I've bought a few books for strangers from @biggreenbooks.bsky.social and decided to buy something for myself recently. How nice is this wrapping? It's like it's my birthday! (It's not my birthday, except it's always my birthday. And that's just a fact.)

Starting the day with a complaint to @beenetworks.bsky.social about the tram driver at St Peter's Square who shut the doors on people still getting on the tram. Quality service, well done👍🏻

A sneaked in book for Reading Wales Month 2026. In "And: A memoir of my mother", artist and writer Isabel Adonis tells the story of her parents Catherine Alice and Denis Williams and her disrupted childhood. It's pure, lyrical brilliance. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/a...

When you don't have a kitchen at work and everything (microwave, kettle, mugs, teabags, coffee, paper towels) is crammed onto an 80cm square table in the corner of the room that should be a kitchen.

Trees. I bloody love them.

I'm a third of the way through the books from my backlog I've chosen to read this year. Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus is monumental. Magical realism, folklore, politics and adventure. What more could you want? thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/n...

This is the reply thread I didn't know I needed. Dewi Sant: Fashion Influencer.

Number 14 from my list of 45 books by women from my backlog is Tracy Chevalier's Falling Angels, a moving account of the transition from Victorian to Edwardian and the societal change that started to gather pace. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/f...

This is magnificent stuff. Proper writing-to-work-things-out stuff. History is ever changing. We rewrite it and ourselves in relation to it constantly. At its heart, though, is a kernel of truth.

Book 13 in my Year of Reading Women is The Heart Goes Last. Not the best thing I've read by Margaret Atwood, but not the best, either. Farcical about sums it up. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/02/24/t...

Uh oh. Mr'icks has introduced me to something that tickles my obsessiveness. And I'm better at it than him. 48.1/50. I remember colors better than I remember names. Come at me. dialed.gg?c=WTJEWP

Book 12 for my Year of Reading Women was Jane Fletcher Geniesse's Passionate Nomad, about Freya Stark, a woman who became an expert in Arabic culture in West Asia and whom I'd never heard of. I didn't always like her but I was thoroughly entertained. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/p...

Have you read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists? Here’s the graphic novel version - the whole story told in cartoons. You can still enjoy the story without reading the 255,000 word original text And there are lots of horses and bicycles to look at

This article is interesting. I had massive (to me) scraping activity on my inconsequential blog about book nonsense over the last 4 days and it threw my reptilian brain for a loop. 53 views an hour? Fine. 1,143 views an hour? WHAT?

There's something about maps. I always make sure we have maps out when we have an open day at work. Strangers bond over them. This level of research is what makes great historical fiction - prose or graphic.

Of course she was.

Antlers, monument, building, scone #DunhamMassey

Day 44 Vladyslav Heraskevych The first ever Ukrainian Olympic skeleton racer, disqualified from competing in the Winter Olympics because he wouldn’t back down about wearing his ‘helmet of remembrance’ (with images of Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia’s invasion) Metro 11.2.26 Photo uncredited

Notice this.

Highlights from the Elizabeth Fritsch: Otherworldly Vessels exhibition at @hepworthwakefield.bsky.social I loved the clever playfulness of these pots, particularly the illusion of looking at a drawing on a page. Her colour palette makes me think of the 1950s but seen from the 1970s.

An afternoon enjoying Barbara Hepworth at @hepworthwakefield.bsky.social Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943) is really, really lovely.

Timely - here's a selection of panels from the book I've just read, showing how relevant Constance Maud's book still is.

Book 11 from this year's list is @rickardsisters.com's graphic novel adaptation of Constance Maud's No Surrender is a feast for the eyes and a reminder that equality and the right to dignity is worth defending. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/02/11/c...

My 10th from my Year of Reading Women is Lauren Elkin's wonderful Flâneuse, an examination of why it's so hard for women to walk through and around the places they live with the same 'functional invisibility' as men. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/f...

I like this. It is now my guide to the mysteries of Winter Olympic sports.

Read this, then tell me the short story is dead*. *Terms and conditions apply

My 9th book in my Year of Reading Women is The Low Road by Katharine Quarmby, the story of Hannah Tyrrell and her dark and difficult life, from Norfolk farm girl to Australian outcast. A well researched piece of historical fiction. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/t...

Happy #Imbolc, ushered in by Brigid and her hare. Nature is stirring, there’s a full moon. The winter is ebbing away. The seeds scattered last year are waking up. Pat yourself on the back , you’ve made it through another winter.

Lost for Words was the 8th book from my Year of Reading Women list, 9th book of the month - it's been a long time since I've read that many in a month. I enjoyed it. More than I was expecting to. It had a bit of grit. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/l...

New signage at work has prompted questions about whether we're opening a restaurant. Not possible. As well as the lack of a kitchen, you can't get gravy off documents. The sign also led to a day of replacing C with G: arghives, gollegtions, regords and, my favourite, doguments.

The other week, I had a thank you email from a donor, saying I'd been very professional but amazingly 'human'. Strange but true, archivists are human. We're also a little bit dancer.

I have been thinking today about how much I'd like a kitchen at work. It got VEd out of project in the new build. Instead of a kitchen, I have been offered a public acknowledgement of the hard work I did moving the collections last year. On reflection, I'd rather have a kitchen.

Auschwitz was at the end of a process. We must remember that it did not start from gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed: from ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

Book 7 from the list for my Year of Reading Women is Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic, a tense race to find out who killed central character Caleb Zelic's best friend before anyone else is killed. Lots of lovely crime thriller tropes to snack on, too. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/01/27/r...

Number 6 off this year's list is Strong Female Character by Fern Brady. Frank, funny, brutal and thoughtful. Brady takes us through her life before and since her autism diagnosis and shines a feminist light on the misdiagnosis of autistic women. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/s...

My four favourite facts about the cockchafer beetle: 1. It's called a cockchafer beetle. 2. It’s also sometimes known as a “billywitch”. 3. It’s unusually loud and clumsy by beetle standards and bangs into lots of things when it flies into your house by mistake. 4. It looks like this, close up.

I'm a good citizen. I popped outside to do some recycling. I discovered that sky had come on all Anselm Adams.

I wanted to comfort eat (macaroni cheese) and then panicked so bought excess greens. Turns out the greens are making this meal.

Sometimes life calls for a small tawny port.

Always.

Book 5 from the pile was Noopiming by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson from @andotherstories.bsky.social. Such a wonderful reading experience. It lifted me out of my headspace, spun me around, and made me laugh while it was at it. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/n...

My favourite book from last year. It wrapped its tendrils round my brain.

Local Haunts is brilliant. You should buy it.

📢 IMPORTANT SANDWICH NEWS📢 I just had to stop eating and take a picture of the blinding butty I made. Rye caraway bread, Squeaky Bean red pepper & tomato tofu slices, Rioja cheddar cheese, sliced tomato, Cartwright & Butler Boxing Day Chutney. You're welcome.

Book 4 from the pile this year is a Xmas gift from 2024. It's been a while since I read something mainstream and I unexpectedly enjoyed the cut of its funny and thought provoking jib. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/01/18/l...

In case you're hard of threading, there's more where that previous quote post came from.

Read the ALT text and join us.

This reminds me that one of our great-nieces thinks her dad supports Manchester Benighted. She's only 5. Child genius.

Mostly thanks to the lurgy, I'm doing well on my list of 45 books I want to read this year. Book 3 was engaging and fascinating. I'll think about cherry trees and Japan's 20th century politicisation of them differently after this one. thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2026/01/14/c...

The Highway Code rule 112b: LED headlights