#babel an ancient history

[bookwyrminspiration]

hey quil. hey. what is babel about. youve been babel posting and it looks interesting. tell me quil. please quil. quil.

Oh how to explain Babel. Babel is a historical fantasy work set in the 1830s about colonization and exploitation with a particular (though not exclusive) focus on language. On the power (quite literally) of words, on facing uncomfortable realities, on inequality, on revolution, on sacrifice, on survival, on, as one of its names says, the necessity of violence. On how the British Empire takes from peoples it oppresses for its own gain and justifies it by characterizing others as barbaric and lesser. On injustice and grief. On how empires aren't actually inevitable or infallible. On so many things

The story follows 4 characters (told through 1 main POV) who are incoming students of translation at Oxford University, studying at Babel, which is the hub where the literal power of words is harnessed via translation. It's incredibly prestigious, only 4 students admitted each year. And even though it's the first half of the 18th century England, 3 of the 4 in our group are foreigners (one Chinese, one Indian, one Haitian), and 2 are women. This is not by their choice, but rather because of the 3's native understanding of languages foreign to the British, as they want access to these student's knowledge. They have been curated specifically for this through the will of powerful white men they cannot go against. These men want them to attend Babel, and then upon graduation use their language and translation skills to contribute the power of their words and fluency to aid the empire.

And yet despite being specifically curated and shaped for this, these 3 find they do not and never will belong. They are there to be used and drained and expected to be grateful for what a tremendous opportunity they've been given, the opportunity to be exploited and saved from their "lesser" homelands and genes. As it turns out, this dynamic is not unique to the personal level, but is rather a reflection of the prejudice, oppression, marginalization, discrimination, colonization, and exploitation happening to peoples across the globe. This realization made, the decisions and actions to be taken escalate, exemplifying the themes and messages I already mentioned.

I won't say more for spoiler reasons, but that's kinda a general gist of it. There is, however, so much more that could be said and I don't even know where to begin. I'd definitely recommend reading it--I know I made a lot of light-hearted, joking posts as I was reading, but it's quite an emotional and involved work and I think it's well done. It's very straightforward about its message and topic, and it's rife with information about language and etymology. I hope this helps give a semblance of the story, and that should you read it you enjoy it :)

#babel rf kuang #babel an ancient history #babel or the necessity of violence #quil's queries #camelspit #I had to answer this twice. the first time I almost finished and my laptop died (i didn't realize the battery was low) #coincidentally it died literally as I typed the word grief #my dad likes the author. and so he read it. and immediately was like quil I think you should read this #so I did. and it has this quality of like #it leaves you like. quiet. reflective. you gotta think it over and really process #I don't know if this is making sense #it makes you sit with it

[ancientorigins]

According to the Bible, the Tower of Babel was destroyed by an angry God. Long thought a legend, could archaeologists have uncovered the real Tower of Babel?

#Babylon #Babel #Bible #Tower #Biblical #Iraq #ziggurat #Etemenanki #ancient #history #ancient origins

[kungseyesfr]

Tower of Babylon

The first skyscraper in history -- its height was 91 meters -- Alexander the Macedonian tried to rebuild it -- one of the interesting sights in the city of Babylon -- the German archaeological mission did not find its remains because it had been ruined and moved its remains to unknown places before Alexander the Macedonian arrived in the country of Ra. Pay the rest of the raw materials, especially the plate It was moved to build adjacent buildings -- the sights of the tower seem to be familiar during the era that preceded Alexander's era, where Greek blogs pointed out that Alexander tried to renew the building of the tower and ordered the ruins or remains to be moved to a place far away from its place, but he died before the reconstruction could be accomplished. Ann the quest mission The German headed by - Robert Coldway - managed to determine the location of the walls surrounding the tower and determine the length - height - each rib approximately - 91 - meters and this measurement is close to what was recorded in a clay numerical blogged by the Babylonian writer - Anu - Bel - Shono - which was found It was said in the city of - Warqa - that the Tower of Babylon was a square shape, the length of each rib equal to - 91 - meters, and consisted of seven floors

