Maja, a colleague at Oxford Mutual Aid, is carrying out this research on the cost of living, reading and book buying. She is looking for UK residents aged 18+ to fill in a short, fully anonymous survey. It only takes about 5 minutes and would help her enormously. forms.gle/pAECSikszeac...

I went to bed smiling, I slept smiling, I woke up smiling. It was dour, muddy, scrappy but utterly magical #COYS

A great resource for jazz fans thejazztome.info

From our trip to Venice last week. Just a higher shutter speed away from being a decent photo. Next time…

Great to see one of my favourite photographers is now posting new work here

When you’ve read a book twice on your kindle, have loved every page, and decide you need a real copy for the next reading.

Maybe not so modern. My O Level text book in 1976. Introduced at an early age to Hemingway, Lawrence, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and lots of great white writers (and drinkers). We’ve moved on in terms of inclusion of race, gender and sexuality, but nonetheless an early immersion into some fine writing.

My next neglected book, inspired by a comment by Sam on the latest @acrossthepondbooks.bsky.social podcast. I’ve had this on the shelf since c. 1992 I’m looking for a better balance of new books / rereading favourites / neglected books from the shelf this year.

Some pearls of new wisdom for our complex and challenging world from @theartsfuse.bsky.social

The Conversation experts music list is way more interesting than the book list - lots of independent and less well known music compared to the book list - and Crowded House 🤔 theconversation.com/the-ten-best...

This a rather conservative list, albeit with some excellent books included. Maybe experts only read best sellers or prize shortlists? Independent publishers have been hugely under-represented on nearly all of the “Best fiction of 2024” lists I’ve seen. theconversation.com/the-ten-best...

How good a writer do you have to be to post such a sharp, funny, incisive review of a crazy football match 10 minutes after the final whistle? Quite brilliant. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

I’ve relaxed into this and now finding it enjoyable enough - but there’s a fresh copy of To the Lighthouse next to the bed making me a little impatient to get to the end. If it was a movie I might fast forward - just a little.

The perfect length for a side of vinyl? This sounds so dynamic - and is my favourite non jazz record of the year But still not sure about coloured vinyl. I know black vinyl is coloured but it just looks better IMO

Is there a right time to give up on a book? I’m 140 pages into this and not getting much from the experience. I’m very aware that sometimes I only realise how good a book was once I’ve finished it.

There remains a lot of need across Oxford City. Please support if you can www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/oma2024

Having been guilty for many years of buying more books than I can read, an early resolution for 2025 is to try to read a neglected purchase for every two new books. To begin, Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy bought, according to the receipt still inside, in 1993 #books #booksky