Xan Brooks
@xanbrooks.bsky.social
đ¤ 503
đĽ 75
đ 193
Novelist, journalist. THE CATCHERS (
https://tinyurl.com/TheCatchers2024
)
Delighted by this; it's a book that sticks around. Right alongside Denis Johnson, too, for the added real estate value
add a skeleton here at some point
about 8 hours ago
0
0
0
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Ian Dunt
about 17 hours ago
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
87
2220
484
By this logic, can the BBC now countersue Karoline Leavitt for labelling its output as â100% fake newsâ? Have her stand that up in court, with evidence, or the White House pays a billion in damages
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/w...
loading . . .
Trump Threatens to Sue the BBC for $1 Billion After Jan. 6 Documentary
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/world/europe/trump-bbc-lawsuit-documentary.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
1 day ago
0
3
2
Waking up to wall-to-wall news of the BBC mugging & the Democrat collapse (8 turncoats, but that's all it takes) & it feels somehow seismic, a battle lost on two crucial fronts. 2025, what a year, constant cowardice & capitulation.
1 day ago
0
8
1
For
@the-independent.com
, on the self-admiring Jay Kelly & the constellation of stars who like to orbit themselves
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
loading . . .
George Clooney basically plays himself in Jay Kelly â so why is he so unconvincing?
Noah Baumbachâs new film casts Clooney as a wealthy, handsome, pampered and indulged A-lister, and like many films in which fake stars opine about the miseries of celebrity, it quickly wears out its w...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/george-clooney-jay-kelly-netflix-movie-b2859782.html
1 day ago
0
0
0
I love to hear about the genesis of novels. The solitary seed that was planted years before it flowered. The seemingly random schmutter of ideas that slowly come together & spark
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
loading . . .
âI had a year to write it from scratchâ: the 2025 Booker finalists on the stories behind their novels
A newspaper report about a missing girl, the memory of a midwinter emergency ⌠Susan Choi, Andrew Miller, David Szalay and others on what inspired their shortlisted books
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/08/booker-2025-shortlist-desai-kitamura-choi-markovits-miller-szalay
4 days ago
0
5
2
Jennifer Lawrence Oscar campaign up & running
8 days ago
0
1
0
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Max Weiss
16 days ago
One year ago
69
4383
1896
This week's
@the-independent.com
column: on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, that magnificent, swaggering, unreconstructed giant of 70s American cinema
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
loading . . .
One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest at 50: Unruly, boneheaded, and still a classic
Rejected by most major studios at the time and certainly not expected to win multiple Oscars and place second only to âJawsâ in the biggest films of 1975, Milos Formanâs barbed mental hospital tale re...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/cuckoos-nest-jack-nicholson-b2843095.html
30 days ago
0
3
0
Good, stringent piece, Hannah Jane Parkinson taking no prisoners here (as opposed to Saudi, which takes literally thousands)
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/o...
loading . . .
âAmoral, evilâ: vitriolic backlash builds against comics who played Riyadh festival
Murder by bone-saw, lashings for rape victims, punishment amputation, jail for satirists ⌠these are the Saudi human rights abuses fuelling the fury being directed at the likes of Louis CK, Dave Chapp...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/oct/09/backlash-builds-against-comics-who-played-riyadh-comedy-festival
about 1 month ago
0
3
0
40 years old this week. One of those rare life-changing albums when I first heard it at 16; the whole wild world kicking in the front door. âWe sail tonight for Singapore âŚâ
about 1 month ago
2
11
2
The one trait shared by all the worst people Iâve ever worked with was their habit of brazenly framing their disasters as triumphs.
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 month ago
0
2
2
Thomas Pynchon's Shadow Ticket. An antic noir adventure that plays like a postmodern Tintin story. A portrait of 1930s fascism that reminds us a little of now
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...
loading . . .
Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon review â his first novel in 12 years tunes into rising fascism in the US
The 88-year-oldâs jaunty whodunnit, set during the prohibition era, features clowns, Nazis and a missing cheese heiress
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/30/shadow-ticket-by-thomas-pynchon-review-his-first-novel-in-12-years-tunes-into-rising-fascism-in-the-us
about 1 month ago
1
10
6
This is an excellent, clarifying article that points out pretty starkly where we are all standing right now
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
loading . . .
