@bookluvvr.bsky.social
100+ pages an hour, 5+ hours a day = an expensive book habit to feed! Maximalist fiction championed by Steven Moore to popular novels hated by Harold Bloom. Top 3 = Ulysses, Gravity's Rainbow, Infinite Jest.
Read Elizabeth Taylor's "Angel". Magnificent. As with my experience of her previous novels, it took a chapter or so to get into the style, but once I did I was captivated. Angel's monstrousness and pitiful decline were very cleverly done. Agrees with @backlisted.bsky.social about the writerly 1/4
February 12, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Read Elizabeth Taylor's "Angel". Magnificent. As with my experience of her previous novels, it took a chapter or so to get into the style, but once I did I was captivated. Angel's monstrousness and pitiful decline were very cleverly done. Agrees with @backlisted.bsky.social about the writerly 1/4
Read Lily King's "Heart the Lover". Hadn't read anything by this author (or even heard of her if I'm being honest) but picked it up due to the @acrossthepondbooks.bsky.social episode. Was captivated from start to finish by something that managed to be both a page turner and very moving. Went in 1/4
February 10, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Read Lily King's "Heart the Lover". Hadn't read anything by this author (or even heard of her if I'm being honest) but picked it up due to the @acrossthepondbooks.bsky.social episode. Was captivated from start to finish by something that managed to be both a page turner and very moving. Went in 1/4
Cannot overstate the impact this (brilliant) podcast has had on my reading and book buying habits. It hasn't just taken me out of my comfort zone, it has expanded my comfort zone to include writers I'd never have previously considered touching with a 10 foot barge pole! A wonderful wonderful show.
Tomorrow we release the final episode of Backlisted for the foreseeable future.* After ten years, it's a very odd feeling. I am looking forward to spending more time with my books and fewer times on social media.
* Boats against the current, we beat on via Patreon.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQK...
* Boats against the current, we beat on via Patreon.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQK...
At Last I Am Free
YouTube video by Robert Wyatt - Topic
www.youtube.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Cannot overstate the impact this (brilliant) podcast has had on my reading and book buying habits. It hasn't just taken me out of my comfort zone, it has expanded my comfort zone to include writers I'd never have previously considered touching with a 10 foot barge pole! A wonderful wonderful show.
Read Jonathan Franzen's "Purity". This was very gripping and kept me engrossed for the best part of a day and a half. There weren't too many bird references (guan, tinamou, towhee etc). Liked the playful language (one-graf, Mousewoody and especially Assibräuteaufreisser!) After Richard Katz in 1/4
February 8, 2026 at 11:45 AM
Read Jonathan Franzen's "Purity". This was very gripping and kept me engrossed for the best part of a day and a half. There weren't too many bird references (guan, tinamou, towhee etc). Liked the playful language (one-graf, Mousewoody and especially Assibräuteaufreisser!) After Richard Katz in 1/4
Read Jim Butcher's "Twelve Months". Received this yesterday evening, and instantly dropped everything else I was reading until I finished it! Pankration was a new word for me and merlon showed a surprising number of times. Initially thought gold-old-boy was a misprint for good-old-boy, before 1/6
February 6, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Read Jim Butcher's "Twelve Months". Received this yesterday evening, and instantly dropped everything else I was reading until I finished it! Pankration was a new word for me and merlon showed a surprising number of times. Initially thought gold-old-boy was a misprint for good-old-boy, before 1/6
Read Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švejk" tr. Cecil Parrott. Humbly report, sir this was most amusing. Or at least (for me) it started and ended well, but some of the digressions in the second and third sections began to drag. In this manner at least it resembled "Don Quixote". Can also see 1/3
February 3, 2026 at 12:52 PM
Read Jaroslav Hašek's "The Good Soldier Švejk" tr. Cecil Parrott. Humbly report, sir this was most amusing. Or at least (for me) it started and ended well, but some of the digressions in the second and third sections began to drag. In this manner at least it resembled "Don Quixote". Can also see 1/3
Read Julian Barnes' "Departure(s)". Has previously been one of the readers who preferred his early novels to his later ones, but this one (perhaps because of the subject matter) was as brilliant in its own way as the twentieth century ones. Understandably very moving, but still uplifting (or at 1/4
January 31, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Read Julian Barnes' "Departure(s)". Has previously been one of the readers who preferred his early novels to his later ones, but this one (perhaps because of the subject matter) was as brilliant in its own way as the twentieth century ones. Understandably very moving, but still uplifting (or at 1/4
Re-read @ianrankin1.bsky.social's "The Naming of the Dead". Read this when it came out, so it has been almost 20 years. Remembered Rebus' presence at Bush's bike accident and the description of the changing attitudes over the transition from 70s bars with lunchtime strippers to contemporary 1/5
January 31, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Re-read @ianrankin1.bsky.social's "The Naming of the Dead". Read this when it came out, so it has been almost 20 years. Remembered Rebus' presence at Bush's bike accident and the description of the changing attitudes over the transition from 70s bars with lunchtime strippers to contemporary 1/5
Read @cstross.bsky.social' "The Regicide Report". That was a lot of fun! Really enjoyed The Tales of the New Management & the Halting State series, but until "A Conventional Boy" I'd previously struggled to get into the Laundry Files. Liked the first one, then initially found the style of the 1/6
January 30, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Read @cstross.bsky.social' "The Regicide Report". That was a lot of fun! Really enjoyed The Tales of the New Management & the Halting State series, but until "A Conventional Boy" I'd previously struggled to get into the Laundry Files. Liked the first one, then initially found the style of the 1/6
Re-read Matthew Hollis' "The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem". When this came out, I greatly enjoyed it despite not having studied the poem for nearly two decades. Recently I've watched over 20 hours of YouTube lectures/documentaries/explications and wanted to try it again. As expected I got 1/2
January 30, 2026 at 12:02 AM
Re-read Matthew Hollis' "The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem". When this came out, I greatly enjoyed it despite not having studied the poem for nearly two decades. Recently I've watched over 20 hours of YouTube lectures/documentaries/explications and wanted to try it again. As expected I got 1/2
Just marked up this exact passage in my copy...
