Day 13 of #NovellasInNovember is COLD NIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD by Turkish writer Tezer Özlü a lyrical auto-fictional account of the author's fight to survive depression and carve out her own path in 1950s and 60s Istanbul #BookSky #LitFic

London readers - this looks good! #BookSky #London #History

Can't wait to start on my copy of THE SILVER BOOK by Olivia Laing. If you want to know more about the context of Pasolini's tragic murder, I would strongly recommend you watch David Grieco's doc PASOLINI: CRONOLOGIA DI UN DELITTO POLITICO and NOT the Abel Ferrara film 😅 #BookSky

Oh, and Flora Stacey who created this masterpiece back in 1898, one of the earliest known examples of typewriter art #WomenArtists

Absolutely incredible. Typewriter art has always fascinated me. I remember the first time I saw the work of James Cook and Paul Smith at an exhibition in Cambridge 20 years ago - blew me away.

On our latest episode Amanda talks about Adam Weymouth's latest book, LONE WOLF, which tracks a young male wolf named Slavc as he embarks on an incredible 1000+ mile journey across the alps from Slovenia to Italy where he finds love and starts a rewilding revolution #BookSky #NatureWriting #Books

Day 12 of #NovellasInNovember is PNIN by Vladimir Nabokov, his 13th book and 4th written in English. The story follows Timofey Pnin, a Russian assistant professor in his 50s living in the United States as he muses on his past luck and losses in WWII Europe and Revolutionary Russia #BookSky #LitFic

Yep, we love SPINE MAGAZINE. Lots of interesting articles (and crucially, images) about book cover design. Check them out. They're not on BlueSky yet, but they have a great website and Instagram account #BookSky #Design #Books spinemagazine.co/articles/uni...

Good morning readers, and good morning to the stack of books I’ve bought over the last week. Looking forward to starting the Goldsmiths Prize-winning WE LIVE HERE NOW today, but also very tempted to pick up another Laurie Colwin novel as the last one was so good #BookSky #ReadingNow #LitFic #Books

Day 11 of #NovellasInNovember is THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD by Amos Tutuola, my intro to Nigerian literature 25 years ago today. A quest story told in dialect & drawing heavily on Yoruba folklore, we follow the titular drunkard as he travels through Dead's Town in search of his deceased tapster #BookSky

I love this quote from Edith Sitwell which I find can be applied to absolutely any year in recent memory. Thank God we have books #BookSky

Enjoyed The Censor’s Notebook by Liliana Corobca, so it’s nice to see her latest novel getting some attention. Longtime Tóth fan too - gorgeously spare, funny, quotidian cum metaphysical poetry. Interesting non-fiction picks. Such a great short list! #BookSky #Translation

Today’s walk along the coast to Broadstairs with Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga on audiobook #BookSky #LitFic #Books #AmReading

Day 10 of #NovellasInNovember is CLASS TRIP by Emmanuel Carrère which follows Nicolas, an introverted ten year old on his school ski trip. Making friends is the least of his problems as he begins to suspect that his father might be behind the recent disappearances of several children #BookSky

📚The BOOKER PRIZE 2025 will be announced tonight at 9.30pm GMT live on the @thebookerprizes.com you tube channel. In the meantime, download our latest episode and listen to us discuss the shortlist and who we think might bag the top spot #BookSky #LitFic #Books #Reading #BookerPrize2025

Continuing my morning ritual of reading one short story with a cup of tea as soon as I get up. Slowly making my way through William Trevor’s masterful collected stories. Today’s read was ‘The Day We Got Drunk On Cake’ a wonky first person mediation on unrequited love #BookSky #LitFic #Books #Reading

Day 9 of #NovellasInNovember is a book by one of my favourite British authors. FAMILY AND FRIENDS by Anita Brookner is a moving portrait of the Dorns, a jewish family living in pre-WWII London. It's Brookner's fifth novel written in her signature laconic style which I absolutely love #BookSky

Perhaps controversially, we thought this year's shortlist was also quite weak. Such a shame Seascraper and Endling didn't make the final six.

Autumn on the coast in southeast England definitely doesn’t disappoint. It was a nice day to go read my new Laurie Colwin novel in the park #BookSky #Books #AmReading

Day 8 of #NovellasInNovember is Michael Ondaatje's COMING THROUGH SLAUGHTER which tells the fictionalized life story of the New Orleans jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden as he makes his way through the bars and clubs of Slaughter, Louisiana. Highly recommended #BookSky #LitFic #Books

Day 7 of #NovellasInNovember is Maeve Brennan's THE VISITOR, a curt little book about a young woman returning to her grandmother's home in Ireland after a prolonged absence and not quite getting the welcome she was hoping for. A fascinating read. Quite emotionally brutal in places #BookSky #LitFic

NEW EPISODE 📚🎧 Join us on this week’s episode as we discuss the Booker Prize 2025 shortlist and talk in depth about what worked and what didn’t work for us with each of the six nominated books. It's a good one. LISTEN NOW at link in bio #BlueSky #LitFic #AmReading #Books #BookerPrize

