What I’ve been reading in 2025: 1. The Bees by Laline Paull 2. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin 3. The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma 4. Goodlord by Ella Frears 5. Nightingale Point by Luan Goldie 6. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci 7. The Visitor by Maeve Brennan

Fantastic afternoon hearing from two of my favourite contemporary writers, Eimear McBride and Kevin Barry, at the Cambridge Literary Festival, lead expertly in conversation by @newstatesman.com’s Tom Gatti 📚

@ronanhession.bsky.social well done - New York Public Library’s book of the day!

Which animals have you spotted on our pondcam? Our pondcam live stream focuses on one of the Hampstead Heath ponds. It is played for patients to ease the stresses of waiting to be seen in the oncology clinic at the Royal Free Hospital. 📺Watch live at the link in our bio! #NHS #nature #Hampstead

Virginia Woolf, Vanessa’s sister, did the same artistic magpie act: her novel Mrs Dalloway - stream of consciousness covering one day in one woman’s life - “inspired by” James Joyce’s Ulysses despite Woolf declaring it ”an illiterate, underbred book … the book of a self-taught working man…”

First exhibition of 2025 - Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour. Superbly-curated but Bell’s work felt hugely derivative - her style veering erratically between Rembrandt, Cézanne, Matisse, even a nod to Kandinsky - without mastering any. Textbook class privilege. 📸 @davidbevan.bsky.social

Loving the 25% increase on the cost of a bus trip into town. Happy Back To Work Day to all who are participating - and a shout out to all the bus drivers explaining government price caps to disgruntled passengers.

Really love the NHS text message updates telling me where my donated blood has gone. Genius idea. #GiveBlood

✨ "With Sincere Good Wishes" ✨ We love this beautiful #Christmas #card from the #HarryClarke and #MargaretClarke Papers, 1860-1991; catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls0....

A pint of plain is yer only man #GiveBlood 🩸

A work colleague, who drew my name in our team Secret Santa, heard me raving about the @britishlibrary.bsky.social Irish Writers Weekend so he researched which writers took part to help his book buying for my present 📚 What wonderful choices!

Ah, you’d miss the subeditors all the same …

Oooooooooooh look what was in today’s post 💕 @stingingfly.bsky.social

A poignant coincidence to have been reading Caoilinn Hughes’ The Wild Laughter as UK politicians voted in favour of assisted dying. Gorgeously written, as you’d expect from a poet-turned-writer, with deliciously dislikeable characters and laugh-out-loud dark humour.

So, Small Things Like These - a Christmas film?

Oh. Foe-cal Not Fuh-cal. Disappointing. 🇮🇪

What I’ve read in 2024 (so far): 1. Cuddy by Benjamin Myers 2. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 3. Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang 4. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (trns by Ken Liu) 5. Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blaché A thread …

A wonderful day at @britishlibrary.bsky.social for its Irish Writers Weekend in the company of some of my favourite living writers, including Donal Ryan, Eimear McBride and Lisa McInerney. Discovered exciting new writers and poets to check out too.

Looks like Robyn is having so much fun of late, following up a superb summer collaboration with Jamie xx with this brat hilarity: “I started so young I didn’t even have email” open.spotify.com/track/0VYJse...