Fascinating thread.

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...

Hats off to the BBC for restoring Peter Watkins' The War Game to the iPlayer. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

If you've ever wanted to see a 1970s Spanish TV dance troupe do a choreographed routine to Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express, now's your chance www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbmU...

Good 1925 find by Grant here.

Shall we talk about ebooks? It might be a bit of a weird thing for a physical bookshop to do, but bear with me. There's a reason. Take a seat for a short thread. 1/?

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...

I would laugh if this wasn't so true 😭

My short story ‘The Unspoken’ online @grantamag.bsky.social granta.com/the-unspoken/

All the London food groups.

"How could a weak, perverse woman like me, someone who dreams of a knife in her hand, be the mother and wife of those two individuals? What was I going to do? I burrowed deeper into the ground, hiding my body." #BookSky 💙📚 #DieMyLove #TranslationThurs jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/d...

Here’s the Women Writers series looking glorious at Frankfurt Book Fair! @stuckinabook.bsky.social

I’m thrilled to be able to share this with you! My fourth collection, Devotions, will be published next April 23rd. If you would like a proof copy please contact @faberbooks.bsky.social ✨

Alexander Baron's repeatedly rediscovered novel The Lowlife: 1streading.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/t...

Does anyone know when Austen’s “any body” becomes our “anybody”? Later 19th Century? Did it progress regionally?

Overlooked female modernist artist Marthe Donas dazzles in Belgium - thanks @jenniferrankin.bsky.social for drawing the attention of a UK audience to her work www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

TERFs are trying to bully a beloved London public swimming space into throwing out their longstanding traditions/policies in order to force trans people out of using the space. Please consider voicing your support for inclusivity here hampstead-heath-bathing-ponds.commonplace.is/en-GB/propos...

My Substack post for October is live! The usual soul-baring stuff from me, including what I did in the Moomin Museum... Also some book chat and details about my forthcoming workshops for the poetry-haters! open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

Best Irish Books of 2025: your Culture Night (and Christmas) guide to children’s literature www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

@stephenkb.bsky.social hey there, saw your bit on Polish Jazz and will give January a listen. My impression is Poland has a strong jazz scene for decades now, do you think that’s fair?

In the Nuns' Garden Sarah Robertson 1933

Pet parrots which typically live alone (whilst those in the wild live in large flocks) were given the technology to call each other. They would use it for up to three hours a day, and developed favourite friends 💔 on.ft.com/3K05vhS

Love the sign in this Cambridge crime bookshop window.

@stephenkb.bsky.social I’ve been reading you about seven years now I think and I still think this that you come back today is one of your best insights: “a lot of the true greats are underrated because everyone feels silly recommending them.”

Totally forgot this absolutely fantastic “god forbid a man has hobbies” leaflet in the pub last week.

Extraordinary story here of a novel first published in 1934 about the rise of the Nazis: www.theguardian.com/books/2025/f... Now republished by Persephone Books. I started listening to a radio version and it’s excellent. So much so I may switch to the print version.

This is such a good book. Rightfully reprinted now by Virago with a better cover, but I’d recommend it in any imprint you can find.

Why learn French when your phone can do it for you? I wrote about the frustrations and joys of learning a foreign language: www.ft.com/content/7e49...

Loving the @aptshadow.bsky.social and @emmanewman.bsky.social Starship Alexandria podcast. Most of the way through the John Wyndham The Kraken Wakes episode (a book I love) and it’s just so fun and well informed. A new favourite podcast.

Any views on Sarah Hall? I’ve not read her. Her fiction I mean by the way, I don’t need to know if she’s a lovely neighbour or has a marked dislike for parakeets.

I thought this @theguardian.com article on healthy eating, societal attitudes to fat and eating anxieties and disorders both very brave and very helpful. Thought I’d share. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

For those of you who go to them, what’s the attraction of book festivals? Reading always seemed to me an inherently private activity and I’ve never quite seen the lure. Except maybe Hay because it sounds pretty, but even there it’s the town that tempts.

Great article on how the Aurora Orchestra works with the Frantic Assembly dance troupe. This is about their prep to bring out the context of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony before going on to perform it from memory. observer.co.uk/music/classi...

So immensely loving writing my new gardening column @theobserveruk.bsky.social

I am one of the 14 authors who chose to leave the Polari Prize, and I find myself frustrated and saddened at the way this entire story has been represented. 1/

My cartoons for this week’s @theguardian.com books #holiday #vacation #reading

Back reading Piñeiro. Once again she has me from the first page. Great to see Charco publishing her. #witmonth

Gray squirrel eating a baby pine cone

Classic Janan Ganesh. Always funny, often infuriating, sometimes surprisingly insightful almost seemingly in passing. Later in the article he talks about the trap of imagined authenticity, a genuinely good point in a light-hearted article. (Locals authentically go to malls and eat take-away…)

Read: Irmgard Keun: Nach Mitternacht (1937. Translated by Anthea Bell). What a spectacularly good book. Humour, drama, acute observations, and a complete takedown of the Nazi regime. Will read more by Keun.

@jacquiwine.bsky.social I’ve started Is Mother Dead? It’s very well written but it’s quite claustrophobic isn’t it?

Anyone planning to do #witmonth this year? The last few years I’ve tried in August to only read books by women in translation. Works quite well as a prod to revisit old favourites and forces to try some new writers.

Scène du film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, de Jacques Demy, sorti en 1964.

I’ve muted a whole lot of US politics words but I’m seeing this thing where people post photos with US politics stuff in them and the mute doesn’t work on those. Any way to screen those out?

Am wondering if Instagram still has any value to me as a user. Between often frankly creepy reels being pushed and even in my Following feed corporates coming ahead of people, I’m not sure what it’s for any more.

Watched Quo Vadis, Aida? last night. Brilliant film and one of the toughest and most stressful I’ve ever seen. It bridges the gap between fact/statistics and imagination/empathy that can make it hard to really understand atrocities.

Much as I love Penguin Classics, I do sometimes struggle with the endless endnotes. For me, they’re like distracting little hooks that pull me away from stuff I was following perfectly well (and if I miss a reference, if I’m not reading for study how much does it matter?).

The thing with Hotel du Lac, and I may have said this before, is I always remember it as a book I found a bit dry and distant. The thing is, that’s obviously not true as I’ve read it I think three times and likely shall again.

Brookner. Any recommendations beyond Look at Me and Hotel du Lac?