Ravenna Nox

cute goth who reads too much

bookseller by day. reader by candlelight. i recommend books that ruin your life (affectionate). mostly gothic, sometimes horror, always a little haunted. 🕯️

okay but hear me out follow along

chapter i

About Me

i grew up in a small town where i was the only goth kid at school. the public library took me in. it's been books ever since.

now i live in the pacific northwest, somewhere between tacoma and seattle, in a small apartment where every wall is a bookshelf and there's always a candle going. i work part-time at an independent bookstore that smells like old paper and espresso. my boss also wears a lot of black. she enables me.

i started posting recommendations because my coworkers got tired of hearing about them. so now you get to hear about them instead. sorry. (not sorry.)

not tragic. not edgy. just a girl who likes dark things and wants to share them. dark but make it cozy.

the uniformblack on black on black. the eyeliner is non-negotiable.
the fuelblack coffee, 85% dark chocolate, pasta. always pasta.
the soundtrackdarkwave, ethereal, ambient. low volume, rain on the window.
the side queststhrifting black glassware, tarot decks (for the art), too many candles.

chapter ii

What I Recommend

i don't do summaries. i do vibes. pick the feeling you're chasing and i'll hand you the book.

Gothic Literature

read this if you need… a crumbling house and a long shadow

old houses with secrets. women who know too much. candles that gutter at exactly the wrong moment.

Frankenstein — Mary Shelley
Rebecca — Daphne du Maurier
Carmilla — J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Horror

read this if you need… to sleep with the lamp on

the quiet kind of scary. the dread that lingers after you close the book and the house makes a noise.

The Haunting of Hill House — Shirley Jackson
Mexican Gothic — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Fall of the House of Usher — Edgar Allan Poe

Dark Fiction

read this if you need… a fairy tale with teeth

stories that start soft and end with blood on the velvet. this is where i live, honestly.

The Bloody Chamber — Angela Carter
We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson
Piranesi — Susanna Clarke

Literary Fiction

read this if you need… to be ruined (complimentary)

beautiful sentences. terrible people. you'll underline half of it and then stare at the wall for a while.

The Secret History — Donna Tartt
Never Let Me Go — Kazuo Ishiguro
Wuthering Heights — Emily Brontë

chapter iii

Current Reads & The Pile

structural concerns

that's how many books are on my nightstand right now. unread. waiting. judging.

i buy books faster than i read them. this is not a problem i'm fixing. the bookstore owner knows my name and my problem. she gives me the employee discount anyway.

bought three more this week. read zero. add it to the pile. 📕

currently reading: something i'll finish in approximately four months. there's a dog-ear on page 112. dog-ears are fine. fight me (gently).

chapter iv

Mortimer

my russian tortoise. small. ancient energy. sits on the bookshelf like a gargoyle and judges my reading speed.

he's from a rescue and approximately fifteen years old. nobody knows his real birthday, so we celebrate his gotcha day instead. he moves like he has somewhere to be. he does not.

he's not slow. he's deliberate.
zero interest in books. always climbs onto the one i'm currently reading.
professional reading-lamp blocker.
ate the corner of a paperback i left on the floor. one time. i'm still not over it.