Extreme weather and extreme politics go hand in hand â Trump and Musk are pushing both
Rabble-rousing of far-right demagogues is a reminder that the battle for a fair and habitable planet cannot be fought alone
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/23/billionaires-musk-divide-distract-humanity-come-together-resist
about 2 months ago
0
2
0
Claudia Cardinale: the only actor to star in three of Sight & Sound's 100 best films of all time, but who also played the princess in The Pink Panther, destoyer & rebuilder of adolescents the world over. The cause of & cure for all our problems. No better legacy. RIP
about 2 months ago
5
203
42
Birds, Strangers & Psychos, an anthology of Hitchock-inspired short stories, is the Times's "thriller of the month". We're launching it at the BFI Southbank, 6.30pm next Monday. Drop by if you're free, or need a place to lie low. Still some vacancies. All mod cons
whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...
about 2 months ago
0
5
2
Hell is other people, specifically these people
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/w...
loading . . .
Behind Castle Walls, the Rich and Powerful Celebrate Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/world/europe/trump-uk-state-visit-banquet-royals.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
about 2 months ago
0
2
0
Loved PTAâs One Battle After Another for its sheer antic, rolling lawlessness. Itâs the red-state blue-state 21stC Puddânhead Wilson father-daughter coming-of-age comedy-horror mashup the world (& specifically America) needs right now
about 2 months ago
0
4
0
The Great Robert Redford: âarguably the film industryâs most consequential American over the last fifty yearsâ
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
loading . . .
American independent cinema owes much to Sundance king Robert Redford | Adrian Horton
With his Sundance film festival and institute, Robert Redford used his considerable power to bring generations of talented film-makers to a bigger audience
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/17/robert-redford-sundance-american-independent-cinema
about 2 months ago
0
29
9
Robert Redford, 1936-2025. âIf personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about himâ
about 2 months ago
0
3
1
Damn it, heâs gone. I met him once years ago & he was everything youâd hope heâd be. Courteous & thoughtful & entirely comfortable with who he was & what he represented; neither downplaying his status nor exulting in it. Robert Redford, what a man
loading . . .
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/movies/robert-redford-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
about 2 months ago
0
94
15
Latest Indy column: on the posh streets & dodgy estates of Stephen Kingstown, a sprawling film franchise that has the MCU beat
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
loading . . .
The Long Walk is 2025âs most brutal film â and a reminder of Stephen Kingâs roots
Too many King adaptations have been cautious, fastidiously reverent affairs, which is why itâs so gratifying to find one that has been allowed some breathing room â and space to be a little lurid, wri...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-long-walk-review-stephen-king-adaptations-b2825313.html
about 2 months ago
0
1
0
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Simon Hattenstone
2 months ago
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
loading . . .
The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war
With foreign media barred, Palestinians have reported alone, facing the âmost deliberate effort to kill and silenceâ them ever
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2025/sep/01/israel-gaza-war-media-palestinian-journalists-killed-cpj
1
4
5
Indy column: on the Yorgos Lanthimos career arc, from Dogtooth to Bugonia, & how weâre all Greek Weird Wave now
loading . . .
The mad Euro genius who conquered Hollywood â and convinced Emma Stone to go bald
Against all odds, and via hits including âPoor Thingsâ, âThe Favouriteâ and âThe Lobsterâ, the Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos has brought his bizarre, berserk eye to mainstream British and American cin...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/bugonia-emma-stone-yorgos-lanthimos-b2816439.html
2 months ago
0
1
0
My review of Kent Jonesâs Late Fame, a slight, flawed film that has nonetheless stayed with me
#Venice2025
loading . . .
Late Fame review â Willem Dafoe is a natural poet in a slice-of-life New York fable
A postmanâs forgotten poetry collection finds new admirers in a tale of how the mystique of the past filters to the present
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/30/late-fame-review-willem-dafoe-new-york
2 months ago
0
3
0
First in line at this yearâs Venice film festival.
3 months ago
0
6
1
Darren Aronofsky, on the grubby old joys of 1990s New York & the (potential) new pleasures of the brave new world of AI
loading . . .
âThe 90s were remarkable â we werenât all living in existential terror!â Darren Aronofsky on Caught Stealing, his love letter to New York
Famed for intense dramas like Black Swan, the directorâs latest film is a riotous retro crime caper. He explains why heâs battling TikTok â but embracing AI
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/25/darren-aronofsky-memes-gags-ai-caught-stealing-tiktok-google-deepmind?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
3 months ago
0
0
0
This weekâs Indy column is on Spike Lee, the brilliantly awkward square peg of American cinema (even when heâs trying not to be)
loading . . .