SOURCES

The book of ways of archaeological excavations - p. 293- 294 - Issued from the University of Baghdad - Faculty of Literature - Written and supervised - Dr. Taqi Al-Dabagh - Dr. Walid Al-Jader - Dr. Ahmed Malik Al-Fatyan

Babel Tower

The first skyscraper in history - its height was 91 meters - Alexander the Macedonian tried to rebuild it - one of the exciting landmarks in the city of Babylon - the German archaeological mission did not find its remains because it had been destroyed and its remains were transferred to unknown places before the arrival of Alexander the Macedonian to Mesopotamia The rest of its raw materials, especially the bricks, were transferred to the construction of neighboring buildings. It seems that the features of the tower were familiar during the era that preceded the reign of Alexander, as the Greek blogs indicated that Alexander tried to renew the construction of the tower and ordered the transfer of its ruins or remains to a place far from its place, but - he died before That - achieves its reconstruction, but the German excavation mission, which was headed by - Robert Coldway - was able to determine the locations of the walls surrounding the tower and determine the length - height - of each side by approximately - 91 - meters. The Babylonian - Anu - Bel - Shownu - which was found in the city - Warka - that the Tower of Babel was square in shape, the length of each side of it was equal to -91 - meters and it consisted of seven layers

Sources

Archaeological Excavations Methods Book - Pg. 293-294 - Issued by the University of Baghdad - College of Arts - Written and supervised - Dr. Taqi Al-Dabbagh - Dr. Walid Al-Jader - Dr. Ahmed Malik Al-Futyan

#question everything #history #ancient #ancestors #babylonian #Babylon #tower of babel

[streetwitnessingorg]

#babel #world religions #tower of babel #mother of world religions #false world religions #religious beliefs #astrology #bible truths #christian bible #science #history #archaeology #prophecy #ancient history #astronomy

[universalambients]

The Tower of Babel (2233 BC) Ambient Music

#the tower of babel #babel an arcane history #library of babel #babel #babylonian #myth #myths #myths and legends #yahweh #babylon #marduk #sumerian #mesopotamia #akkadian #sumerian mythology #gilgamesh #assyrian #ancient empires #ancient history #ancient city #ancient civilizations #lost city #babel tower #torre de babel #Youtube

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 35: Ancient History XVI and Earlier

These Questions are the result of suggestions from the previous iteration.

This category may include suggestions made too late to fall into the correct earlier time grouping. Basically, I'd already moved on to human history, but I'd periodically get a pre-homin suggestion, hence the occasional random item waaay out of it's time period, rather than reopen the category.

In some cases a culture lasted a really long time and I grouped them by whether it was likely the later or earlier grouping made the most sense with the information I had. (Invention ofs tend to fall in an earlier grouping if it's still open. Ones that imply height of or just before something tend to get grouped later, but not always. Sometimes I'll split two different things from the same culture into different polls because they involve separate research goals or the like).

Please add new suggestions below if you have them for future consideration. All cultures and time periods welcome.

#Time Travel #Cybele #Ancient World #Trans History #Vesuvius #Pompeii #Roman Empire #Bog Mummies #Fashion History #Tyrian Purple #Bronze Age #Iron Age #Indigenous History #Egyptian Blue #Mediterranean #Mediterranean Sea #African History #Western Asian History #European History #Queer History #Epidaurus

[clem-l-orange]

my long essay about why Babel is such an interesting ark and deserves to be explored more

(Prefacing this by saying I read the books in French, so if I make any mistakes I apologize, French is also my first language so I may make some mistakes)

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 3 & 4 AHEAD!!!!

We are introduced to the Ark of Babel in book 3 of La Passe Miroir when Ophelia escapes Anima to find Thorn, and chooses to go to Babel after following some clues to his location.

