Here’s my contribution to #NovellasInNovember - Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark, 1981, a wonderfully clever story where life imitates art in the literary world 💙📚 #NovNov25 #BookReview #BookSky #audiobook https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/3a9743bc-7c35-4d09-8fca-498307955f20?redirect=true

URGENT: Stop Barclays from trapping birds in netting

Oak trees have been revered for centuries, symbolizing power and ancient wisdom. They can live for hundreds of years – and provide food and homes for hundreds of different wildlife species, including birds, mammals, and insects. More native trees to grow: littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/Tre...

Reason #3583 we love Chris Packham! Town says no to Boxing Day hunt! www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11...

Autumn Woodland - by painter and printmaker, Carry Akroyd More of this artist's gorgeous artwork, here: carryakroyd.co.uk #art #printmaking #autumn

Share if you agree!

"Beginners always win, & they always react the same. They get wildly elated. They fill with conceit & all of a sudden you can't tell them anything. There floods into them the feeling that they are at home here, that they're enjoying themselves, & like kids they want to show that they're big boys."

"O'Connor once spoke about how, when giving a talk, she was asked 'Why do you write?' and replied, 'Because I’m good at it'. She 'at once felt a considerable disapproval in the atmosphere' — but she was spot on." Me on three story collections by Cynan Jones, Tim MacGabhann and Flannery O'Connor:

This is Richard Smith of the South Durham Hunt and he thinks it’s ok to hit a horse over the head. Make this ‘man’ famous. Filmed by North East Hunt Monitors on 08/11/25

So another series of ‘I’m a Celeb’ is about to start. Another year of senseless animal cruelty for ‘entertainment’ no doubt. We definitely won’t be watching! Who’s with us?

New on the blog today, I've written about CROOKED CROSS by Sally Carson. A brilliant, terrifying novel about the rise of Nazism, the falling apart of a country’s codes of decency & the moral fortitude required to oppose persecution. Frighteningly timely. 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/11/09/c...

A message to NatureScot, STOP THIS! Sign the petition: protectthewild.org.uk/gannet-petit...

🚨 REVEALED THROUGH FOI FROM PROTECT THE WILD - PLEASE READ Nature Scot should be utterly ashamed of themselves for allowing the slaughter of hundreds of Gannet chicks to continue this sick tradition.

Can you beat this for a news story "A top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match."

I love Notes from Underground, and was struck by it's similarities to The Catcher in the Rye. It's almost the same plot, except one's a student and one's a civil servant (currently listening to this ep)

An unlikely story by J L Carr, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F A Cup. Recommended for #NovellasinNovember, it's more about village politics than football so don't be put off by the title. As usual with J L Carr its a bit sad, a bit happy, a bit funny and a bit wise. A great read.

If you're thinking of doing #NovellasInNovember, you're in luck - here is an A-Z of brilliant novella suggestions! www.stuckinabook.com/an-a-z-of-br...

New on my blog - Blasts from the Past: Close Range by Annie Proulx (1999) alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/blas... #BookSky

It's Wednesday afternoon, and so nearly the weekend... and A Personal Anthology! This week's guest editor, picking and introducing a dozen favourite short stories, is June Caldwell, @junec.bsky.social, author of the collection Room Little Darker. Hitting inboxes Friday. Sign up below!

Enjoyed talking to Cynan Jones and Anthony Shapland at @belfastfestival.bsky.social last night. Jones talked about the moment when he took a 90,000-word historical novel, and cut 60,000 words in one go. Was that hard? "No, it felt great." The result was his 2014 novel The Dig.

Just read this masterpiece. Wow. Not a book I thought would be my cup of tea and a book usually I would avoid but Backlisted podcast did an episode on it so thought I would check it out. And. Wow. Highly recommend it @backlisted.bsky.social

Take Swifts. Their numbers have plummeted by 68% in just 28 years. We're proud to stand with @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social in calling for Swift bricks. Nesting spaces built into new homes would give these remarkable birds a future. Amendment 245: simple fix, huge impact. Surely a no-brainer?

New on the blog today for the #1925Club, I've written about GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES by Anita Loos. A wonderfully witty satire featuring Lorelei, the ultimate girl about town. It's smart, engaging and a whole lot of fun! #BookSky 💙📚 #FilmSky jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/26/g...

This might also explain the slow and steady decline of common insects. I am sure they cannot avoid these pesticides either and low levels could disrupt behaviour or reduce survival rates www.theguardian.com/environment/...

My new blog post on Sally Carson's superb, prescient novel, CROOKED CROSS. Another excellent title from Persephone. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/c...

Today, @kaggsy59.bsky.social and I are celebrating a decade of Club Reading Weeks (and we'd love you to, too!) Here are my favourite 12 books from those ten years... www.stuckinabook.com/unnecessary-...

Out today: BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2025, edited by... me! So so many great stories in here. I can't wait for you to discover them and their talented writers.

Finished Sally Carson's CROOKED CROSS. A wonderful, sad novel that will definitely find a place on my Best of the Year list. Another winner from Persephone.

Salmon farming is just wrong... theconversation.com/almost-75-00...

So pleased to see that Daniel Day Lewis has been singing the praises of Kent Haruf, and especially Plainsong and Eventide – two of the greatest novels ever written. Seriously, if you have yet to read them, I think they are essential.

Let's hear it for ivy! The last flower of the year is one of the best for pollinators, vital for a last feed for butterflies such as the red admiral. Learn a little more... youtu.be/-W6aa6nUVPA

Me, in The Guardian, wanging on about migration. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Damn right! This is the TRUTH nobody wants to admit!

Fake cobwebs like these may look spooky – but what's really scary about them is that they can trap & injure wildlife, including birds, insects & small mammals. And fake webs aren't recyclable – so will end up in landfill for many years. More: littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/5-i... #Halloween

For years, this was part of a path through the land, but it's now an impenetrable tangle of gorse and young trees. As the trees grow, the gorse and other vegetation will be shaded out, and I'll be able to pass again, but through *rainforest*. Scrub is how natural forest ecosystems form.

A Golden-bloomed, Grey Longhorn beetle (I think) #InsectThursday #nature #wildlife

Good to see Neil Duncan-Jordan MP calling on the Govt to ban hunting asap!

A landscape with a toxic past gives wildlife a chance to thrive in today's @theguardian.com country diary. #countrydiary #naturewriting

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o... A long read

My new blog post on Russell Hoban’s wonderfully unusual novel, TURTLE DIARY, about two lonely protagonists who partner up to rescue a trio of sea turtles from the zoo. Loved it and it's sure to feature in my year-end highlights. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2025/10/06/t...

An atmospheric @theguardian.com country diary today from the inimitable Phil Gates. #countrydiary #naturewriting

I've read three wonderful books by Persephone this year, and next up is Sally Carson's CROOKED CROSS.

Oh, damn...what a body of work she has left us with. #RIP

This Sunday BBC Two 3.50pm BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

RIP Liverpool poet Brian Patten, aged 79. I still have an original copy of the Penguin Mersey Sound paperback, which I bought as a teenager. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Sheila Kaye-Smith's All the Books of My Life came about 50 years too early today's wave of bibliomemoirs and puts them to shame. This is truly a lifetime’s account of reading, starting with the books her nanny read her and ending with the spiritual works that fed her faith. neglectedbooks.com/?...