Another lovely #buyastrangerabook offer. Some of @sarahjp.bsky.social 's children's favourite books. The Tiger Who Came to Tea Owl Babies Tabby McTat Otto the Book Bear Sarah is offering to buy one of them for someone, so get in touch if you'd like one.

I do a Book Club subscription (see attached). for #buyastrangerabook day, in memory of his Dad, who died this year, @mjazzg.bsky.social is offering to buy a 6 month subscription for for someone who'll be by themselves at Xmas or working Xmas shifts in NHS. If you'd like it, get in touch. UK only.

Rob Reiner made some bloody brilliant films. When Harry met Sally is in my top 5 favourites ever. It also sounds like he was an awesome human being 😭

Amazing Radiohead at the O2 last night. Songs across all albums and an unforgettable encore of absolute classics, ending with karma police

Finished Ethan Frome. Love Wharton, and this slimmer tome didn't disappoint. Might start a Brontë. It's the weather for classic literature...

Diane Keaton was such an awesome actor. That Annie Hall lobster scene was👌

These librarians are amazing. Not sure whether I'm more angry or depressed after watching this brave documentary www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

AJP Taylor - not a referencing guy

Really interesting piece on the strange and wonderful films of David Lynch. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Well. This is a gut-punch of novel. A highly intriguing, and somewhat depressing it has to be said, dystopia. (I'm recommending it, by the way!) 💙📚

Animal Farm at Eighty “I took it out of the library, and read it quietly, in bed, under the covers.” On the 80th anniversary of its publication, read my first encounter with Orwell’s Animal Farm: orwellfoundation.substack.com/p/it-all-mad... @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social @orwellprize.bsky.social

In 2022, Nadhim Zahawi’s solicitor sent me a libel threat - and said I wasn’t even allowed to say he’d written to me. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that was improper. Now he’s appealing. A 🧵 on why it matters.

A 7-year-study of 70,000 elderly people from 19 towns in Japan has found that the more public library books there are in a town, the fewer residents need long-term nursing care.

I had a friend in grad school who grew up in the South who used to joke that no matter how hot it is in the summer you always close the car windows when you park your car because if you don't you'll come back and find your back seat full of zucchini.

This mincemeat cake by @nigelslater.bsky.social is my husband's favourite. I learnt the hard* way that mincemeat is tricky to source in the summer, so now every Christmas I buy an extra jar and keep it for July 😇 *expensive #foodsky #cake

3/4 of the way through this and absolutely loving it. Such a nice idea to tell their biography through song analysis.

The End of the Affair, Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, Age of Innocence, House of the Spirits, Paradise Lost.... this is too hard!

He's one of Britain's richest men. So why does Asif Aziz's property company keep leasing London gift shops to overseas students based in abandoned offices or flytipped car parks — before vanishing without paying millions of pounds in taxes? www.londoncentric.media/p/asf-aziz-l...

‘Humanists knew that they were imitating the ancients when they sat and talked in libraries. But they knew little about what these lost collections looked like or included.’ Anthony Grafton on Renaissance libraries: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘There were rules, seemingly handed down from her; I followed them. Write the poems straight through from beginning to end, and tell people you’re doing it. It felt strangely joyful, propelled by its own velocity.’ A fantastic essay on Sylvia Plath by @tricialockwood.bsky.social for @lrb.co.uk

*squeals excitedly*

30 years on and we've both still got it. Shouting and pointing magnificently last night🕺#pulp

Macaroni cheese with a can of Guinness in the sauce, topped with sage 😋 #foodsky

Death by Shakespeare Causes of 74 deaths in Shakespeare's plays #ShakespeareDay

Really enjoyed this debut novel. An Irish coming-of-age story about a fishing community who are captivated by a baby washed ashore. I enjoyed the exploration of the relationships formed when you don't know where you are really from, and the bonds that develop regardless. @garrettcarr.bsky.social

Realise I'm a bit late to this one but, wow, this is brilliantly inventive in form and deeply moving in content. Never read anything like it. Must read more George Saunders #bookerprize

Cherry blossom looking lovely at RHS Wisley today.

Say hello to the Penguin Archive. 90 short books being published next month for Penguin’s 90th anniversary—fifteen of which are shown here. £5.99 each, with designs reminiscent of the old Great Ideas series. (Though sadly these aren’t debossed.)

Queen's rather lovely so far

Chose this book for our school reading challenge and only found out afterwards that Gordievsky was in hiding in our own town! Amazing story.

Off to Belfast for the offer holder day at Queen's. Never been. Really looking forward to it!

😍😍😍

Such a lovely weekend. Sunshiney walks around Box Hill and the South Downs, and now starting a new book. Perfect

Just finished this book about an anthropologist visiting Tanna to get to the truth about their Prince Philip cult. Yes, really! 💙📚@bigbeardedbookseller.com

This is Marco Rubio explaining how the USA promised to defend Ukraine forever if they got rid of their nuclear arsenal left after the Soviet Union fell. This is why lil marco was sinking into the couch. He was hoping we wouldn’t find it…so don’t RT right now this very second.

Great book. I like a big American novel a la Franzen every now and again and this one is funny and smart, and very much makes me want to read The Nix. 💙📚 #booksky

First time making Smoky chickpea, almond and red pepper stew. Delicious! Yet to make anything less than yummy from Alan Rosenthal's Foolproof Veggie One-pot. 🍜 #vegetarian #foodsky

Prince Harry 👏👏👏 www.theguardian.com/media/2025/j...

Daughter cooked up these amazing feta and tomato muffins for our lunch 😋 #bakingsky #foodsky

TRIGGER WARNING for medical stuff A personal thread musing on women's health - and how the medical establishment thinks about pain. If that's not your cup of tea on a Monday night, I absolutely don't blame you, please feel free to read literally anything else. For those who are interested...

Tonight's viewing: Lost Highway #davidlynch

#fridayreads #fictionfriday #booksky 📚💙 Really enjoyed this. A cross between Highsmith and du Maurier. Tense, a bit gothic, great build-up, slow reveal, well-written. Big thumbs up.

David Lynch 😭😭😭 Loved his films and Twin Peaks so much. Watched Lynch/Oz just last week - film makers discussing Lynch's work and the frequent influence of The Wizard of Oz - highly recommend

Are you passionate about books? We’re seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Part-Time Bookseller to join our seaside shop on Ship Street, Brighton. To apply, just email [email protected] with your CV and a cover letter 📚 goldsborobooks.com/blogs/news/g...

Watched Civil War on Prime last night. Most sobering in the current political climate. It barely felt dystopian, which is properly nuts ☹️ #filmsky

I just asked my pharmacist if my ear was a bit blocked and he had a look and SCREAMED and told me to go to A&E immediately so off I go, gang!

And you can still go there on a Dickens pub crawl! spitalfieldslife.com/2010/08/09/a...

💙📚 Finished Our Mutual Friend (Christmas meant this took longer than expected!). Everything you read Dickens for - great baddies, evocative settings (especially the waterways), and of course some none-too-subtle moralising 🤣.

What are the 'horror classics'? Having chatted about this briefly yesterday I've been pondering what might constitute the outline of a 'canon' – essential novels and stories that help us appreciate and understand the genre. So, here's a first take, after a couple of disclaimers. 👇