phaude
@phaude.bsky.social
Bookish inactivist seeking a tolerable social medium. Cambs. (No longer on Twitter/X.)
“Oh! It’s Bookshop Day!” I remarked to my girlfriend this morning.
“What does that even mean?” she said. “EVERY day is bookshop day for you.” It’s a fair point. I bought only one book today. I hope others fared better than I did.
“What does that even mean?” she said. “EVERY day is bookshop day for you.” It’s a fair point. I bought only one book today. I hope others fared better than I did.
October 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
“Oh! It’s Bookshop Day!” I remarked to my girlfriend this morning.
“What does that even mean?” she said. “EVERY day is bookshop day for you.” It’s a fair point. I bought only one book today. I hope others fared better than I did.
“What does that even mean?” she said. “EVERY day is bookshop day for you.” It’s a fair point. I bought only one book today. I hope others fared better than I did.
A very Waugh-heavy haul from the second-hand/charity shops yesterday. The biographies are upgrades and I already have a volume of his letters, but still. Dreadful man, wonderful novelist. (Although his early funny novels are of course infinitely better than late, sentimental ones.)
September 28, 2025 at 5:43 PM
A very Waugh-heavy haul from the second-hand/charity shops yesterday. The biographies are upgrades and I already have a volume of his letters, but still. Dreadful man, wonderful novelist. (Although his early funny novels are of course infinitely better than late, sentimental ones.)
If the phrase ‘magpie mind’ could be embodied in a single photo, I suspect this one of my bedside table could be a contender for the top ten.
September 13, 2025 at 5:59 PM
If the phrase ‘magpie mind’ could be embodied in a single photo, I suspect this one of my bedside table could be a contender for the top ten.
The arrival of a new Nicola Barker book is always, always a cause for celebration. I bloody love her.
August 11, 2025 at 4:54 PM
The arrival of a new Nicola Barker book is always, always a cause for celebration. I bloody love her.
Writers rightly wonder whether Bluesky is a reasonable promotional platform. Ten minutes ago, I hadn’t heard of Ben Pester. Then I chanced upon him thanks to @guyware.bsky.social and read this Observer review. Now, I’ve ordered his novel.
Outlandish in the Observer today
‘Surreal & unsettling…With a steely commitment to its outlandish form & plot, @benpester.bsky.social’s novel is as nebulous, mind-bending & delightfully strange as the workplace it describes.’
The Expansion Project
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
The Expansion Project
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
August 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Writers rightly wonder whether Bluesky is a reasonable promotional platform. Ten minutes ago, I hadn’t heard of Ben Pester. Then I chanced upon him thanks to @guyware.bsky.social and read this Observer review. Now, I’ve ordered his novel.
Recent acquisition. Absolutely fascinating and I already want more of this sort of thing. Can anyone recommend similar titles about suppressed Russian writers? General ones rather than books about specific writers, I mean. Although specifics probably wouldn’t go amiss.
July 31, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Recent acquisition. Absolutely fascinating and I already want more of this sort of thing. Can anyone recommend similar titles about suppressed Russian writers? General ones rather than books about specific writers, I mean. Although specifics probably wouldn’t go amiss.
One for @nicholasroyle.bsky.social: an insertion in a second-hand copy of Despair by Nabokov.
July 14, 2025 at 8:26 AM
One for @nicholasroyle.bsky.social: an insertion in a second-hand copy of Despair by Nabokov.
If (and I know the prospect requires you to stretch your credulity till it snaps) there was ever a biopic of William Empson, Gatiss must surely be the man to play him.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnk...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnk...
Bookish - Official International Trailer (Beta Film)
YouTube video by Beta Film - Official Trailer Channel
m.youtube.com
June 26, 2025 at 6:10 PM
If (and I know the prospect requires you to stretch your credulity till it snaps) there was ever a biopic of William Empson, Gatiss must surely be the man to play him.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnk...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=xDnk...
@cbeditions.bsky.social It might just be because it’s a pre-order, but when I click ‘Add to cart’ on the 176 Interruptions product page (www.cbeditions.com/boyle5.html) I’m taken to a PayPal error page.
(Apologies for bearing bad news but it might be something you can/would like to fix.)
(Apologies for bearing bad news but it might be something you can/would like to fix.)
June 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
@cbeditions.bsky.social It might just be because it’s a pre-order, but when I click ‘Add to cart’ on the 176 Interruptions product page (www.cbeditions.com/boyle5.html) I’m taken to a PayPal error page.
(Apologies for bearing bad news but it might be something you can/would like to fix.)
(Apologies for bearing bad news but it might be something you can/would like to fix.)
Passed a load of buttercups earlier. Tried the old “why people leave buttocks lying around, I have no idea” joke (S Fry, 1992) on my children. Barely a titter. Sophisticated lot, the modern-day under-10s.