Spike Lee is a living master â so why does no one care about his new film?
âHighest 2 Lowestâ is a punchy thriller with one of the worldâs biggest actors, Denzel Washington, as its lead. Lee hasnât lost his touch, writes Xan Brooks, but the world is forcing him out to the ma...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/highest-2-lowest-spike-lee-denzel-washington-b2808456.html
3 months ago
0
4
0
Loved doing this ...
add a skeleton here at some point
3 months ago
0
3
1
Terence Stamp 1938-2025
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...
loading . . .
Terence Stamp: the mesmerisingly seductive dark prince of British cinema
Stamp had charisma and star power like no other. Fierce and beautiful in his youth, his screen presence evolved into something more elegant and enduring as the swinging 60s faded from view
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/17/terence-stamp-the-mesmerisingly-seductive-dark-prince-of-british-cinema
3 months ago
0
20
7
Obligated to point out that The Catchers is still just ÂŁ0.99 on Kindle which is what, like the price of a single opal fruit
www.amazon.co.uk/Catchers-Sal...
loading . . .
The Catchers (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0) eBook : Brooks, Xan: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
The Catchers (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0) eBook : Brooks, Xan: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catchers-Salt-Modern-Fiction-Book-ebook/dp/B0DDYWHXR8
3 months ago
0
1
1
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class
3 months ago
Al Jazeera now has the number of murdered Palestinian journalists at nearly 270, my God
www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/202...
loading . . .
Here are the names of the journalists Israel killed in Gaza
Israel has killed nearly 270 journalists and media workers since it launched its war on Gaza.
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/8/11/here-are-the-names-of-the-journalists-israel-killed-in-gaza
1
38
33
David Stratton: fab critic, lovely man; a pleasure to read & a delight to spend time with. What a great worthwhile life
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...
loading . . .
David Stratton, esteemed Australian film critic, dies aged 85
The international cinema expert was beloved for his film reviews, particularly on television with Margaret Pomeranz
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/aug/14/david-stratton-esteemed-australian-film-critic-dies-aged-85
3 months ago
0
2
0
Loved talking to
@www.johnbleasdale.com
for the excellent Writers on Film podcast - covering cinema, literature, journalism, the works
podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/f...
loading . . .
Film Critic Xan Brooks on his novel The Catchers
Podcast Episode ¡ Writers on Film ¡ 10/08/2025 ¡ 1h 6m
https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/film-critic-xan-brooks-on-his-novel-the-catchers/id1567023095?i=1000721423009&l=en-GB
3 months ago
1
4
2
Making like Crazy Eddie this morning to announce that for a limited time only you can buy THE CATCHERS for just ÂŁ0.99 on Kindle, a price so low youâll think weâve got brain damage etc
www.amazon.co.uk/Catchers-Sal...
loading . . .
The Catchers (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0) eBook : Brooks, Xan: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
The Catchers (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0) eBook : Brooks, Xan: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catchers-Salt-Modern-Fiction-Book-ebook/dp/B0DDYWHXR8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
3 months ago
1
2
0
My review of Gary Shteyngart's coming-of-age tale VERA, OR FAITH, which is a vital mongrel of a book if you're feeling generous, & a discombobulating curate's egg if you're not
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...
loading . . .
Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review â is this the future for America?
Set a decade from now, this coming-of-age caper offers a childâs-eye view of family troubles in a âpost-democracyâ USA
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jul/28/vera-or-faith-by-gary-shteyngart-review-is-this-the-future-for-america
4 months ago
0
2
1
I like this a lot (the Bad Seeds song/the Andrew Dominick video). Popular culture crawls from the dirty water, sprouts AI wings & takes flight. Good, disquieting stuff. 'Saturday gives what Sunday steals'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnDm...
loading . . .
Tupelo - 40th Birthday
YouTube video by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnDm9w2F3KE
4 months ago
0
0
0
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
loading . . .
The vanishing of Daniel Day-Lewis: How a great actor lost the will to go on
As the three-time Oscar winnerâs breakthrough film, âMy Beautiful Laundretteâ, is re-released in cinemas, Xan Brooks looks at the career and apparent retirement of the totemic actor â and the project ...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/daniel-day-lewis-retirement-phantom-thread-b2791551.html
4 months ago
1
21
8
Really loving this chapter Andre Agassi's journey. From annoying, tie-dyed, soft-metal showman to poetic, soft-spoken commentary-box svengali. Full of wit, insight & wisdom; a total delight to listen to
#Wimbledon
4 months ago
1
3
0
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Salt Books
4 months ago
Superb
#KindleOffer
on Xan Brooksâs The Catchers:
#BookSky
#BlueskyBooks
#AmReading
#ReadersOfBluesky
loading . . .