Babel is a “cosmopolitan ark”, where many different cultures mix due to the high rate of immigration. However, there is a divide in between the “Sons of Pollux” (Babelians descended from Pollux, who have Babelian powers) and the “Godchildren of Helen” (I apologize for the poor translation please correct me), who are either powerless and native to Babel, or not native to Babel at all. From the first chapters in Babel, we can see that these two social groups are segregated with dress codes, and there is even a time when Ambrose, the son of Lazarus, a wealthy and influential Powerless man, gets insults hurled at him for his background. In book 4, “A Storm of Echoes”, recent immigrants as well as political opposers are rounded up and sent to their deaths/deported from the Ark, . There is also a clear segregation within the city of Babel between Powerless people and others, with a majoritarily Powerless neighborhood being referred to as “The Powerless Quarters” (I may have translated wrong). This neighborhood is considered the “slum” of Babel, and is clearly described as a poorly maintained, badly policed and dangerous place to live.

Another dystopian aspect of Babel that we learn in the first few chapters is the extreme censorship of words relating to violence, war, crime… etc. The “Index” suppresses the use of these words, going as far as punishing those who say the words, even in non-violent contexts. This goes as far as branding murders and clearly voluntary deaths as “accidents”. The suppression of the words in the Index leads to misinformation in journals, and even book burning in what is supposed to be the oldest library on the arch, the Memorial. There are many parallels to be drawn from instances in history where books were burnt to stop the spread of information, but I love how this book spins it to make this censorship “in advocacy for peace”. Books about war are cleansed from libraries, collections of ancient artifacts as well. The “Master Censurer” at the memorial even goes as far as burning any book that Professor Wolf, the Memorial’s resident expert on “Prehistoric Wars” goes near. Babel is a dystopia under a blanket of pacifism.

We later learn about the “Observatory of Deviations”, which concept resembles a mental asylum/psych ward/home for the troubled??? All we learn about this place from the third book is that it is very secretive and treats it’s patients like property, which is even more enforced in the fourth book, when we see firsthand what happens in the Observatory, and when we learn that certain patients get branded with tattoos against their will. Blaise, a friend Ophelia made on Babel, describes the place to her, and makes a point that if you go there, you are the property of the workers, you cannot leave, and no information about your progress is ever disclosed to you. They are more interested in your “deviation” than your “personal preferences”. After reading about Ophelia’s own experiences at the Observatory, it became clear that the place was meant to be an allegory for some abusive psychiatric asylum, that the “deviants” were meant to represent neurodivergent and physically disabled people. Later in book 4, it is revealed that Lazarus is the master of this operation. When I heard this, my brain did a double take and I circled back to the part where Lazarus was described as a “father figure” to Blaise. The fact that Lazarus used his patients and their trust for his own personal gain (in this case for “scientific discovery”) I feel really reflects into real life in other situations.

Unemployment and the replacement of people by AI is also addressed in books 3 and 4, as automatons take up most of the manual labor on Babel, leaving Powerless people no jobs to support them. When visiting the Powerless Quarters with Octavio in book 3, Ophelia runs in to the Fearless and Almost Blameless, who proceeds to shame Octavio and tell him that, by walking around in his Forerunners uniform, he is humiliating those around him who have no future. Since almost all of the jobs that do not require powers are taken by automatons or people with power and influence, it seems like the poorer Powerless people have no future. In book 4, when Lady Septima announces that those with no familial or contractual tie to Babel are to be deported to their old Arks, there is an uprising that leads to violence, where the Unemployed people of Babel demand Octavio hire them in the place of his automaton. This truly mirrors our world today, as many jobs are in danger of being taken by AI or automation.

There are also other issues on Babel that mirror real world issues, with topics such as homophobia being brought up as side plots. I could literally write a whole other essay about the parallels and differences between Ophelia and Thorn vs. Blaise and Wolf, but that’s for another day.

