I’m so glad you enjoyed The Secret History the second time around! I read A Discovery of Witches and The Historian earlier in the summer and loved them as well. As far as the Dublin murder series goes, I would recommend reading the first two books in the series back to back. After that they can be read out of order. I’m currently reading The Secret Place and it also has major DA vibes so far - a murder takes place at a boarding school! Also just wanted you to know that I loved your Moby Dick video and it inspired me to finally start it. I’m loving it so far!
I’ve only known Dark Academia as a genre of music, like study playlists here on RU-vid. This was a cool video. I’m know realizing I’ve also really enjoyed some novels in this genre. Nice to see some other book recommendations. Adding them to my “to-read” list! Thanks.
Welcome dear Jennifer! Oh... So happy to see your new videos! I'm so excited when I receive notifications of your new videos because I know that everytime you are coming to show great books and inspire all of us to buy those books or at least read the ones that we already have, I do both actually 😊. Thank you for posting new videos and presenting always such amazing books! I think we share 95% of book tastes. 📖 Have a great weekend!
I read this in high school and it is still one of my most favorite books. I just got three copies on Amazon as they had a buy three for the price of two deal. Got one for myself and two of my friends! I will have to check out all of the other recommendations you have listed. Thank you!!!!
18:47 I'm currently reading the same book almost the same age you first read it! I first read it when I was 13 and continue reading it as a 14-year-old. I absolutely love it and it's also my favorite book at the moment!❤
Wow, great video! you recommended a couple of books that I've never heard of and I appreciate that. I always watch these videos and see the same books. I'm excited to read The Historian!
A few months ago I picked up The Historian at a used book store having heard nothing about it. I'm happy that you recommend it. Love your academia look today!
As The Historian and The Name of the rose are 2 of the 3 best books on here, I highly recommend that you pick up An instance of the fingerpost, as that completes the tribology,
I loved The Secret History. I've had The Name of the Rose on my bookshelf for way too long. I'm a bit intimidated by it to be honest. You've sold me on The Historian. xxx
Jennifer! Love the video and the recommendations! Ive been binge watching your channel recently and I adore you and your videos so much so thank you! Xx
I’ve read half of the books you mentioned and loved them all. I expect I’ll do even better on your classics list . Glad you’ve changed your mind about Secret History. Have you read Possession by A. S. Byatt? It’s one of my favourite books ever.
I read “Possession” when it first came out and again last month. It has aged incredibly well. I do hope you will read it. I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
The Historian! I don't recall it being mentioned in any other Dark Academia recommendations videos that I've watched, which is a shame because it's one of my favorite novels. I'm hoping to re-read it next month; it is such a deliciously creepy/menacing take on a vampire story. I've read The Secret History several times, and while I enjoy each re-read, it's definitely a book I have to push through each time I read it, and every time I re-read it, I question my decision to re-read it. lol I'm due for a re-read of the All Souls series; I'm interested to see my opinions of the 2nd and 3rd books change upon re-reading. (Gimme a book on Gallowglass already!) I think you'll really enjoy The Likeness, although I'm interested to hear what you think about In the Woods and The Likeness having watched the miniseries before (eventually) reading the novels. I'm planning on reading The Maidens this month, and I'm cautiously optimistic because I tend to dislike overly hyped books. I really enjoyed hearing your picks, and I look forward to watching your Classics follow up!
Thank you for the great recommendations, I'll check some of these out for sure! I've just started "If we were villains" (the first 100 pages more or less) and I'm enjoying it so far!
This was so great Jennifer. I’ll pick up some of this recommendations. I think you’d like The Likeness. Yes, definitely read the first book because even though they can be read on their own the main character of The Likeness is the female character of In The Woods.
Such a great video Jen!! I have TSHistory & TNOTRose lined up very soon to read & i cannot wait- the latter's film ive seen a couple times maaaany years ago (its v good). Also recently read Donna Tartts Goldfinch which i thought was spectacular but boy does that seem to be a divisive book- & was saving TSH for last as i though id like it best. As per another commenter i'd recommend Possession (AS Byatt)- i thought of you when i read it (tons of poetry). Definitely gonna check out some of these thank you !! : ))
It seems like people either love the Goldfinch or the Secret History so now I wonder if I'll hate the Goldfinch! Possession sounds amazing--adding it to the TBR!
