Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)
40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)
Excellent basic crochet video series
Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)
Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)
How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)
Another drawing character faces video
Literally my favorite art pose hack
Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??
Introduction to flying small aircrafts
French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding
Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)
Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)
Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)
Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:
Calculus 1 (full semester class)
Learn basic statistics (free textbook)
Introduction to college physics (free textbook)
Introduction to accounting (free textbook)
Learn a language:
Ancient Greek
Latin
Spanish
German
Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)
French
Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)
i’ve compiled a huge google drive folder of anarchist, socialist, feminist, anti-colonial, anti-imperial books+ essays, crip + disability theory, queer theory, critical race theory, film theory, transnational + diaspora trauma study essays, and writings that combine all of the above
some essays i’ve got from school, most of the books and some essays r from beautiful people on the internet
to be updated as often as i get more shit. which is fairly often~
Hello! I replied to this post on Reddit today, trying to compile all the dark academia books I could think of, and then thought that maybe all of you here might find it useful too, so here you go. It is a very, very broad list, a mix of classic and contemporary literature, and there is no set criteria besides having a dark vibe (this includes murder and crime but could just be the way it’s written as well) and portraying an academic setting, most of the time from the student’s point of view. I haven’t read all of these myself and so I can’t judge on quality, but hopefully this will inspire people to add on to it in the comments.
Here you go!
The Lessons by Naomi Alderman Truly, Devious by Maureen Johnson The Secret History, Donna Tartt If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio Maurice by E. M. Forster The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Possession by A.S. Byatt The Truants by Kate Weinberg The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Vicious by V. E. Schwab The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (tangentially related) A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro The Likeness by Tana French The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (coming out tomorrow!) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman Oleanna by David Mamet Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Other classics that are not Dark Academia in content, but which I would include in a list of the DA canon: The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer Shakespeare’s plays (Macbeth, Hamlet are good ones to start with) A Separate Peace, John Knowles The Bacchae, Euripides Greek tragedies (a good one to start with is Antigone, very popular and staged many a time) Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Beat generation literature Jane Austen’s books (light academia, anyone?)
be - essere / stare there is - c’è there are - ci sono have - avere do - fare go - andare want - volere can - potere need - aver bisogno think - pensare know - sapere say - dire like - piacere speak - parlare learn - imparare understand - capire
Note - Verbs in Italian change all the time depending on the mood, tense and person. Here’s a useful Italian conjugator.
that (as in “I think that…” or “the woman that…”) - che and - e (if the following word starts with a vowel it is preferred that you use “ed”) or - o (if the following word starts with a vowel it is preferred that you use “od”) but - ma because - perché so (meaning “therefore” as in “I wanted it, so I bought it”) - per questo, perciò, quindi if - se
of - di to - a from - da in - in, a, da at (a place) - in, a, da at (a time) - a with - con about - circa, su like (meaning “similar to”) - come for (warning, this one has several meanings that you need to take care of) - per before (also as a conjunction) - prima di, prima che after (also as a conjunction) - dopo di, dopo che during - durante
Note - Prepositions in Italian are joined with the definite articles; e.g. di + la = della, a + il = al, etc.
who - chi what - che where - dove when - quando why - perché how - come how much - quanto/-a, quanti/-e which - quale, quali
a lot - molto, un sacco a little - un poco well - bene badly - male only - solo also - anche very - molto too (as in “too tall”) - troppo so (as in “so tall”) - davvero, molto so much - tanto more (know how to say “more … than …”) - più less (know how to say “less … than …”) - meno as … as … (e.g. “as tall as”) - tanto… quanto… best - meglio, migliore worst - peggio, peggiore now - ora, adesso then - allora, quindi here - qui there - lì, là maybe - forse always - sempre usually - di solito often - spesso sometimes - a volte never - mai today - oggi yesterday - ieri tomorrow - domani soon - presto almost - quasi already - già still - ancora enough - sufficiente, abbastanza
this - questo that - quello good - buono bad - cattivo all - tutto no - nessuno many - molto few - poco other - altro same - stesso different - diverso enough - abbastanza, sufficiente one - uno two - due first - primo easy - facile hard - difficile early - presto late - tardi important - importante interesting - interessante fun - divertente boring - noioso beautiful - bello big - grande small - piccolo happy - felice sad - triste busy - occupato excited - emozionato tired - stanco ready - pronto favorite - preferito new - nuovo right (meaning “correct”) - corretto wrong - sbagliato true - vero
Note - Italian adjectives always have to agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. The above list presents the adjectives in their masculine, singular form.
