Precisely one (1) of my Top 10 made the overall list. This makes me under-read but enigmatic, I'm sure you'll agree.

@scarthinbooks.bsky.social doings God's work today.

Very serious and important business: www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

20 years of Bluemoose Ben Myers 'Independent publishing is where all the best stuff happens. Here is where the risk taskers, the dreamers and the outsiders gather. Without the indies, literature would be a blander and more homogeneous place. All hail the mighty 'Moose!'

I'm reading The Fortnight in September by RC Sherriff (1931) perhaps the most @backlisted.bsky.social book to never feature on @backlisted.bsky.social. It's a delight.

Clicking on the individual writers' choices is a lot of fun. My top two didn't make the final 100 but never mind (the ones that did but haven't been announced yet are redacted) www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

I was invited to contribute a Top 10 to this piece for The Guardian. The list is gradually being unveiled over the coming days or you can click to see each of our choices. www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

"Where do you get your ideas from?" is a question I'm often asked, and the answer's always the same: every May 12th I touch neolithic stones in a specific configuration, whereupon I levitate for approx 2-7 minutes. Then when I return to terra firma, there's the idea. Surprisingly effective.

"And finally...senior Labour MPs have announced today they'd rather not be in power at all than follow the party leader they chose and who the people also voted for as Prime Minister. Because having 5 leaders in 8 years worked really well for their predecessors, didn't it. The festering bell ends."

I saw my first hedgehog in a decade last night. My *first ever* in Hebden Bridge.

It has taken me 21 months, but I have finally finished one of the great reading experiences.

For the past couple of years Stephen Coates' podcast The Bureau Of Lost Culture has been a much-needed reminder that everything interesting in Britain comes from the underground, the edges, the margins. Within lies a fantastic archive for true heads. Recommended. open.spotify.com/show/0mR1STl...

I'm depressed about the huge gains Reform are going to make tomorrow.

Spring by the sea aka 'the Hockney hour'.

"Best wishes, to Carol, Jake Thackray, 16 June 79". I like to think someone here will appreciate £5 well spent this morning.

See you down the front.

A wee film from 2019 about growing up in suburbia, in which I go full Partridge. (The screen shot always make me think "the lad needs roughage.") www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Sp...

'Lint' by Richard Brautigan (1971).

Saltburn. We've all drank bath water, babes.

Bank Holiday books.

'His characters offer us an insight into an underclass that, far away from reckless Wall Street brokers and DC lobbyists, actually forms the engine of American society.' Benjamin Myers on The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin for The Spectator 📖

Brideshead Revisited Mr Inbetween Our Friends In The North The Sopranos Six Feet Under I'm Alan Partridge Boys From The Blackstuff Chernobyl Twin Peaks Peep Show Oz Play For Today One Summer Curb Your Enthusiasm This Country

Count me in. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A plea for organisations in the book world to fund, you know, books, instead of personalities: samj.substack.com/p/stop-rewar...

Herr Kinski gets about. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

'King' David Hartley of Bell House, Erringden, Cragg Vale, Yorkshire was hanged at Tyburn in York on this day in 1770. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I reviewed 'The Left And The Lucky' by Willy Vlautin for The Spectator. (Spoiler: it's excellent.) spectator.com/article/the-...

It's a perfectly reasonable question. www.tiktok.com/@theosmaller...

The bluebells are popping tonight.

"'Content’ is pap. Algorithmic pabulum to fill space and kill time. It has no meaning or purpose beyond fleecing the gullible of money and data." @neilmackay.bsky.social says Jesus Christ Kinski, the latest novel from Benjamin Myers, is very much ‘not content’ www.heraldscotland.com/life...

A friend of mine runs the Nick Drake estate and he regularly gets invitations for Nick to play festivals, appear on podcasts and also offers to help "boost his profile" on "the socials". His replies are masterful.

Good stuff, as ever, from Adam Scovell. ontherow.substack.com/p/withnails-...

Punk AF. @subpop.bsky.social

Minutiae. This took 8 attempts.

Longlist for the Jan Michalski Prix for Literature 2026.

I went to buy some trainers but ran out screaming because I have taste.

God I miss the weekly music press. Shit like this would never have got through. www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/2604...

There's a nice German edition of A Month In The Country by J.L. Carr coming out, with a new Foreword by me. It's published by Dumont.

Mad, bad and brilliant: this novel is unlike anything you’ve ever read My review of Jesus Christ Kinski by Ben Myers In @heraldscotland.bsky.social Link here www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/2...

"The book is such an assault on the insipid literary standards of the 2020s it’s truly remarkable it ever saw the light of day." archive.is/FNBNe Thanks to @neilmackay.bsky.social for this pleasing review. The paperback is out November 2026.

Review: Jesus Christ Kinski, the latest novel from Benjamin Myers, is a unique work of art. There’s quite simply nothing like it. It doesn’t even ask readers to like it; rather it suspects readers will hate it. @neilmackay.bsky.social @heraldscotland.bsky.social @benjaminmyers76.bsky.social

A rather lovely interview with J L Carr. For anyone suffering a reading drought - his novel A Month in the Country is a reliable antidote. His charm and sense of mischief are very evident here. With thanks to @backlisted.bsky.social who first made me aware of him. m.youtube.com/watch?v=924-...

A good cover version of 2 Unlimited. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkuZ...

Back in 2014 I reviewed Prince for @thequietus.com. thequietus.com/news/prince-...

You don't meet many lads called Rudyard these days.

Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited

I'm giving loads of my clothes to Oxfam, if anyone wants to look and/or smell like a mid-list writer with erratic sales figures.

I’ll never forget watching The Wicker Man with my outer Hebridean mum. “I just don’t know where there got all that wicker from”

You just know you'd end up stuck next to Terry, reeking of Carling, his 'Stop the boats' tattoo bobbing up & down as he grunts something about the 'libtard wokerati' 'pon completion. Then you'd have to retire to the kitchen for a beta blocker, Earl Grey and a silent cry. Or maybe that's just me?

Two Bluemoose Books adapted for BBC Television in the past few years. The Gallows Pole by @benjaminmyers76.bsky.social Leonard and Hungry Paul by @ronanhession.bsky.social @thebookseller.com @bookcornerhx.bsky.social The finest Indy publishing from Hebden Bridge.