Somewhere between reading goals, impossible TBRs, BookTok wrap-ups and yearly totals, one of our loveliest private pleasures acquired the manners of a performance review. What might happen if we simply stopped keeping score?
Summerween is bringing ghosts, Gothic novels and dark academia into the sunshine. But when did Gothic reading become an autumn pleasure in the first place?
Once a niche internet aesthetic, Dark Academia has become a cultural obsession built from old libraries, ancient universities and an enduring hunger for intellectual romance. But its appeal tells us as much about modern readers as it does about the books they love.