Feel free to correct me if I got a translation wrong or if you agree/disagree with one of my points.

also a side note: Native Babelians are clearly supposed to look South Asian, right? Because sometimes I see fanart where some of the Babelian characters are considerably pale and it kind of weirds me out but this may be a misconception.

#la passe miroir #the memory of babel #the mirror visitor #ophelia #the storm of echoes #fandom #ophelie #la memoire de babel #la tempête des échos

[qbdatabase]

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi It's 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood. Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history--but only if they can stay alive.

#The Gilded Wolves #Roshani Chokshi #bookblr #autistic #bisexual #daily book #Jewish #mga #neurodiverse rep #queer #queer rep #alt history #book series #fantasy #female protagonist #heist #historical fiction #lgbtqia #male protagonist #queer books #YA books

[titleknown]

HELLOWEEN #17: CANCESTER

-CANCESTER DOESN'T DO SHIT-

...An excerpt from an early edition of the Last Testament, redacted from later printings. Perhaps a bit crude, with little value towards those scholars like myself who came in slightly late. But, I will admit, it is accurate.

Despite or perhaps because of their ancient status, records show they were mot one of the first, but of the second generation, this entity does; in fact; try to do as little as possible. I found them in a gargantuan beast after noticing their... unique records in the archives and attempting to cross-reference them, but was disappointed to find that they would not speak. They were simply content to sit there and breathe, occassionally chewing on the flesh of their uncaring host.

Their original name was wiped from the records, I suspect by their own hand, but their records show a long and bloody history of accomplishments beforehand, before it simply... stops. Furthermore, when I asked around about the beast, including Giobella, they were all stunned I had brought it up.

The beast, called Valkanna The Unbroken, was considered by many to be an impossible feat to even approach beyond my... general surreptitious means. And yet there they were within the very literal belly of the beast, feeding upon it.

One with a base knowlege of hellish politics might suspect sabotage within that degeneration. But, from all I could see, there was no evidence of that being planned in the records. The reaction to Cancestor's original form seemed to be more fear than hatred, the actions with which they built hell containing a long lists of what most people would call atrocities.

This is a hypothesis, but I wonder if they gained this form because they... simply gave up. They tired of the boredom of Hell's horrors and decided to leave for an easier existence. While it is not one I myself would personally choose, indeed I find it quite disquieting, but I understand it.

Though the archivist in me fumes at the lack of their original name...

-Xavier X. Xolomon , Monsterologist and Understudy to The Librarian Of Babel

------------------------------

When asking for ideas for demons, someone suggested a parasite one, and the rest followed from there! Not much more to say than that!

As per usual the whole descriptions, designs, ectcetera from this project are free to use as you see fit under a CC-BY 4.0 license so long as I; Thomas F. Johnson, am credited as their creator!

#my art #my writing #helloween #character design #creature design #demon #demons #lamprey #parasite #worldbuilding

[broomsticks]

ten books to know me

Rules: 10 (non-ancient) books for people to get to know you better, or that you just really like.

tagged by @landwriter, who has some gorgeously soft recs [like their sandman dream/hob fic] here! mine are uh, mostly not, so. be warned XD

where the sidewalk ends by shel silverstein. probably the oldest book i physically own, gifted me by a family friend. such memories of chatting to her about danny the champion of the world and the phantom tollbooth and etc, it was formative in so many ways! crediting this book for the fact that i’ve never been scared of poetry, for one.

the city & the city by china mieville, introduced to me by my current partner. the one before that was a mitch albom kinda guy and the one before that was a carol ann duffy and the one before that was a jeanette winterson. all of whom there is a place in my heart for but yes: scifi/low fantasy spec fic! if i could only read one genre of fiction it would be this. no i have not read babel and i will soon!! also: oryx and crake and mmmm cloud atlas.

the little prince by antoine de saint-exupéry. fun fact: i first read this book in chinese.

the ender’s game series by orson scott card — if i had to pick one it might be xenocide, han qing-jao my baby. the other formative childhood fave i don’t talk about enough: artemis fowl!

