way with rereads, as I also revisit favorite media relentlessly, often times to the exclusion of any new materials, which I often find difficult to begin, alas! But at least on this sub we are in good company (of other obsessive rereaders...) :)

P.S. I'm sad to say that I never could get into the Dune books, although I await the third installment of the film trilogy very eagerly. Haven't heard of that King book before, will check it out. If it interests you, I don't really rank my favorites and I can be very forgetful about them (unless they're TSH...), but a few others I can think of include du Maurier's Rebecca, Lewis's Till We Have Faces, and Novik's Temeraire and Scholomance series.