Oh gosh! I adore Muriel Spark, I shall definitely need to get this when it comes out. 😍

As one who has come late in life to a passionate admiration for Spark’s novels & the intelligence behind them, I look forward very much to reading this. I mean, just look at that photo.

This looks wonderful!

This perfect duffer is trying out for the role of spokesmodel for this wonder by @drjamesbailey.bsky.social which I’m so looking forward to reading

My brilliant friend @drjamesbailey.bsky.social has written a book about Muriel Spark. It’s sharp, warm and funny. A joy to read (and ready for pre-order). 🐈‍⬛

#CoverReveal : We're obviously always delighted to celebrate one of our (very!) local literary stars, Muriel Spark, and Hodder has James Bailey's Like a Cat Loves a Bird, "a spiky and delicious new literary biography", coming next April. #books #livres #MurielSpark #Edinburgh #Edimbourg

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 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛

Proofs are in! A huge thank you to @sceptrebooks.bsky.social for sending these my way. LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK will be out in April, and these proofs will be going out into the world imminently. Terrifying! Exciting! Mostly terrifying!

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller August 26,1946

Beautiful everyday Ladybird things. The Trimphone (How it Works: The Telephone, 1972) Artist: BH Robinson

I love this photo because it looks like it belongs in a life insurance brochure, which is all I’ve ever really wanted, to be honest.

Now I’m falling asleep and she’s calling a cob

Francesca Wade examines how Gertrude Stein’s “desire to wring every ounce of meaning from a limited set of words” made the expatriate writer famous in her own country.

Very sad to hear of the death of Patricia Routledge, although I’m now laughing at the memory of first moving in with my boyfriend, and finding out that he owned a copy of Hyacinth Bucket’s Book of Etiquette: For the Socially Less Fortunate 💜

Some days I’m doing okay, but on others I recall the time I accidentally submitted a recipe for orange-scented peach cobblers instead of my CV when applying for my first graduate job

Morning! And what a beautiful one it is. Here are a couple of #iPhone15Pro shots takes from the moving train :)

He thinks he’s a potato.

He's filed himself

Georgia O'Keeffe carrying her canvas in the desert, c.1920 (via FB) #WomensArt

Here's a photo of me, looking quite sleep-deprived as I clutch a very early copy of my book, LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK. It isn’t out until April, but a few of these bind-ups are making their way through the world, and I wanted one as a memento. The book is written!

I miss Caroline Aherne - watching an old episode of The Mrs Merton Show, and she’s just asked whether “we should save the environment, or can we live without it?”

God, I love The Human League

I spend a lot of time thinking about when Kate Pierson from the B-52s put her motel up for sale (furniture included)

Greetings from Pascal the Puppy

I like how, when Madonna delivers the line “I wanna make love on a train…” in 'Justify My Love', she adds “…cross-country”. Lest anyone suspect that her lover could only last the length of the 0.8-mile trip from Stourbridge Town to Stourbridge Junction.

I love this so much: Brian Wilson hearing Ronnie Spector’s cover of ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ 💜

I’m coveting Wallace & Gromit’s entire cheese-centric library 📚

Pascal update: outrageous behaviour!

Van Meowogh is an artistic Parisian cat from the game Cats Atelier.

The best photograph I have ever taken of a dog.

introducing Pascal the Puppy (and my boyfriend, who looks pretty delighted to have made a new friend)

I fucking love Stevie Nicks for this

then die

There’s a bush in our garden that spends 11 months of the year being extremely drab and introverted, but pops up in May wearing an enormous purple feather boa. We call him Clive, but we haven’t really asked ourselves why.

This analysis of the "summer reading list" debacle is excellent. It starts here - the freelancer was asked to do something impossible for (I assume) a very small amount of money - and then observes that future AI nonsense will surely rely on this AI nonsense. slate.com/technology/2...

i dont want to be a killjoy but we desperately need to make it socially unacceptable to talk about asking chatgpt things in regular conversation

ICYMI: @sceptrebooks.bsky.social has triumphed in a four-way auction for Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, James Bailey’s biography of Muriel Spark. Sceptre will publish the book in April 2026 👇 #BookSky

Ooooohhhh… another one to add to my ever-expanding shelf of intense lady writer biographies.

Really looking forward to this biography of Muriel Spark out next April.

Very excited for this. Spark exercised a lot of control and creative license when it came to her personal and professional truths. Which makes zero difference to me in my love of her work. But still, I’m curious. This seems different.

Ooh, I’m excited for this. 👏 @drjamesbailey.bsky.social

ICYMI: @sceptrebooks.bsky.social has triumphed in a four-way auction for Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, James Bailey’s biography of Muriel Spark. Sceptre will publish the book in April 2026 👇 #BookSky

Goodness, this sounds so enticing. A treat for Muriel Spark fans! #BookSky 💙📚

Want this. WANT! [keeps hitting refresh until pre-order options become available]

@sceptrebooks.bsky.social has triumphed in a four-way auction for Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, James Bailey’s biography of Muriel Spark. Sceptre will publish the book in April 2026 👇 #BookSky

This is very exciting. Many congratulations, @drjamesbailey.bsky.social.

I'm very excited about this!

What wonderful news! I shall wear my Muriel Spark tshirt to celebrate.