To know more about the pronouns, check out this post I wrote a while ago.
I - io you - tu she - ella, lei, essa he - egli, lui, esso it - esso/-a formal you - Lei we - noi you (plural) - voi they - essi, esse, loro
everything - tutto something - qualcosa nothing - niente everyone - tutti someone - qualcuno no one - nessuno Spanish - lo spagnolo English - l’inglese thing - la cosa person - la persona place - il luogo time (as in “a long time”) - il tempo time (as in “I did it 3 times”) - la volta friend - l’amico woman - la donna man - l’uomo money - i soldi country - il paese city - la città language - la lingua word - la parola food - il cibo house - la casa store - il negozio office - la oficina manager - direttore job - il lavoro work (as in “I have a lot of work to do”) - lavoro problem - il problema question - la domanda idea - l’idea life - la vita world - il mondo day - il giorno year - l’anno week - la settimana month - il mese hour - l’ora mother, father, parent - la madre, il padre, il genitore daughter, son, child - la figlia, il figlio, il bambino wife, husband - la sposa, lo sposo girlfriend, boyfriend - la ragazza, il ragazzo
Note - Italian nouns inflect by gender (masculine and feminine, with some instances of vestigial neuter) and number (singular and plural).
work (as in a person working) - lavorare work (meaning “to function”, e.g. “the TV works”) - funzionare see - vedere use - usare should - dovere believe - credere practice - praticare seem - sembrare come - venire leave - andarsene return - ritornare give - dare take - prendere bring - portare look for - cercare find - trovare receive - ricevere buy - comprare try - provare start - iniziano stop (doing something) - smettere di (fare qualcosa) finish - finire continue - continuare wake up - svegliarsi get up - alzarsi eat - mangiare eat breakfast - fare colazione eat lunch - pranzare eat dinner - cenare happen - succedere feel - sentire create (aka “make”) - creare cause (aka “make”) - causare meet (meeting someone for the first time) - conoscere ask (a question) - chiedere wonder - chiedersi reply - rispondere mean - significare, voler dire read - leggere write - scrivere listen - ascoltare hear - sentire remember - ricordare forget - dimenticare choose - scegliere decide - decidere be born - nascere die - morire kill - uccidere live - vivere stay - rimanere change - cambiare help - aiutare send - inviare study - studiare improve - migliorare hope - sperare
hello - ciao goodbye - addio thank you - grazie you’re welcome - di niente excuse me (to get someone’s attention) - scusa sorry - mi dispiace it’s fine (response to an apology) - non fa niente please - per favore yes - sì no - no my name is … - mi chiamo what’s your name? - come ti chiami? (informal singular); come si chiama? (formal singular) nice to meet you - piacere di conoscerti (informal singular); piacere di conoscerla (formal singular) how are you? - come stai? I’m doing well, how about you? - sto bene, e tu? sorry? / what? (if you didn’t hear something) - come? how do you say …? - come si dice …? what does … mean? - che vuol dire …? I don’t understand - non capisco could you repeat that? - puoi ripetere? (informal singular); può ripetere (formal singular) could you speak more slowly, please? - puoi parlare più lentamente? (informal singular); può parlare più lentamente? (formal singular) well (as in “well, I think…”) - bene really? - davvero? I guess that… - credo che… it’s hot (talking about the weather) - fa caldo it’s cold (talking about the weather) - fa freddo
Master list of British comedy that I’ve uploaded to various Google Drive accounts:
Main British comedy folder, containing:
A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Anna and Katy
Armando Iannucci -In the Loop -The Death of Stalin -The Personal History of David Copperfield — Alan Partridge ——On the Hour (radio) ——Knowing Me, Knowing You (radio) ——The Day Today (television) ——Knowing Me, Knowing You (television) ——I’m Alan Partridge (television) ——Mid-Morning Matters with Alan Partridge (television) ——Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (movie) ——This Time with Alan Partridge (television) -Avenue 5 -The Armando Iannucci Shows -The Thick of It (including deleted scenes from all episodes) -Veep (including a few special features)
Blackadder
Fawlty Towers
Mitchell and Webb -Magicians -Ambassadors -Back -Bruiser -Peep Show -That Mitchell and Webb Look -The Mitchell and Webb Situation
Mr. Bean
Ripping Yarns
Simon Amstell -Benjamin -Carnage -Grandma’s House -Never Mind the Buzzcocks (seasons 19-22) -Stand-up (Do Nothing, Numb, Set Free)