May 26, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Passed a load of buttercups earlier. Tried the old “why people leave buttocks lying around, I have no idea” joke (S Fry, 1992) on my children. Barely a titter. Sophisticated lot, the modern-day under-10s.
An excellent book day: the wonderful Eimear McBride at the Cambridge Literary Featival and a very handsome copy of Hackenfeller’s Ape from Oxfam for only £1.99.
April 27, 2025 at 6:46 PM
An excellent book day: the wonderful Eimear McBride at the Cambridge Literary Featival and a very handsome copy of Hackenfeller’s Ape from Oxfam for only £1.99.
Some light reading having finished packing my library and Packing My Library.
The first couple of paragraphs of the first chapter made me chuckle.
The first couple of paragraphs of the first chapter made me chuckle.
March 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Some light reading having finished packing my library and Packing My Library.
The first couple of paragraphs of the first chapter made me chuckle.
The first couple of paragraphs of the first chapter made me chuckle.
Something I do have whose authenticity I don’t doubt (the provenance is sound) is this letter from John Betjeman, which I found tucked in a book I bought a few years ago.
January 30, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Something I do have whose authenticity I don’t doubt (the provenance is sound) is this letter from John Betjeman, which I found tucked in a book I bought a few years ago.
Anyone know Frank Kermode’s handwriting? This copy of Keats’s letters appears to have been his. (I’m also cynical enough to presume it wasn’t his.)
January 30, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Anyone know Frank Kermode’s handwriting? This copy of Keats’s letters appears to have been his. (I’m also cynical enough to presume it wasn’t his.)
Further thrilling dispatches from my book-packing adventures (far better than back-packing, I’d say): a stack of Sparks.
For years, I thought of her merely as the author of Jean Brodie, so what a delight it was to discover how incredibly funny and bizarre she could be.
For years, I thought of her merely as the author of Jean Brodie, so what a delight it was to discover how incredibly funny and bizarre she could be.
January 29, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Further thrilling dispatches from my book-packing adventures (far better than back-packing, I’d say): a stack of Sparks.
For years, I thought of her merely as the author of Jean Brodie, so what a delight it was to discover how incredibly funny and bizarre she could be.
For years, I thought of her merely as the author of Jean Brodie, so what a delight it was to discover how incredibly funny and bizarre she could be.
I had no idea I had so many of these. Most date from when I was a student in the late ‘90s, when you could pick them up in Oxfam for 39p each. What would it be now? Three or four quid? More for the earlier ones. Seems inflation-busting to me. Perhaps they are a sound investment after all.
January 25, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I had no idea I had so many of these. Most date from when I was a student in the late ‘90s, when you could pick them up in Oxfam for 39p each. What would it be now? Three or four quid? More for the earlier ones. Seems inflation-busting to me. Perhaps they are a sound investment after all.
Grouping books by size is obviously the most efficient use of packing space. Books that stay apart on the shelves are therefore joined by their fellows in the box. So here’s a claw of Panthers. They look handsome together, don’t they? But why do I have two copies of Perec’s A Void?
January 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Grouping books by size is obviously the most efficient use of packing space. Books that stay apart on the shelves are therefore joined by their fellows in the box. So here’s a claw of Panthers. They look handsome together, don’t they? But why do I have two copies of Perec’s A Void?
A bit premature as I’m not moving for at least another couple of months, but I’ve begun packing my library – always a rather harrowing experience and the only time I’m willing to concede that I might own too many books. Just to warn you, I’m likely to bang on about this task over the coming weeks.
January 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
A bit premature as I’m not moving for at least another couple of months, but I’ve begun packing my library – always a rather harrowing experience and the only time I’m willing to concede that I might own too many books. Just to warn you, I’m likely to bang on about this task over the coming weeks.
Oh! @plsoc.bsky.social has followed me back. Let’s have a Larkin shelfie…
January 12, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Oh! @plsoc.bsky.social has followed me back. Let’s have a Larkin shelfie…
It seems quite a few people are planning to read Proust this year. I picked up this lovely set a few years ago, when @backlisted.bsky.social did its Proustmas special, and found the companion guide in Oxfam only a few weeks ago. I probably ought to give it a go. At last. Pass me a madeleine…
January 1, 2025 at 10:26 AM
It seems quite a few people are planning to read Proust this year. I picked up this lovely set a few years ago, when @backlisted.bsky.social did its Proustmas special, and found the companion guide in Oxfam only a few weeks ago. I probably ought to give it a go. At last. Pass me a madeleine…
A sight that brings me joy in both the morning and the afternoon…
November 30, 2024 at 2:07 PM
A sight that brings me joy in both the morning and the afternoon…