Day 6 of #NovellasInNovember and it's time for a very short book from one of my favourite Icelandic writers, Sjón. THE BLUE FOX is a surreal story set in Iceland at the end of the 19th century which follows a priest as he hunts the titular creature, with some disastrous consequences #BookSky

Faber has decided to delay UK publication of the new instalment of ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME until 20 November - two days after the US release - which shouldn't annoy me (I know it's a gimmick), but I was looking forward to reading in sympathy with Tara Selter on 18 November this year #BookSky

Day 5 of #NovellasInNovember is Victoria MacKenzie's electrifying debut FOR THY GREAT PAIN HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN which centres on the spiritual journeys of anchorite and mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the English pilgrim Margery Kempe. Brief, miraculous, gorgeous prose #BookSky #LitFic

And speaking of great covers, here’s another. Birding by Rose Ruane, designed by Charlotte Stroomer #booksky

This quote about writers as collaborators. 💋 💋 💋

Today's morning walk along the cliffs to Pegwell Nature Reserve. Surprisingly warm for this time of year. Halfway through the audiobook of BUCKEYE by Patrick Ryan. Such a great character study #BookSky

Designs by British artist John Craxton who produced most of Patrick Leigh Fermor's iconic cover designs from the 1950s onwards #judgeabookbyitscover #BookSky

These Patrick Leigh Fermor covers are special #judgeabookbyitscover #BookSky

Join us for our next episode this Friday when we’ll be discussing the Booker Prize Shortlist. Spoiler: there’s one book we think shouldn’t have made the final cut #BlueSky #readers

Pic taken at the most baroque, Victorian BnB in St Leonard’s-on-Sea. It’s giving real bookshelf goals energy. Slightly chaotic, but I'm here for it #BookSky #shelfie #readers

Potentially unpopular opinion: I’m yet to enjoy a Yiyun Li novel. Am I doing it wrong? #BlueSky

Day 4 of #NovellasInNovember is Margaret Atwood's second novel SURFACING - part detective story, part thriller - which centres on a young woman who, with her lover, travels to an isolated island in northern Quebec to search for her father. Existential chaos ensues #BookSky #LitFic

Amen. Now let's do Instagram. Looking forward to starting Jesus Christ Kinski soon. Slightly obsessed with KK's Jesus Tour since watching Peter Geyer's doc.

"In the end, Tom’s Crossing feels as though it’s been written with at least one eye on the literary immortality bestowed by academic study. Its aesthetic decisions seem designed to stimulate seminars rather than enjoyment." OUCH. Marcel Theroux not sugaring the pill #BookSky buff.ly/pbdOfix

Good morning #BookSky! Matcha is brewing, cat fed and fussed, TBR pondered over. What is everyone reading today?

Drawing up a shortlist of recommendations for our forthcoming episode on graphic novels. So many gems to choose from. If anyone has any great recs please shout! #BookSky #GraphicNovels

*snort*

Perhaps I'm being childish, but it amuses me greatly that fans of A LITTLE LIFE are only just now discovering that the man on the cover of the paperback version of the novel is, in fact, NOT crying. It's all in the title folks - 'Orgasmic Man', Peter Hujar (1969) #Booksky

Day 3 of #NovellasInNovember is Turkish writer Ayşegül Savaş's WHITE ON WHITE which follows a young art history student researching gothic nudes as she moves to an unnamed city and becomes embroiled in her neighbour's dysfunctional life #BookSky #LitFic

Another blustery mid-morning walk along the coast. Time to continue my Stephen King reread marathon with IT which I last read twenty year ago at 16. So far it’s aged well. I’d forgotten how much more space King gives to the Stan Uris suicide storyline in the book vs adaptations - much more pathos.

This morning's Matcha well underway... now to find a book #BookSky

Here’s the cover for LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK, out 16 April with @sceptrebooks.bsky.social Preorder here: lnk.to/LikeaCatLove... Please share! The book doing well means I can write another (and fulfil my dream of owning a pizza oven), so it’s pretty serious 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate these classic covers for Ursula K Le Guin’s novels? #BookSky

Why do I do this to myself just before bed? #ShirleyJackson #BookSky 🩸 📚

Well done, Joe Hill. I'm an even bigger fan now #BookSky 🩸 📚

Looking for book journal recommendations. Already log all my reading in StoryGraph, but I want to start keeping more detailed longform notes on what I've read. Really like the look of this one by Papier #BookSky

On this day in 1960, Penguin Books was found not guilty of obscenity for publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The novel, by D. H. Lawrence was titillating for its time, leading to the British government prosecuting the publisher. #BookSky #History #OTD

If you're still looking for sppoky season reads, we pulled together a great list of recs in our latest episode #Booksky #🩸 📚 Listen now 🎧 (link in bio)