The Bibliophile's Compass

1977  Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance "The Elephant Man" is based on the life of John Merrick, who lived in London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. A horribly deformed young man, who has been a freak attraction in traveling side shows, is found abandoned and helpless and is admitted for observation to Whitechapel, a prestigious London hospital. 1988  Rumors by Neil Simon At a large tastefully appointed Sneden's Landing townhouse the Deputy Mayor of New York has just shot himself. Though only a flesh wound four couples are about to experience a severe attack of Farce. 2011 The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall A collection of short stories by Booker-shortlisted author Sarah Hall. 2020 The Burning God by R. F. Kuang The exciting end to The Poppy War trilogy, R. F. Kuang’s acclaimed, award-winning epic fantasy that combines the history of twentieth-century China with a gripping world of gods and monsters, to devastating, enthralling effect.

Title : Katabasis Author : R. F. Kuang Publication Year : 2025 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐💫 Pages : 559 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : Fantasy, Dark Academia Opening Sentence : Cambridge, Michaelmas Term, October. The wind bit, the sun hid, and on the first day of class, when she ought to have been lecturing undergraduates about the dangers of using the Cartesian severance spell to revise without pee breaks, Alice Law set out to rescue her advisor’s soul from the Eight Courts of Hell. I’ll admit, I might be swimming against the current here, but as a card-carrying member of academia, Katabasis felt like an all-too-familiar fever dream. The opening chapters had me nodding in recognition—finally, someone capturing the glorious chaos (and, let’s be honest, the exquisite toxicity) of academic life. The setting might be fantasy, but the depiction of conference-room purgatory and departmental intrigue was so spot-on I almost checked for citations. The blend of sharp humor with a dark, bro...

Title : Babel, or the Necessity of Violence Author : R. F. Kuang Publication Year : 2022 Pages : 544 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Academia Source : Audiobook @storytel.tr Awards : Winner of the Blackwell's Books of the Year, the Nebula Award, the Alex Award, the British Book Award, and the Locus Award; Shortlisted for the New England Book Award, the Waterstones Book of the Year, the Dragon Award, the Ignyte Awards, the RUSA CODES Reading List, Indie Book Award, and the Prix Imaginales Opening Sentence: By the time Professor Richard Lovell found his way through Canton’s narrow alleys to the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only one in the house left alive. R. F. Kuang’s Babel exploers British imperialism, racism, and capitalism, all set against a magical version of Oxford in the 1830s. This is one of those books people either love or hate—there’s not much in-between! Honestly, I’ve been torn about this book from the start, and I’ve got...