The big thing I did this year and haven't been able to say much about up until now is that I was SOMEHOW asked to illustrate the new Folio Society edition of A Christmas Carol, introduced by Simon Callow. Bit of a dream job. www.foliosociety.com/uk/a-christm...

I first came across her when researching Elizabeth Smart and George Barker for Between the Sheets. It's ridiculous her book is something we have to 'find' but there you go. It's superb, everyone should know of it.

O Caledonia is so great and so absolutely up my street I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read it.

Had a bag of chips in a graveyard.

Twenty minutes of listening to the same three seconds of tape over and over again to work out that what is being said is "vaso da notte" and another 10 to work out that this has nothing to do with flowers and is, in fact, a "chamber pot".

Shirley Valentine actor Pauline Collins dies aged 85

Very much looking forward to reading her diaries but also The Mushroom Tapes on the Australian death cap murder case which is out on Monday. observer.co.uk/culture/book...

Autumnal Applecross

just had a chance to read this excellent and thoughtful article by @danigaravelli.bsky.social

I saw a small murmuration last night in the dying light off the M77 and was so excited I nearly crashed the car. Does anyone know if there’s somewhere closer to Glasgow than Gretna where you are likely to see one?

Inbox— next cover of the New Yorker: “Mayor Mamdani,” by Edel Rodriguez

Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."

Hearty congratulations to Helen Garner who has won the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction with her collected diaries, How to End a Story. A glorious book - confession, analysis, memory store, comedy - which shows all the things words can do: often on the same page. AND it’s mega good value.

Thrilled to win Travel Narrative Book of the Year for #SmallEarthquakes at last night’s @travwriters.bsky.social awards 🎉 An honour to be up against the brilliant Ash Bhardwaj and Simon Parker 🙌🏽 📖 @hurstpublishers.bsky.social bgtw.org/awards/membe...

Excellent, Dani. I was proud to produce the audio for an excellent piece of writing by Susan Rennie aimed at primary school kids that told the real story about witches. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

did the sitwells sit well? an investigation

Good morning.

Me on Patti (again) and her new memoir, Bread of Angels, in today's @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/culture/book...

Looking forward to chairing this with irrepressible duo Claire Mitchell & Zoe Venditozzi, whose company I love, & Steven Veerapen, whom I'm excited to meet. Their books are terrific and I'm sure it will be a lively event. Please come if you can: Sunday (Nov 9), 6pm, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

And, a sadness this, Bert Jansch.

The day of the week that your comic came. Artist: Harry Wingfield (1964)

I try really hard not to complain because it’s boring for me as well as for everyone else and I’d much rather move on but Salmond conspiracy people are still defaming me, and, more importantly, the women at the centre of this five years on and, y’know, it’s demoralising. That is all.

The Quiraing, Isle of Skye, photo by Yorkshire-based landscape photographer Paula Beaumont.

“The dominion of the birds- that’s what we’re up against.” If you’ve never seen this, then you absolutely should: it’s fabulous.

'It was not before time, and took so much pressure to extract' || @danigaravelli.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/poli... @danigaravelli.bsky.social

EXC: Alex Salmond lived in a luxury £7,000 a month London apartment worth £2.5m despite his financial ruin. The former First Minister’s stunning London pad included a swimming pool, sauna and bowling alley.

Newcastle: Fenwick Christmas window a return to tradition. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A great man who shaped our culture very much for the better. Travel well, Archie. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This piece by Melissa Harrison is simply gorgeous. My beloved dog Tilly also had pancreatitis in her last year, and taking care of her was privilege, not a chore. She'd spent her whole life taking care of me, after all. I still miss her with every breath. mzharrison.substack.com/p/loving-an-...

MISS PYM’s DAY OUT, on the iPlayer for the next 26 days, is delightful! A drama doc about Barbara Pym’s trip to London for the Booker Prize ceremony - featuring Patricia Routledge as Pym, various Excellent Women and cameos from Jilly Cooper & Penelope Lively! #BookSky www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

"So here we have a forest bison..." Excellent longread in which Stephen Phelan travels deep into Axturra, a cave system in the Basque Country, to see and reflect upon the extraordinary prehistoric art. stephenphelan.co.uk/articles/cav...

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 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛

Insightful comment from @danigaravelli.bsky.social. I suspect this is exactly right. The monarchy will fade due to people simply not believing in it any more. Recently revelations will accelerate that but there’s arguably been a longer and ongoing falling away of support, interest and mobilisation.

Only the world’s tallest hedge in its autumn garb. A cliff face of golden foliage.

"As for the monarchy, it will end not with a bang but a whimper. Giuffre’s book, with all its harrowing details, is one more wave battering against its cliff face, eroding the public’s faith." My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

“The circle sits beautifully within a vertical landscape. Tower blocks, the cathedral spire..the obelisks of the Victorian cemetery, even the wind turbines on surrounding hills, all seem to mirror the stones." A lovely read on Sighthill's nod to prehistory from Peter Ross' book Upon a White Horse.

When Guillermo del Toro was a child, he fell in love with "Frankenstein." With his long-awaited adaptation in theaters, the filmmaker explains his lifelong fascination with horror, and why the genre "illuminates our souls":

"As for the monarchy, it will end not with a bang but a whimper. Giuffre’s book, with all its harrowing details, is one more wave battering against its cliff face, eroding the public’s faith." My @heraldscotland.bsky.social column. www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

Me to the youngest: Thank goodness you're too old for that 6-7 nonsense. Him: No, we do it, too, but we do it in a *post-ironic* fashion.

I'm saddened to learn of the passing of Dr Elspeth King, the legendary curator of the People's Palace, and a fierce advocate for Glasgow and its history. This was fascinating on the release of the film adaptation of Alasdair Gray's "Poor Things". yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2024/01/10/p...

The main reason I want to have grandchildren is so we can do Hallowe'en again. It used to be buzzing with guisers round our bit, but now it's as quiet as the grave. Which is appropriate, I suppose, but not much fun. 🦇🎃🧙‍♀️

Many thanks to Wanderlust magazine for including Upon A White Horse among their six travel books to look out for this winter. www.wanderlustmagazine.com/inspiration/...

"You said you keep coming round, of course you would With your copy of Under Milk Wood Quoting the lines that you really wish I understood". The new Idlewild album is great, isn't it? www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1NI...

A one-day North Sea Poets workshop with myself, if you fancy it? Details at www.northseapoets.com/studios1dayw...

Larissa MacFarquhar's pieces are a joy, not only because of her writing, but because she picks such novel topics to explore. This - on people who can't form mental images, or memories, and what it means for the way they process their own experiences - is vvg. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

It's the noblest battle of our new free-speech age: Sarah Pochin's anti-woke couch crusade | Marina Hyde