Good luck to all school staff heading back tomorrow. I feel anxious, and probably won't sleep much, but I'll try to take the day one thing at a time, and not worry about too far ahead. #Edusky

@hollowcrownfans.bsky.social 'Stars, hide your fires - let not light see my black and deep desires.' Macbeth. #shakespearesunday

Wow. I'm just getting started on this, a very thoughtful Secret Santa present from a colleague, but even the foreword hits home. Zweig, writing in the early 1940s, is describing the interwar period - but he could be describing today.

Book 23 of 2026 #Booksky This also called to me from its library shelf, and as they have a bunch of these I'm going to commit to reading all 75 Maigret novels. And this one was a goodie: a mysterious suicide, a blood-stained suit and a past that won't stay buried. What more could you want?

Book 22 of 2026 #Booksky I'm not big on self-help books, but I've been thinking for some while how to make better use of my time (and think about work less), and so this called to me from the library shelves. And I'm glad it did - this was full of thoughtful advice and kindness.

Book 21 of 2016 #Booksky A very enjoyable and exhaustive biography of one of my favourite writers. It's added another dimension to Jackson's novels, and the book is also excellent at unlocking her writing process.

Bed. Don't want to wake up late for Armageddon.

If we're still here tomorrow, I have some great news. Wednesday is #buyastrangerabook day! People buy each other books cos they want to and they're ace. It'll kick off at a little after midday (GMT). Books not Bombs www.biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi...

Book 20 of 2026 #Booksky I walloped through this in barely 24 hours, and really enjoyed how spare the prose was. There's also an unnerving blankness about the protagonist, which I found simultaneously familiar and uncanny.

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But shall this crazed old man be tamely suffered to drag a whole ship’s company down to doom with him?

See also: Teaching If you lean too heavily into AI to plan your lessons as a new teacher, you won't make those mistakes or have those insights which are invaluable later. You do stuff without knowing why. You do stuff 'because the machine told me to.' #Edusky

Book 19 of 2026 #Booksky I was expecting this to be terrific, but it still excelled my expectations. It's not only that Yorke writes really well, but he also made me think about story in a very different way.

Any Hertfordshire shares would be greatly appreciated (a Hertfordshire Share sounds like the polar opposite of a Glasgow Kiss)

I made it my life mission to reference this as many times as I can

Book 18 of 2026 Another possible Y9 text, albeit pretty brutal - but violence balanced with Steinbeck's tender descriptions of nature. #Booksky

Book 17 of 2026 Casting around for a possible new text for Year 9, I picked this up. A grim but necessary read. I can also see how it would link well to other texts. #Booksky

Book 16 of 2026 #Booksky This was tremendous, an excellent study in group hysteria. I was a bit foxed by the ending (and need to read it again), but Jackson's dark wit is in plentiful supply.

A reminder. Enjoy the holidays for those who have broken up. Bon chance to those who have a few days to go.

If you know anyone who’s dreading putting together their wedding speech - send them my way! www.mathew-owen.co.uk If you can re-post this I’d really appreciate it 👍

Wouldn't we all.

Off to the British Library soon for my Chartered Teacher graduation ceremony. Expect photos of me in a silly hat. #Edusky

Book 15 of 2026 #Booksky Not my favourite Dickens, but still breathtaking in its scope and humanity. And in Sloppy and Jenny Wren, it contains two of my favourite characters - in Dickens, perhaps also in literature.

Our tortoise Rocket has survived another winter hibernation, buried in our garden. Spring is coming.

I'm working my way through 'Small Prophets' two episodes at a time (last two left to watch), and it's just such a smart, clever, warm piece of storytelling. But what also occurred to me, is that bingeing all 6 episodes in one go seems very wrong.

You know the best way to kill AI? Don't use it. Don't buy it. Don't share it. Don't give the people who use it your labour or your money.

Book 14 of 2026 #Booksky This was quite the ride, stuffed full of weird and wonderful myths and folk tales from across the globe. Lots of excellent illustrations, too.

What a week. Again. I am proper done in. Again.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy St. David's Day

Evening.

Good morning, and a happy new Resident Evil game day to all who celebrate.

Book 13 of 2026 #Booksky An entirely apt number for a peculiar, unsettling book. One of Jackson's earlier novels, and therefore less successful for me. But her writing is still sharp and unpredictable and full of people being hilariously awful to each other. Until it stops being funny. #Booksky

I'm sitting in Costa, waiting for my car to come out of ICU and planning Y12 lessons for next week. And what's struck me is how much easier it is after resting for a week over half term, and not being flat out exhausted.

Sorry, me again and this bloody painting. But I think one reason I find art (and literature) so fulfilling is because it has taken time, and it is considered. It is a balanced diet, against the junk food served up online and via social media: superficially tasty, but with zero nutrition.

Something else: that dot of light on the end of his finger. That's God on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, right, his fingertip bringing Adam to life?

This is Joseph Wright of Derby's 1768 painting 'An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump', and seeing it in the flesh today reminded me of the immense power of art.

Excellent day out in London, and as per over far too quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed the Joseph Wright exhibition at the National; seeing the paintings live and at scale is something you can never replicate in a book or on a screen.

Okay, bed. Tomorrow: London, art, lunch out, bookshops.

'One more thing...'

Book 12 of 2026 #Booksky And that's that: Lew Griffin Book 6, and the last of the series.

Book 11 of 2026 #Booksky Lew Griffin Book 5, and the shortest in the series. On the surface, it's a story of white supremacists, and Griffin putting himself back together after a prolonged stay in hospital, after bring shot on the street. But...

Book 10 of 2026 #Booksky Lew Griffin book 4, and favourite so far on this re-read through the series. Also the first I read, back in the late 2000s. As compelling now as it was then.

Happy half term #Edusky

Book 9 of 2026 #Booksky Lew Griffin Book 3, and a sniper prowls the rooftops of 1968 New Orleans. Not as powerful as the first two, but still a cut above your regular PI tale.

Billboard in Dundee. Pic: Alistair Heather

Book 8 of 2026 #Booksky Lew Griffin book 2, and just terrific. The prose is deceptively simple, but you can feel the depths that lurk beneath.

I've got that exhausted, end of half term feeling where I just don't feel like doing anything. I slept really well last night and the one before, and had a nap on the sofa yesterday - and yet here I still am.

If a blog post uses an AI image, chances are I won't read it.

What do we reckon?