Stand-up -Daniel Sloss - X (2019) -James Acaster – Cold Lasagne I Hate Myself 1999 (2019) -Jo Brand – Barely (2003) -Rose Matafeo – Horndog (2020) -Susan Calman – Ladylike (2015) —Frankie Boyle ——Frankie Boyle Live (2008) ——If I Could Reach Out Through Your TV and Strangle You, I Would (2010) ——The Last Days of Sodom (2012) ——Hurt Like You’ve Never Been Loved (2016) ——Excited for You to See and Hate This (2019) —Joe Lycett ——That’s the Way A-Ha A-Ha Joe Lycett (2016) ——I’m About to Lose Control And I Think Joe Lycett (2018) —Jon Richardson ——Funny Magnet (2012) ——Nidiot (2014) ——Old Man (2018) —Josh Widdicombe ——And Another Thing (2013) ——What Do I Do Now (2016) —Lee Mack ——Lee Mack Live (2007) ——Going Out (2010) ——Hit the Road Mack (2014) —Rhod Gilbert ——The Award-Winning Mince Pie (2009) ——The Cat that Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst (2010) ——The Man with the Flaming Battenberg Tattoo (2012) —Russell Howard ——Russell Howard Live (2008) ——Dingledodies (2009) ——Right Here Right Now (2011) ——Wonderbox (2014) ——Recalibrate (2017) —Sarah Millican ——Chatterbox (2011) ——Thoroughly Modern Millican (2012) ——Home Bird (2014) ——Outsider (2016) ——Control Enthusiast (2018)
The Trip (all four movies)
Twenty Twelve and W1A -Twenty Twelve -W1A
Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister -Party Games special -Yes Minister -Yes, Prime Minister
Jon Richardson’s A Little Bit OCD
Not Going Out - seasons 1-7
Not Going Out - seasons 8-11
Panel Show episodes that feature both Jon Richardson and Lee Mack
We Need Answers
Jonathan Creek - seasons 1-4
Jonathan Creek - season 5
Insert Name Here
The Last Leg - seasons 1-8.5
The Last Leg - seasons 9-11
The Last Leg - seasons 12-18
The Last Leg - seasons 19-21
The Last Leg - season 22
Please let me know if any of the files are missing or don’t work. With the exceptions of Never Mind the Buzzcocks (I only uploaded seasons 19-22 because that’s when Simon Amstell hosted) and The Last Leg (there are some episodes I couldn’t find), all episodes of all shows should be there.
Library of Short Stories - A free and accessible collection of short stories from the public domain.
Global Grey ebooks - Free ebook downloads on a wide range of topics.
Weird Old Book Finder - A search tool that responds with one public domain book at a time.
Oldest Search - Search for the oldest results on the internet.
Deletionpedia - A wiki for articles deleted from Wikipedia.
Killed by Microsoft - A graveyard for the discontinued.
This is part 1 of a few on dystopia that I’ll be publishing every Monday because I find it incredibly interesting that we are so fascinated by societies that are going horribly wrong.
an ever-updating masterpost of books i've recommended. please check these before you ask for recommendations in case they've been covered —
fiction
"the tragedy still happened, but it was important that the love was there"
japanese literature
korean literature [1], [2]
gothic writing
spooky adult horror gothic
some favourites
marathi books
some ruskin bond
indian fiction [1], [2], historical fiction, stories, [3], [4]
non-fiction
general assorted ones i like
some favourites
about people living through crises
on geopolitics, foreign policy, international affairs
on political philsophy
vaguely sociology
biographies
on economic history
on the silk route
on prisons, convict labour
on afghanistan, soviet invasion, terror
capitalism
on language and linguistics
on the ancient and prehistoric world
just a bunch on india
the indus valley
indian aestheticism, art
gupta empire
sangam literature
on the northeast
india and southeast asia
nur jahan, mughal women | more
islamic conquest and state-making
on kashmir
assorted nonfiction
colonisation and aftereffects
on nationalism
on cities
on mumbai
on bollywood in bombay
on cities
on delhi
on kolkata
essays
history, migration, labour
art, reading, travel, gender, sports
nature, climate, some history
political economy, environmental and urban history, cartography and space
my comfort books
light reading
books that have got me out of my slumps
on art, photography, aesthetics, design [1], [2], [3]
on the environment
just some story and essay collections
online library so far:
margaret atwood
the brontës (the complete works is a MASSIVE file fyi)
anne carson
hélène cixous
bell hooks
clarice lispector
audre lorde
virginia woolf
compilations
feminist theory
academic writing (both books and articles)
everything here is in pdf format so you should be able to download and read it on any device. it’s slow going because i have a lot of epubs that i have to convert before uploading and the folders i’ve listed here are neither complete nor comprehensive, but it’s a start!
