I Have A Book I Bought For £2 In This Amazing Bookshop In My Mum’s Hometown And I Discovered Its 105

spending my life studying for ancient greek class, teaching myself latin, reading and annotating books, listening to classical music, worshiping ancient deities, travelling, visiting museums and getting drunk with my best friends on summer afternoons, while constantly lingering on the verge of insanity.

how much more “the secret history” can my life get?

the disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined

not a single vampire boy has slid into my asks and i am immeasurably disappointed

massive props to neil perry for not crying after every single conversation with his dad

tweed jackets, corduroy pants, brown trousers, oxford shoes, white button ups, brown leather, heavy sweaters, coffee rings, ripped out pages, thick belts, wire rimmed glasses, dusty books, quiet spaces, low lighting, dark wood, the picture of dorian gray, thick paper, expensive pens, figering brushing while reaching for the same book, long eye contact, small classes, close relationships with teachers, being an enigma, disappearing without explanation, wilting flowers, long coats, thrist for knowledge, thick volumes of ancient words, reading poetry aloud, old watches, golden jewelry, classical music, red wine, black coffee, music played on the piano, close knit groups of friends, a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.

Dark Academia Extended Tag 🪐

Taken from @wellyouwontknow on weheartit

1. Are you going to learn Greek, Latin or French?

2. Will you drink coffee or tea as you read trough old books?

3. Running through the dark, mysterious forests behind the school at night or early morning walks around the school?

4. Will you read Kill Your Darlings or The Picture of Dorian Gray?

5. Will you read The Secret History or Dead Poets Society?

6. All-girls school, all-boys school, or going to a school for everyone?

7. Will you tell your friends about Oscar Wilde or Edgar Allan Poe?

8. Will you tell the rough truth or the sweet lies about what happened last weekend?

9. Will you prefer the sound of the crowded library (flipping pages, pencils meeting paper, soft whispers) or your shared dormitory at night (snoring, fire crackles, rain tapping against the window?

10. Running in the rain or laying on grass during summer?

11. At night, when they ask for a scary story, will you tell of true crime or urban legends?

12. Will your old radio play classical or jazz?

13. Will you take history or English class?

14. Will you dance in the moonlight, or play the piano, softly?

15. Will you prefer an old countryside manor, or a big city house?

16. In an empty classroom, will you solve equations on the blackboard, or search for answers in an old forgotten book?

17. Will you sit on a bench, in silence, with the person that you love, or dance at a ball with the same person?

18. Will you write music or poetry?

19. Will you go to a crowded reception, or spend the night telling horror stories to your friends?

20. Will you be a student at a boarding school in the countryside, or at a prestigious university?

21. A quiet and desired solitude or a group of friends with whom to break the rules?

22. Will you play Hamlet or Othello?

23. Will you pledge allegiance to the gods of science or literature?

24. Will you be forced to abandon love for ambition or ambition for love?

25. Will you visit rainy London or gloomy Paris?

26. Will you experience a forbidden love, because homosexual, or because incompatible with the social differences?

27. Will you play the piano or the violin?

28. Will you study late at night, or from early morning?

29. Will you be crazy about old novels or old movies?

30. Will you visit an abandoned chapel, at night, or a hidden library?

31. Will you wear tweed blazer or a trench coat?

32. Corduroy or plaid pants?

33. Oxford shoes or Doc Marten's boots?

34. A beige blouse or a black turtleneck?

35. A pocket watch or metal glasses?

36. Will you prefer the sound of dead leaves crunching under the feet or the feeling of the sun on your skin on a winter day?

37. Will you smoke a cigarette on the terrace of a cafe, reading the newspaper, or drinking red wine at night, a violin in your hand?

38. Will you spend hours in a museum, starring the same piece of art, or typing an essay on a typewriter?

39. Will you wear your hair tied by a ribbon, or braided?

40. A hazy graveyard at dusk, or a wild horse running in a field?

41. Will you prefer a Gothic-style building (high windows, towers) or neoclassical (columns, sober)?

42. Will you meet your love in secret between two shelves in the library, or behind a chapel?

43. Will you read Jane Austen or Henry James?

44. Will you wear the portrait of your loved one as a medallion, or place one of their letters against your heart?

my inbox is open! send me a number <3 (or do it yourself too)

PEN PALS

I’m looking for a pen pal preferably in the U.K. but I’m okay with elsewhere.

Preferably people in their teens like me just so it’s easier to talk too.

So message me if your interested and up for it

Why we should stop comparing The Secret History and If We Were Villains

I've seen people putting the two books together as pillars of dark academia countless times, often trying to explain why their favourite one is the best and it is useless. The two books are incredibly different and you will inevitably be disappointed in one of the two if you read them with the same intentions.

The Secret History is a reversed mystery novel: from the very first lines, we know who died, how, and who killed him. The questions we are left with are "Why did they do that?", and "Will they get away with that?" The book is fundamentally psychological, it's a character-driven book, which explains why such a long part is dedicated to establishing them, their relationships, while the actual murder is surprisingly short.

If We Were Villains, on the other hand, is a more traditional detective novel, though it doesn't totally fit the standard. It's a whodunit, and when we start the book, we know who got arrested but the mystery throughout the novel follows four questions: "Who died?", "Who did it?", "Why did they do it?" and "Why did Oliver get arrested?" We are trying to solve the murder at the same time as the detective. It's a plot-driven novel, and although the characters are very important, they are all defined by one quality and one flaw during the first act (the characterisation in this book is amazing, I'm probably gonna make a post about it).

Obviously, if you read TSH and IWWV with the same expectations, one of them is going to bore you. However, if you consider their differences, they are both excellent books in their genre. If they do have some common elements (a group of students that's almost sectarian, and murder), saying that IWWV plagiarized TSH sounds pretty ridiculous to me. IWWV is a love letter to Shakespeare and the madness in his characters, TSH is a critic of elitism in academic spaces. And they both deserve praise, if only people would stop comparing them.

I would give anything to read about the winter Bunny and Henry spend together in Rome. Please. Just two hundred pages of Bunny eating gelato and annoying the ever living shit out of Henry. Please. That’s all I want.

i didn’t realise how much i would love sixth form at a college especially at one where i didn’t think i would ever go.

i also didn’t think english literature would overtake history as my favourite but it has and i am loving it so much! my english teacher is like one from the films! she just wants us to explore everything we can in poems it doesn’t matter what it is she just wants us to really get them! i’m just letting all of weird ideas about them go and she’s like “amazing! i love it!” aaaggh

why didn’t anyone tell me how good english teachers could be ????

(also it’s my 17th birthday today!)