academicwannabes

Latest Posts by academicwannabes

Wounds of the Earth

— by xis.lanyx

i know i can't argue with reality here but it's devastatingly unromantic that blood transfusions only work if you have compatible blood types

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.

serious question

how tf are you meant to respond to pick up lines on dating apps???

sketchin

A list of nice words we should use more to describe people

Adventurous : willing to undertake new and daring enterprises.

Affectionate : having or displaying warmth or fondness.

Ambitious : having a strong desire for success or achievement.

Amiable : diffusing warmth and friendliness.

Brave : not being afraid of danger.

Considerate : showing concern for the rights and feelings of others.

Courageous : able to face and deal with danger or fear without flinching.

Courteous : characterized by politeness and gracious good manners.

Diligent : characterized by care and perseverance in carrying out tasks.

Empathetic : showing ready comprehension of others’ states.

Exuberant : unrestrained, especially with regard to feelings.

Gregarious : temperamentally seeking and enjoying the company of others.

Humble : marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful.

Impartial : free from undue bias or preconceived opinions.

Intuitive : obtained through instinctive knowledge.

Inventive : marked by independence and creativity in thought or action.

Kind : behaving in a caring way towards people

Passionate : having or expressing strong emotions.

Philosophical : meeting trouble with level-headed detachment.

Practical : guided by experience and observation rather than theory.

Rational : having its source in or being guided by the intellect.

Reliable : worthy of trust.

Resourceful : adroit or imaginative.

Sensible : able to feel or perceive.

Sincere : open and genuine; not deceitful.

Sympathetic : expressing compassion or friendly fellow feelings.

Witty : demonstrating striking cleverness and humor.

The Language Of Flowers

Acacia: Hidden love, beauty in withdrawal

Amaryllis: Pride, a hard won success

Anemone: Vanishing hopes

Bells of Ireland: Wish for good luck

Carnation: Fascination, love and distinction

Daffodil (Narcissus): Honesty and truth

Dahlia flower: Warnings and change

Daisy: Innocence, loyal love and purity

Delphinium: Open heart, ardent attachement

Gardenia: Symbol of secret love

Gladiolus: Remembrance, faithfulness and sincerity

Hyacinth: I'm sorry, please forgive me.

Iris: Eloquence

Lily (general) : Purity of the heart and refined beauty

Lily of the valley: Return of happiness

Marigold: Passion and creativity

Orchid: Beauty, refinement and love

Peony: Happy marriage

Lavender: Love at first sight

Red rose: Love, respect, courage and passion

White rose: Purity, secrecy, silence, innocence and charm

Sunflower: Good luck and ambition

Tulip: Irresistible love

Violet: Faithfulness, modesty and delicate love

Zinnia: Lasting affection, daily remembrance and good memories

in my ‘dramatic love’ era rn

but in all seriousness

im kinda seeing someone rn and im so deliriously happy to even just message them

i havent actually liked someone this much in a long time or ever really

its just so easy to be around them and i feel comfortable around them which doesnt happen to me often and i dont mind being more openly affectionate with them either which is crazy bc i never thought id feel like i could do that with someone

—On Love, Marina Tsvetaeva

[text ID: I just want a humble, murderously simple thing: that a person be glad when I walk into the room.]

˗ˏˋ☕ˎˊ˗    

I really like the word “smitten”. because at first glance you just think of sappy lovey-dovey stuff but also you have to remember this is a word that’s born of the word “smite.” a devastating word. a word that, summarized, means stricken. smitten means stricken as well — struck with devastating affection.

HAMLET????

does anyone have the post thats a leonard cohen quote talking about being empty

Gustav Janouch, Conversations with Kafka

@booksociety 's It Is A Mystery Event: The Secret History

One is quite capable, of course, of working out these destructive passions in more vulgar and less efficient ways. But how glorious to release them in a single burst! To sing, to scream, to dance barefoot in the woods in the dead of night, with no more awareness of mortality than an animal!

Going through the pile of books to go to charity shops and there’s this amazing kids history one that’s literally like

Give your friend a neolithic burial

okay i should stop im over dramatic

i hate time

it only moves slow when i actually want something to happen

its been less than 20 minutes since i messaged this guy and it feels like its been half an hour wtf

nvm he left me on read :’(

i hate time

it only moves slow when i actually want something to happen

its been less than 20 minutes since i messaged this guy and it feels like its been half an hour wtf

nvm he messaged me back <3

i hate time

it only moves slow when i actually want something to happen

its been less than 20 minutes since i messaged this guy and it feels like its been half an hour wtf

i hate time

it only moves slow when i actually want something to happen

its been less than 20 minutes since i messaged this guy and it feels like its been half an hour wtf

The amount of time that the Ancient Egyptian civilisation lasted is just so mind boggling. It lasted over 3000 years. That's such an insane amount of time. It ended around 30BC meaning that it will only be extinct for as long as it existed in around 950 years. Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of bitcoin than the building of the pyramids of Giza. They were already ancient to her. What the fuck

can people pls stop starting conversations on dating apps with ‘hey youre gorgeous/beautiful’ bc how the fuck are you actually meant to reply to that ends in an actual conversation ???????

i think the sweetest thing someones ever done for me is when my ex wrote me a letter for christmas and its so nice i kept it even after we broke up but theres this bit where they compared us to the sun and moon and idk here it is:

“I’m Sun ‘cause I love positivity and kindness… and you’re the moon. Mysterious, beautiful, enchanting and you light up the dark. You help guide those in darkness like the moon to sailors late at night… Although opposites in quite significant ways (you love english i like maths) they are quite perfect for each other.”

but this is probably the most romantic thing ill get and i love it so u keep it in my purse, yeah ik people say to move on and get rid of things that remind you of your ex but i dont think you always have to especially if you ended on okay terms

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?

My brother cracked my rib one morning and gave me half of his orange in the evening.

I remember being younger and sometimes wishing to be a single child, to have all the attention and gifts and time but when he was away from home for the first time, I remember crying and stroking his side of the sofa as if blurting out my first wish- for him to be home, without thinking twice, without a shadow of doubt. Even the genie cried. Growing up with a sibling is like being the only people on a stranded boat, constantly figuring out how you can live with them and questioning how you could ever live without them.

One evening, in a fit of anger, I told him how I never wanted him to be my brother and he yelled that he didn't ask for it either. The air smelled like kerosene and my chest was filled with arsenic. I was raging and threw his favorite toy aeroplane down the window, 7 stories of guilt and shame. He cried all night and I wanted to cut off my right hand, the hand that hurt my baby brother. I didn't know if he was ever going to forgive me or even talk to me. The next morning at breakfast, he didn't look at me or say a word, I felt like my chest was about to explode and guilt clouded my vision. But then, I felt a hand quietly holding half of an orange my way.

The only people on a stranded boat. How do you live with them? How could you ever live without them?

-Ritika Jyala, excerpt from The world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire

The inherent homoeroticism of killing your enemy and immediately regretting it

I listened to the audio book of The Secret History by RSL and I found out that Richard’s last name is pronounced PaP-en not pA-pen

i have finally fallen back in love with reading again after like a 2 year reading drought

any recommendations of cute kinda summer love aristotle and dante, call me by your name vibe books but wlw?? im starved pls help