The title of this post is clickbait. I, unfortunately, have not read every book ever. Not all of these books are particularly “dark” either. However, these are my recommendations for your dark academia fix. The quality of each of these books varies. I have limited this list to books that are directly linked to the world of academia and/or which have a vaguely academic setting.
Dark Academia staples:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Dead Poets Society by Nancy H. Kleinbaum
Vita Nostra by Maryna Dyachenko
Dark academia litfic or contemporary:
Bunny by Mona Awad
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
White Ivy by Susie Yang
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Black Chalk by Christopher J. Yates
Attribution by Linda Moore
Dark academia thrillers or horror:
In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
Dark academia fantasy/sci-fi:
Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
Dark academia romance:
Gothikana by RuNyx
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Dark academia YA or MG:
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Crave by Tracy Wolff
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Dark academia miscellaneous:
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
This is a compiled list of some of my favorite pieces of short horror fiction, ranging from classics to modern-day horror, and includes links to where the full story can be read for free. Please be aware that any of these stories may contain subject matter you find disturbing, offensive, or otherwise distressing. Exercise caution when reading. Image art is from Scarecrow: Year One.
PSYCHOLOGICAL: tense, dread-inducing horror that preys upon the human psyche and aims to frighten on a mental or emotional level.
“The Frolic” by Thomas Ligotti, 1989
“Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, 1970
“89.1 FM” by Jimmy Juliano, 2015
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892
“Death at 421 Stockholm Street“ by C.K. Walker, 2016
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1973
“An Empty Prison” by Matt Dymerski, 2018
“A Suspicious Gift” by Algernon Blackwood, 1906
CURSED: stories concerning characters afflicted with a curse, either by procuring a plagued object or as punishment for their own nefarious actions.
“How Spoilers Bleed” by Clive Barker, 1991
“A Warning to the Curious” by M.R. James, 1925
“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” by Stephen J. Barringer and Gemma Files, 2010
“The Road Virus Heads North” by Stephen King, 1999
“Ring Once for Death” by Robert Arthur, 1954
“The Mary Hillenbrand Cassette“ by Jimmy Juliano, 2016
“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, 1902
MONSTERS: tales of ghouls, creeps, and everything in between.
“The Curse of Yig” by H.P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, 1929
“The Oddkids” by S.M. Piper, 2015
“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” by Richard Matheson
“The Graveyard Rats” by Henry Kuttner, 1936
“Tall Man” by C.K. Walker, 2016
“The Quest for Blank Claveringi“ by Patricia Highsmith, 1967
“The Showers” by Dylan Sindelar, 2012
CLASSICS: terrifying fiction written by innovators of literary horror.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1843
“The Interlopers” by Saki, 1919
“The Statement of Randolph Carter“ by H.P. Lovecraft, 1920
“The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Pierce, 1893
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, 1820
“August Heat” by W.F. Harvey, 1910
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, 1843
SUPERNATURAL: stories varying from spooky to sober, featuring lurking specters, wandering souls, and those haunted by ghosts and grief.
“Nora’s Visitor” by Russell R. James, 2011
“The Pale Man” by Julius Long, 1934
“A Collapse of Horses” by Brian Evenson, 2013
“The Jigsaw Puzzle” by J.B. Stamper, 1977
“The Mayor Will Make A Brief Statement and then Take Questions” by David Nickle, 2013
“The Night Wire” by H.F. Arnold, 1926
“Postcards from Natalie” by Carrie Laben, 2016
UNSETTLING: fiction that explores particularly disturbing topics, such as mutilation, violence, and body horror. Not recommended for readers who may be offended or upset by graphic content.
“Survivor Type” by Stephen King, 1982
“I’m On My Deathbed So I’m Coming Clean…” by M.J. Pack, 2018
“In the Hills, the Cities” by Clive Barker, 1984
“The New Fish” by T.W. Grim, 2013
“The Screwfly Solution” by Racoona Sheldon, 1977
“In the Darkness of the Fields” by Ho_Jun, 2015
“The October Game” by Ray Bradbury, 1948
“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison, 1967
HAPPY READING, HORROR FANS!