"The meaning of a poem is its sensory event: imagined pictures cast on received sounds."
Matthew Hollis. The Wasteland: A Biography of a Poem.
Matthew Hollis. The Wasteland: A Biography of a Poem.
January 29, 2026 at 8:10 AM
Just marked up this exact passage in my copy...
Read @brockway.bsky.social's "I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200". Unputdownable. I loved the Vicious Circuit series, but struggled to get into "Carrier Wave". However I'll be trying it again due to how much I enjoyed this one! Based on the premise I wondered how it could possibly be as 1/3
January 28, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Read @brockway.bsky.social's "I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200". Unputdownable. I loved the Vicious Circuit series, but struggled to get into "Carrier Wave". However I'll be trying it again due to how much I enjoyed this one! Based on the premise I wondered how it could possibly be as 1/3
Read Rob Doyle's "Cameo". I enjoyed "Threshold" when it came out, so had been looking forward to this. It didn't disappoint. Enjoyed the fun poked at writers, the literary/publishing industry and contemporary cancel culture. Loved the conceits and nested touches. Liked lines such as 'She loves 1/4
January 28, 2026 at 1:48 PM
Read Rob Doyle's "Cameo". I enjoyed "Threshold" when it came out, so had been looking forward to this. It didn't disappoint. Enjoyed the fun poked at writers, the literary/publishing industry and contemporary cancel culture. Loved the conceits and nested touches. Liked lines such as 'She loves 1/4
Read William Boyd's "Any Human Heart". Enjoyed this greatly. Perhaps not as consistently good in its entirety as "The New Confessions" but absolutely brilliant in places. Predictably I enjoyed the encounters with writers like Joyce, Woolf, Hemingway etc much more than the painters. Was least 1/5
January 27, 2026 at 11:26 PM
Read William Boyd's "Any Human Heart". Enjoyed this greatly. Perhaps not as consistently good in its entirety as "The New Confessions" but absolutely brilliant in places. Predictably I enjoyed the encounters with writers like Joyce, Woolf, Hemingway etc much more than the painters. Was least 1/5
A guest (possibly) muddling up the plots/titles of the novel they intended to pick is the most Iris Murdoch thing ever!
Her piece on art and tyrants ("Salvation by words")was fascinating.
Great 'bookish content' as always :P
Her piece on art and tyrants ("Salvation by words")was fascinating.
Great 'bookish content' as always :P
Penultimate new episode up now. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch, with guest Ian Patterson in Socratic dialogue with @unamccormack.bsky.social Nicky Birch and me. www.backlisted.fm/episodes/256...
256. The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch — Backlisted
Ian Patterson, author of Books: A Manifesto (W&N), returns to Backlisted for a joyful discussion of Iris Murdoch and her sixteenth novel The Sacred and Profane Love Machine  ...
www.backlisted.fm
January 27, 2026 at 1:54 PM
A guest (possibly) muddling up the plots/titles of the novel they intended to pick is the most Iris Murdoch thing ever!
Her piece on art and tyrants ("Salvation by words")was fascinating.
Great 'bookish content' as always :P
Her piece on art and tyrants ("Salvation by words")was fascinating.
Great 'bookish content' as always :P
The statement "only a liar or a fool would contest the quality" of his writing, is one I can co-sign 100%!
🔊2026 HAS BEGUN!
In 2019, the novelist Rob Doyle wrote in the @irishtimes.com that Amis's London Fields stood "damn near the summit of modern novelistic achievement."
Does he still think that?
NEW YEAR, NEW EPISODE
🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXdU...
In 2019, the novelist Rob Doyle wrote in the @irishtimes.com that Amis's London Fields stood "damn near the summit of modern novelistic achievement."
Does he still think that?
NEW YEAR, NEW EPISODE
🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXdU...
"Every page of London Fields has a sense of an author in absolute command." Rob Doyle
YouTube video by My Martin Amis
www.youtube.com
January 26, 2026 at 12:17 PM
The statement "only a liar or a fool would contest the quality" of his writing, is one I can co-sign 100%!
