dark and chaotic

The place I come from is beautiful.

I must tell you Emma, what you will not ask, though I may wish it unsaid the next moment. Oh, then do not speak it.

The Rule Of Four - Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason 

About a group of boys at Princeton as they struggle to get their theses finished. Centers around two, Tom and Paul, who are doing their thesis on the mysterious Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a (real and recently translated into English!) 500 year old manuscript written by a mysterious author. Soon, Paul realizes there may be a conspiracy to steal his work on the document, something much deeper than he originally thought. Ties in a ton of real renaissance history about art, science, literature and architecture, while telling a gripping story about obsession and betrayal.

A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

A wonderfully interesting read about Count Alexander Rostov, a poet and nobleman sentenced to house arrest in the Hotel Metropol in Moscow. Beginning in freshly Bolshevik-ruled Russia, the novel spans from the early 1920s until the 1950s and follows the Count’s life and interactions with the hotel’s denizens, which include a little girl suddenly placed in his custody. A thoroughly entertaining read littered with literary references, brilliant storytelling, and amazing character development set to a backdrop of formative Russian history.

Night Train to Lisbon - Pascal Mercier

Raimund Gregorius is a Swiss professor of ancient languages and philosophy at a school in Bern. After a strange meeting with a Portuguese woman, he finds a memoir-esque book by author Amadeo de Prado in her coat pocket which inspires him to delve into the author’s complex life and philosophy. This book is chalk-full of philosophy on life, death, memories, revolution, and religion, and follows a man who spontaneously runs away from his life into someone else’s. Pretty dark academia to me.

"Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier; I have seen worse sights than this"