hey can you write a list of dark academia books you love and recommend? thanks!
1. The Secret History is a must. Richard moves to Vermont to a liberal arts college and finds an intriguing group of students in the classics circle. They murder their friend Bunny (which is not a spoiler, since it is revealed on the first page. Instead of a whodunnit, it’s a whydunnit. There are parts 1 and 2, 1 being before the murder, 2 being after. AMAZING characters, AMAZING writing style. Tartt is incredibly descriptive and deliberate in everything she writes, and this is no exception. You will literally go crazy over this book. Also it’s gay
2. If We Were Villains (though I’ve only read a little). Has lots of Shakespeare, acting, murder, gay, etc. It’s told from 10 years later. Many da blogs swear by this book and compare it to The Secret History, however, I personally think writing style is everything and I don’t really like Rio’s writing style, I find it very basic and non descriptive. But I do still suggest reading it just because there are so many references to it and it is considered The Secret History’s sibling, pretty much
3. Maurice (it’s also a great movie) by E.M. Forster. I haven’t really heard this one mentioned much in dark academia but I do really believe it fits into the genre. It’s in the 1910′s and about this guy named Maurice who is going to Cambridge University. He meets this other guy named Clive and they fall in love, but they’re insecure about being gay. There’s a lot of gay repression and whatnot since it’s the 1910′s, and that kind of provides the dark element. Basically Maurice decides to pursue his gayness and Clive just ignores his gayness, and it shows the two different ways their lives went because of this decision
1. Dead Poets Society by Nancy Kleinbaum. Yes, I know this is better known as a film, but the film is based off of the book. Books are always better than films, so I suggest this (and if you haven’t watched the film, do that right away because it is a staple of dark academia)
2. Black Chalk by Christopher Yates. About a group of people at Oxford who started a game of dares, but the stakes grew higher and the dares got more dangerous. The book takes place fourteen years later when they meet for one more round. Again, I haven’t read but I hear a lot of good things about it
3. The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. I’ve only heard of this one recently but it seems to have a very complex plot and backstory, lots of death, classics, and studies. Still, I haven’t read it so I can’t recommend it too highly yet
4. The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy. It just came in the mail for me the other day! From what I can tell it’s just about a teacher at a university who is convinced the other teachers all hate him, so he does outrageous things. I don’t know too much about it but from what I can tell it might even be more dark academia than The Secret History.
I’m sorry, this was a very short list, but there are a lot of blogs with asks like this (especially from @decadeance) and though it’s a short list, I do think these books are quality books. Quality over quantity, right?