we need to talk about kevin by lionel shriver. idk i am frightful and this book is a comfort read. my complicated feelings re. possibly ever becoming a parent, don’t ask me about them!

chronicle of a blood merchant by yu hua. love some horrible histories x blaaaack humor.

the time traveler’s wife by audrey niffenegger. my kinda romance 🥰

neil gaiman’s short story/essay collection view from the cheap seats. picked this up secondhand, gave it away, would love to own again someday. one of my fave essays in this book: all books have genders. also: the salmon of doubt by douglas adams and ursula le guin’s the found and the lost / the unreal and the real.

ted chiang’s exhalation gets a special mention for being my desert island book. every single story is so thought-provoking.

battle royale the manga. enjoyed the novel too, oh lighthouse massacre my beloathed.

AND on that fun note: tagging people with cool fic taste @allalrightagain @bluesundaycake @consistentsquash @fanfiction-thesis @lumosatnight @mblematic @phantomato @slashmarks @sleepstxtic @thistlecatfics @unspeakable3 gimme books! talk to me about the Books That Made You! anyone else who wants to play, too, tag me if you do :D

#tumblr games

[familyparadox]

13’s life after season eleven is a plot organised by a Wartime Power

I mean in the first episode she meets Ada Lovelace mastermind of the Clockwork Ouroboros affair

At some point she meets and travels for a with with a former member of the the Faction after being embroiled in a plot to restart the Time War (interestingly not the War in Heaven however 13 mentions that the Faction vanished from time before the Last Great Time War? Did they vanish to fight in a higher war?) however no Stories beyond their meeting have been published what happened to her? (Retro annulled or infected with the Biodata virus)

In the The Haunting of Villa Diodati we meet Byron and the rest of the Shelly Cable who are know to be heavily aly affiliated with the Faction with Byron in fact being a member

We also meet the Lone Cyberman who feels very similar to Godparent Pinocchio, and we all know the Cybermen are a Faction plot of some kind as I have previously discussed.

The Timeless Child plot stinks like the Other. The Cybermasters? An expansion of the the Faction Schemes? And we all know the Master is the War King are the Faction playing him or is he playing the Faction?

Flux feels like one of the Latter Faction Paradox EDA’s (Shadows of Avalon, The Ancestor, Galifray Chronicles ect) we have temporal Paradox’s, the Anchoring of the Thread and ancient conspiracy stretching all the way back to the Dawn of History, the binding of the pre universe’s time is reminiscent of the Carnival Queen affair. And the Ravagers feel like an kind of mutated Mal’akh and with the skull like faces and great fashion sense perhaps the grandfather was inspired by them perhaps the dead bodies of the Ravages other than those we see became the amour the Faction mask themselves with. Of course the Faction would want to tear down time just to see what happens, of course this could all be an Enemy plot instead?

The Passengers feel very Type 103 form but a crude model? Or Perhaps the missing Babels sent back in time and where enslaved by the Ravager Mal’akh?

Of course we all know that the Grand Serpent is a Brax perhaps one of the many splinters of Brax all out playing the long game for the greater good. (Perhaps a Renegade Brax who has succumbed to Pandora?) and Brax was heavily involved on the fringes of the War.

And finally we come to the modus operandi Power of the Doctor. In this we realise that the War King (the Master) is Rasputin (a noted member of the Faction) who has been mind controlling the royal family of Russia and this must include a young Anastasia who famously defected from the Faction alongside Rasputin who we now know is the War King not to mention the Cybermasters, or I shall use and older name one in reference to the Quantum Archangel the Cyberlords, and the Daleks are being used in the Masters crusade against the Master.

The Cyberlords worked with the Time Lord’s during the the War in Heaven as did the Daleks, and all these where led by the War King against the Enemy.