Read John Marrs' "Dead in the Water". Has read (and enjoyed) all six of the Dark Future books, but only two of his stand alone psychological thrillers. So not having read "The Good Samaritan", I didn't recognise Laura. That didn't matter as the twists and turns were completely gripping. Liked 1/2
January 25, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Read John Marrs' "Dead in the Water". Has read (and enjoyed) all six of the Dark Future books, but only two of his stand alone psychological thrillers. So not having read "The Good Samaritan", I didn't recognise Laura. That didn't matter as the twists and turns were completely gripping. Liked 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "Hearing Secret Harmonies" (and re-listened to @backlisted.bsky.social's episode on "Books Do Furnish a Room"). Wow! I think this might be my favourite volume (although part of the strength depends on the characterisation/events of the previous 11). Loved the Quiggin twins 1/5
January 25, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Read Anthony Powell's "Hearing Secret Harmonies" (and re-listened to @backlisted.bsky.social's episode on "Books Do Furnish a Room"). Wow! I think this might be my favourite volume (although part of the strength depends on the characterisation/events of the previous 11). Loved the Quiggin twins 1/5
Read Anthony Powell's "Temporary Kings". Continues to expand my vocabulary, from the opening sentence's 'lacustrine' to Moreland's 'apodictic'. The increased permissiveness of the language is definitely noticeable. Was mildly shocked when Pamela told the story of Glober 'taking a cutting from my 1/2
January 24, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Read Anthony Powell's "Temporary Kings". Continues to expand my vocabulary, from the opening sentence's 'lacustrine' to Moreland's 'apodictic'. The increased permissiveness of the language is definitely noticeable. Was mildly shocked when Pamela told the story of Glober 'taking a cutting from my 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "Books Do Furnish a Room". A sentiment I agree with, as I read this in 2 or 3 of my book furnished rooms! Has finally gotten to meet the infamous X. Trapnel. (Isn't overly familiar with Julian MacLaren-Ross). More details about Pamela Widmerpool née Flitton's attitude to 1/2
January 24, 2026 at 1:33 PM
Read Anthony Powell's "Books Do Furnish a Room". A sentiment I agree with, as I read this in 2 or 3 of my book furnished rooms! Has finally gotten to meet the infamous X. Trapnel. (Isn't overly familiar with Julian MacLaren-Ross). More details about Pamela Widmerpool née Flitton's attitude to 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "The Military Philosophers". This volume can be summed up in two words... Pamela Flitton! As always I enjoyed expanding my vocabulary, from military terms like Pongo to Mrs Erdleigh's exsufflations and farouche. Particularly liked the literary reminiscences and snatches of 1/2
January 23, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Read Anthony Powell's "The Military Philosophers". This volume can be summed up in two words... Pamela Flitton! As always I enjoyed expanding my vocabulary, from military terms like Pongo to Mrs Erdleigh's exsufflations and farouche. Particularly liked the literary reminiscences and snatches of 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "The Soldier's Art". Cor! The deaths in chapter 2 and the final line of the novel are very powerfully handled indeed. I wouldn't have placed the title as coming from Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" without Stringham's quotation. The weakness of Jenkins' 1/2
January 21, 2026 at 1:15 PM
Read Anthony Powell's "The Soldier's Art". Cor! The deaths in chapter 2 and the final line of the novel are very powerfully handled indeed. I wouldn't have placed the title as coming from Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" without Stringham's quotation. The weakness of Jenkins' 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "The Valley of Bones". Easily my favourite so far (possibly because it had slightly more action/plot). It was strange to read scenes I saw once on TV in October 1997! Liked seeing words like Brythonic, galantine and the slang term maquereaux. Predictably I loved 'I was 1/2
January 20, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Read Anthony Powell's "The Valley of Bones". Easily my favourite so far (possibly because it had slightly more action/plot). It was strange to read scenes I saw once on TV in October 1997! Liked seeing words like Brythonic, galantine and the slang term maquereaux. Predictably I loved 'I was 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "The Kindly Ones". Is continuing to enjoy these. Had to look up 'sortilege'. Laughed outloud at General Conyers saying Jeavons 'put me on to a first-rate place to buy cheap shirts many years ago. Shopped there ever since.' This volume was funny but full of wise eternal 1/2
January 20, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Read Anthony Powell's "The Kindly Ones". Is continuing to enjoy these. Had to look up 'sortilege'. Laughed outloud at General Conyers saying Jeavons 'put me on to a first-rate place to buy cheap shirts many years ago. Shopped there ever since.' This volume was funny but full of wise eternal 1/2
Read Anthony Powell's "Casanova's Chinese Restaurant". Quickly worked out that this volume with Moreland and Maclintick was as far as I'd ever previously made it. Must have given up over 25 years ago around the point in Chapter 1 where Norman Chandler played Bosola. This time around (being 1/2
January 18, 2026 at 4:35 PM
Read Anthony Powell's "Casanova's Chinese Restaurant". Quickly worked out that this volume with Moreland and Maclintick was as far as I'd ever previously made it. Must have given up over 25 years ago around the point in Chapter 1 where Norman Chandler played Bosola. This time around (being 1/2