The Catchers (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0)
The Catchers (Salt Modern Fiction Book 0) eBook : Brooks, Xan: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Catchers-Salt-Modern-Fiction-Book-ebook/dp/B0DDYWHXR8
1
3
1
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Anne Billson
5 months ago
This is a terrific list.
loading . . .
The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience
From Ellis Island to Lampedusa, from Seoul to Senegal, filmmakers have used cinema to chart the hopes, heartbreak and quiet heroism of those who cross borders in search of something better.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/best-films-about-immigrant-experience/ae-fond-kiss/
1
24
9
Honoured to have a clownish walk-on role in
@owenslot.bsky.social
's epic look back at Isner, Mahut & the longest match in tennis history (zombies optional)
www.thetimes.com/sport/tennis...
5 months ago
0
1
0
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Andy â¤ď¸âŹď¸ďź đşđŚ
5 months ago
What a wonderfully unusual novel this is by
@xanbrooks.bsky.social
- Iâve really never read a story anything like it. Set in a changing England post-WW1, it's heartbreaking, tender, sometimes uncomfortable and even grotesque at times - a completely gripping tale! Thanks Xan &
@saltpublishing.com
đ
3
16
4
Fortnightly column for
@the-independent.com
: how I learned to stop worrying & love Barry Lyndon
www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...
loading . . .
Stanley Kubrickâs biggest folly is actually his ultimate masterpiece
Critically lambasted on its release, and so commercially unsuccessful that the filmmaker signed onto âThe Shiningâ for an easy box-office win, 1975âs âBarry Lyndonâ has only been embraced â then even ...
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/barry-lyndon-stanley-kubrick-b2773810.html
5 months ago
2
2
0
History repeats first as tragedy & then as David Lammy parroting 2003-era Jack Straw
#R4Today
5 months ago
0
4
1
My interview with Danny Boyle - an irrepressible optimist who's just made a zombie horror film about a quarantined ruined Britain
www.theguardian.com/film/ng-inte...
loading . . .
âYouâd never make Slumdog todayâ: Danny Boyle on risks, regrets and returning to the undead
In 28 Years Later, zombies maraud over a Britain broken by more than Brexit. Its director discusses cultural baggage, catastrophising â and why his kidsâ generation is an âupgradeâ
https://www.theguardian.com/film/ng-interactive/2025/jun/20/youd-never-make-slumdog-today-danny-boyle-on-risks-regrets-and-returning-to-the-undead
5 months ago
0
4
0
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Walter Scott Prize
5 months ago
Andrew Miller has won the 2025 #WalterScottPrize for Historical Fiction with THE LAND IN WINTER (
@sceptrebooks.bsky.social
), his novel set in a remote English community during the long, hard winter of 1962/63. #TheLandinWinter #AndrewMiller
2
21
13
A dose of pure, brilliant energy just left the world.
loading . . .
Sly Stone, Maestro of a Multifaceted, Hitmaking Band, Dies at 82
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/arts/music/sly-stone-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
5 months ago
0
2
0
Excellent interview with the undersung Brad Dourif - obviously great in Cuckoo's Nest, but also fabulous in Ragtime, & utterly sublime as Wise Blood's flayed & furious Hazel Motes
www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...
loading . . .
Whatever happened to Billy Bibbit? The extraordinary life of actor Brad Dourif - from Cuckooâs Nest to Chucky
He was Oscar-nominated for his unforgettable work alongside Jack Nicholson, in one of the greatest films of all time. It was the start of his career as the ultimate character actor. He discusses David...
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/09/i-cant-believe-people-like-my-work-brad-dourif-on-the-road-from-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-to-chucky
5 months ago
1
22
12
reposted by
Xan Brooks
Chris Addison
5 months ago
If you can spare two quid a month, this is the most fantastic way to spend it. Arts Emergency doing everything they can to keep creative careers accessible to any kid from any background at a time when those paths are becoming increasingly cut off.
add a skeleton here at some point
0
49
27
Load more
feeds!
log in