May in propose this the Spy Master incarnation is the same incarnation as the War King, the Allies of the Great House amassed to fight the Doctor this is most definitely a field of the War. The Master claims to have killed the Time Lords but perhaps he has only just escaped from his old ship and awoken in the ruins of a Post War Homeworld and this this is the final skirmish of the War in Heaven. The Faction are in ruins (see the Wintertime Paradox) the Homeworld is shattered (Spyfall, Zagreus Et al) this is the last stand of the Great Houses against their Enemy and who are the allies of the Houses all fighting together in a great alliance?

The Doctor.

Weather this means anything or not well that’s up to you to decide

#doctor who #faction paradox #dweu #eighth doctor #irving braxiatel #the enemy #edas #doctor who eu #thriteenth doctor

[bookwyrminspiration]

i'm like juggling between wanting to read it, not wanting to read it because no way am i going to be able to not have feelings (counterattack: it is important to be uncomfortable sometimes to confront things you don't often think about), and then also being wary after reading the poppy war haha because that one was like. an incredibly, wildly well written novel, but also sent me flat on my back for a long long time for the themes of how war is (as it was based on uhh. one of the sino-japanese wars and some of the things that occurred actually happened in real life). i was like how are people making cool art and edits about this why is there so little being said about the violence. how were these real things that happened. and i'm STILL trying to read the rest of the series dhfjdhfn i'm probably going to get to babel as slowly as i've been getting to the second book of this trilogy but when/if i do i will definitely come to discuss! i really enjoy hearing your thoughts

Based on what you and several people in the babel tag are saying, it sounds like I'm going to have to check out the Poppy War at some point. And I may be devastated by it, but it sounds like it'll be entirely worth it--though I may want to research the sino-japanese war first to have an adequate background knowledge. I think one of my parents might own it--my mom, I think? So I'll add it to my tbr

But yeah! Take your time! These topics, while presented through the more familiar lens of fiction and books, are a lot. War and colonialism are intense subjects even when you don't relate to some of the characters' experiences. And Babel talks about experiences a lot of people relate to. Lot of feelings, both self-recognition and discomfort (among many other things) are very much a part of the experience of reading it. Makes perfect sense that it'll take time to work up to and get through. My dad (a voracious reader) actually read it over the course of several months, working through it slowly while also reading through other books because it was just so much.

If you ever do read it, I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts and talking about it with you, as you're an excellent conversation partner on topics like these :)

#babel rf kuang #babel an ancient history #babel or the necessity of violence #quil's queries #soryasongsaa #babel is like hey. what if. through these endearing sweet characters. I made you sit down and directly face and think about #all these horrifying uncomfortable topics that we wish we could avoid and didn't exist #but do #and if you're someone who has similar experiences #you will look directly at that pain and grief too. the parts of yourself you've tried to skate around because prodding #for too long hurts #at least that was my experience #and while it was. a lot. I do think I'm better off for it in the end #long post

[ancientorigins]

The Tower of Babel is remembered due to the famed story within the Old Testament. But tablets excavated in Iraq provide an Assyrian version of the same story.

#Tower of Babel #Bible #biblical #Assyrian #tablet #Babylon #ancient #history #ancient origins

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: Dark Academia

Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Long Black Veil is the story of Judith Carrigan, whose past is dredged up when the body of her college friend Wailer is discovered 20 years after her disappearance in Philadelphia’s notorious and abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary. Judith is the only witness who can testify to the innocence of her friend Casey, who had married Wailer only days before her death.

The only problem is that on that fateful night at the prison, Judith was a very different person from the woman she is today. In order to defend her old friend and uncover the truth of Wailer’s death, Judith must confront long-held and hard-won secrets that could cause her to lose the idyllic life she’s built for herself and her family.

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation - also known as Babel.

Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters.

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?

Babel - a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.

The Cloisters by Kathy Hays

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination.

Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.

A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

This is the first volume in the “Alex Stern” series. A highly anticipated sequel, Hell Bent, is expected early next year. 

