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 reminds me of henry like.. im sick of people saying 'rip henry you would've loved lana del rey' LIKE i'm sure he would've hated everything about her i'm sorry...
I have so much to say about how the fandom reduces francis to his sexuality and generally misrepresents his character but i dont think im ready to open that can of worms yet so ill just leave it at that
running errands like kurt vonnegut
Danez Smith, from "summer, somewhere"
Beautiful and thanks for making me cry darling
I rewatched Dead Poets Society a few weeks ago and felt inspired to write this contrapuntal poem :)
I'm fine (writes a poem related to death)
Don't stay silent when you see injustice !
by the way your voice always matters in the fight against injustice. every single time you speak out against an injustice it matters. it sheds light on it. it empowers others to speak up. it matters
I wake up at 6am, take my two buses at 7, get to look at the beautiful sunrise with headphones in my ears. I enjoy looking out the window, seeing the busy students and workers striding fast to their destinations. Suddenly, everything seems so lovely. Then i arrive at uni to take my morning classes. Different people are becoming friends.. each individual special in his own way; the way they do their hair, or the lipstick they have on.. even the way they do their hijab.. each one of them seem to be truly unique. I get out at 12 and take my buses again, happy to go have lunch with my mum and tell my brother about my day. Sometimes, the routine is changed slightly by buying a croissant in the morning to take it with my café au lait or reading a book in the bus.
When you're comfortable with who you are and who you're becoming, suddenly everyone seems busy with their own lives. I don't focus on the dark side anymore, i don't focus on the illusion of others mocking me. that version of me simply doesn't exist anymore. I'm now unapologetically my true authentic self.
Camilla is just like us fr 💌
whenever i’m having a bad day, i always remind myself that henry marchbanks winter is over 6 foot, buff as fuck, and broke a dudes ribs and collarbone and not even 6 guys could get him to stop fighting
and i understand camilla a little more
a boring med student who's confused about life. certified yapper - xviii – she/her
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