Have to say the maidens was indeed a bad one for me too.. it really read as a poor version of donna tartt's the secret history, but would be interesting to hear your take on! thanks for the recommendations! definitely inspired to read lessons in vengeance!
I loved hearing about you talk about how you can find people like those in The Secret History. I didn’t love it but I will say it is a book that I still think about long after reading it. I don’t know what it says about me, but my favorite character is Henry 😐 I think maybe it’s his stoicism. I can be quite emotional so seeing someone be SO self possessed , I find fascinating lol. I would have liked to have seen more scenes on “the accident”, to know what really happened. I agree with you about vampires needing to be ancient! I tried reading The Historian a few years ago but didn’t finish it. The way someone explained it to me made me think it was totally different from how you described it, so it wasn’t what I was expecting. I will have to give it another go soon 💖
The Historian is a much easier read than any of Eco's books, I think reading Focaults pendulum and the Prague cemetery, I spent as much time googling stuff to understand them. Very educational
Loved this video and I’m so glad you enjoyed If We Were Villains. I was kind of worried when you held it up that you were going to say you were in the group that didn’t like it, but was so glad to be wrong! The Maidens was ok - I think if it wasn’t categorized as dark academia people might like it better. In my case, my expectations were too high and it wasn’t what I wanted it to be, if that makes sense? I definitely need a reread of The Secret History. I loved it the first time around, and am curious what I would think on a reread. I believe I read The Historian a long time ago, but I don’t remember much about it 🤭 I definitely need to reread that one so thanks for the recommendation!
I wonder about titles like the Maidens--sometimes, just because there is an academic setting, it doesn't mean that it will actually be true "dark academia." So I wonder how much expectation plays a part in things like that.
The name of the rose actually reminded me rn of my name is red my Orhan pamuk. I think that could be a rec as well. But I have problems relating to info dumps in both. of them.
Catherine House was ok; good for a debut, I guess. Had enough bright spots (errr...dark spots) to keep me interested even when it seemed to be spinning gears for no reason. Doesn't hold up to overthinking, but a decent quick read. Learned more about the history of statuary than I'd expected. Fortunately, it was vague on the advanced math.
I love the All Souls Trilogy and would like to do a reread of it (along with all my other rereads lol). I read The Historian years ago, but didn’t care for it - maybe I need to give it another chance. The Secret History is another I’d like to reread. I’m a big fan of dark academia books, so I really enjoyed this video and am looking forward to your classics recommendations in this sub-genre.
Hey Jennifer, great video as usual. I’m not particularly drawn to the dark academia vibe, but certainly enjoyed The Secret History when I read it. Another book you may want to check out is Bunny by Mona Awad, which I would describe as “weird dark academia”, perhaps leaning towards satire. Full disclosure: I H*T*D this book when I read it (though I did read to the end so that’s something I guess). But, as I said, I’m not sure that dark academia is my speed. Perhaps I’ll try one of your recommended reads and see how I get on. Enjoy your weekend. 🦊📚🤓
I had The Historian on my bookshelf for 15 years until I took it up Easter 2020 because I didn't have any other "light" read at home just then. I didn't expect much from it, but I turned out to be one of the best books ever. SO RICH!
Yesterday I filmed my bucket list book tag and The Name of the Rose is at the top of the list!! I actually have three Umberto Eco books on my list haha :P “History of Beauty” and “On Ugliness” are also in there ❤️
I read and enjoyed the atlas six, it definitely has magic at the forefront and some tumblr vibes. I wuold suggest to you vita nostra by dyachenko: magical and misterious school in russia where obtaining knowledge comes before anything elese. I've whatched the fisrt season of the discoveries of witches and I'm thinking about reading the book. I'm looking foreward your review of the name of the rose.
OK, I'm getting the Historian. It sounds just like the sort of story I would enjoy. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell would have fit perfectly on this list!
All of Iain Pears works are slooooow but “The Instance of the Fingerpost” is really worth the road. Curl up with it on a rainy day, with a mug of your favorite tea. You are probably through “The Name of the Rose” by now and I’ve no doubt it will be a five star read for you. I kept reading Eco after I had first read Rose years ago and he has never written a bad book. His topics all seem to be things that would be in your wheelhouse. “The Maidens” is a book by a lazy author and, sadly, is a pitiful effort. (Great cover though!)