#dark acamedia #fiction #thriller #fantasy #dark fantasy #library books #reading recommendations #reading recs #book recommendations #book recs #booklr #book tumblr #to read #TBR pile #tbr #library blog #book blog

[veganpeachpie]

Books without overwhelming romance

I feel like a lot of books people talk about these days have a heavy focus on romance and spice, which really isn't my cup of tea, and it's hard to find good recommednations that don't have that. So here are some YA/adult books I love that don't have romance as a huge part of the plot!

(There may be some minor romantic subplots, but they aren't a major focus.)

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the work farm where he has just served a year for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett’s intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother and head west where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden’s car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett’s future.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Babel by R.F. Kuang 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization. For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide . . .

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Anxious People by Frederick Backman Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths. As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

The synopses were all taken from Goodreads. Feel free to comment/DM me if you have any questions about these!

#amor towles #the Lincoln highway #a gentleman in moscow #book recommendations #book rec list #books #literature #books and reading #the book thief #Markus zusak #matt haig #the midnight library #anxious people #Frederick backman #this savage song #ve schwab #babel #rebecca f kuang

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37 Lost Books on Ancient Mesopotamia

The Lost Book Project is charging $12 for this collection. If you found this roundup useful, please consider donating to the Internet Archive instead.

The Epic of Gilgamesh by A. George (1999)

Enuma Elish: The Seven Tablets of Creation by L. W. King (1900)

Ancient Iraq by G. Roux (1964)

History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts by S. Kramer (1956)

The Code of Hammurabi by Hammurabi (1905)

The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character by S. Kramer (1963)

Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization by L. Oppenheim (1964)

The Ancient Near East - An Anthology of Texts and Pictures by J. Pritchard (1958) Babylonian Magic and Sorcery by L. W. King (1896)

The Sumerians by C. Leonard Woolley (1920)

The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia by A.H Sayce (1901)

Babylonian and Assyrian laws, Contracts and Letters by C. H. W. Johns (1904)

The Richest Man in Babylon by G.S Clayson (1926)

A history of the Babylonians and Assyrians (2nd Edition) - G. S. Goodspeed (1902)

Assyria, its Princes, Priests, and People - A. Sayce (1885)

The teachings of Zoroaster, and the philosophy of the Parsi religion by S. A. Kapadia (1913)

An old Babylonian Version of the Gilgamesh Epic by M. Jastrow (1920)

Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts;  Prayers, Oracles, Hymns. Copied from the original tablets by J. A. Craig (1895)

Babylonian and Assyrian literature - comprising the epic of Izdubar, hymns, tablets, and cuneiform inscriptions - E. Wilson (1901)

Babylonian Boundary Stones and Memorial Tablets in the British Museum Vol. 1 by L. W. King (1912) Babylonian Boundary Stones and Memorial Tablets in the British Museum Vol. 2 by L. W. King (1912)

Chaldean Account of Genesis - Containing the Description of the Creation, the fall of man, the deluge, the tower of Babel, the times of the patriarchs, and Nimrod - G. Smith (1876)

Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament by R. W. Rogers (1912)

Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon - A. Layard (1853)

Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria - L. Spence (1916)

Myths of Babylonia and Assyria by D. A. Mackenzie (1915)

The Babylonian Legends Of Creation by E. A. Wallis-Budge (1921)

The Chaldean Account Of The Deluge by G. Smith (1873)

The Code of Hammurabi by P. Handcock (1920) The Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon about 2250 B.C. by R. F. Harper (1904)

The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia Vol. 1/2 (1903)

The Law of Hammurabi and Moses; a sketch by H. Grimme (1907) The Religions of ancient Egypt and Babylonia - A. Sayce (1902)

Reports of Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon in the British Museum - Vol 1 - R. Thompson (1902) Reports of Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon in the British Museum - Vol 2 - R. Thompson (1902)

#mesopotamia #babylonian #cuneiform #archaeology #code of hammurabi