Natasha Simonova
@philistella.bsky.social
Research Fellow @ies-sas.bsky.social, Bougie London Literary Woman, cat concierge. Book on 18th-century women's letters forthcoming from Chatto & Windus. natashasimonova.com
Pinned
Excited for this energy! About me: one foot still in academia (17th/18th c., women's writing, manuscripts, fiction), working on a trade book about 18th-century women's letters, always up for freelance writing/reviewing gigs or new friends and events around London. Servant to small elderly cat.
Attempting to read a """fun""" book which is simply Too Real about academia/the writing business/men as a concept, after every page I have to stop and scream into a bag.
November 11, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Attempting to read a """fun""" book which is simply Too Real about academia/the writing business/men as a concept, after every page I have to stop and scream into a bag.
Where Penny threatens to move every time I come home late.
November 10, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Where Penny threatens to move every time I come home late.
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
Henry Tilney read the entirety of The Mysteries of Udolpho in only TWO DAYS! This is what phones have taken from us.
November 10, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Henry Tilney read the entirety of The Mysteries of Udolpho in only TWO DAYS! This is what phones have taken from us.
I was trying to explain what 'wildfarmed' bread is yesterday despite not at all understanding it myself, and then I looked it up and...it's a brand. It's literally just a brand. Share to save a life (and £5) in the Waitrose bakery aisle! wildfarmed.com
Wildfarmed | Transforming Lunches and Landscapes
Wildfarmed grows wheat the right way making regenerative flour and bread that tastes better, is better for you and for the planet.
wildfarmed.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
I was trying to explain what 'wildfarmed' bread is yesterday despite not at all understanding it myself, and then I looked it up and...it's a brand. It's literally just a brand. Share to save a life (and £5) in the Waitrose bakery aisle! wildfarmed.com
You keep waiting for a quirky murder based on a 17th-century play or something, but the only murder is of your hopes and dreams.
Always wanted an “academic procedural” show where a prof is seen doing the most routine parts of the job, like grading or ms revisions, but they’re also suffering all the kinds of breakdowns detectives have in their shows
November 8, 2025 at 8:52 PM
You keep waiting for a quirky murder based on a 17th-century play or something, but the only murder is of your hopes and dreams.
The vibe today
November 7, 2025 at 1:23 PM
The vibe today
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
It’s 6 November, and you know what that means, don’t you? YES, THAT’S RIGHT. It’s the 156th anniversary of the death of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s pet wombat
November 6, 2025 at 9:35 AM
It’s 6 November, and you know what that means, don’t you? YES, THAT’S RIGHT. It’s the 156th anniversary of the death of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s pet wombat
You should cook some lentils in coconut cream and curry, it will probably help.
November 5, 2025 at 7:13 PM
You should cook some lentils in coconut cream and curry, it will probably help.
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
November 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
Googling 'what to do when brain goes AAAAAAAAAAAH! all the time'
November 5, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Googling 'what to do when brain goes AAAAAAAAAAAH! all the time'
I recently witnessed an internet argument that went:
- but this was in 2002, there was no way to find that information out!
- people had phones in 2002
- people did NOT have smartphones!
- they...had phones. so you could call someone. and ask.
and I aged one million years.
- but this was in 2002, there was no way to find that information out!
- people had phones in 2002
- people did NOT have smartphones!
- they...had phones. so you could call someone. and ask.
and I aged one million years.
A friend showed me this screenshot and I started cackling, I was staining my tongue three different colors with OtterPops in 1998 are you fucking kidding me
November 4, 2025 at 10:34 PM
I recently witnessed an internet argument that went:
- but this was in 2002, there was no way to find that information out!
- people had phones in 2002
- people did NOT have smartphones!
- they...had phones. so you could call someone. and ask.
and I aged one million years.
- but this was in 2002, there was no way to find that information out!
- people had phones in 2002
- people did NOT have smartphones!
- they...had phones. so you could call someone. and ask.
and I aged one million years.
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
did the sitwells sit well? an investigation
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 AM
did the sitwells sit well? an investigation
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
I think one of the saddest things about being a millennial is remembering a time when technology was advancing in a way that made life better and easier and more exciting instead of actively, intentionally worse
July 9, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I think one of the saddest things about being a millennial is remembering a time when technology was advancing in a way that made life better and easier and more exciting instead of actively, intentionally worse
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
A VERY dramatic Halloween night thunderstorm in London!
October 31, 2025 at 7:37 PM
A VERY dramatic Halloween night thunderstorm in London!
One must be grateful, when the times are tryin’
To do work that requires so little brain;
And transcribing ten worser takes on Byron
I must click-clack my keys and not complain.
But whatever these 1820s types were high on
It is enough to drive you quite insane. (1/2)
To do work that requires so little brain;
And transcribing ten worser takes on Byron
I must click-clack my keys and not complain.
But whatever these 1820s types were high on
It is enough to drive you quite insane. (1/2)
October 31, 2025 at 3:46 PM
One must be grateful, when the times are tryin’
To do work that requires so little brain;
And transcribing ten worser takes on Byron
I must click-clack my keys and not complain.
But whatever these 1820s types were high on
It is enough to drive you quite insane. (1/2)
To do work that requires so little brain;
And transcribing ten worser takes on Byron
I must click-clack my keys and not complain.
But whatever these 1820s types were high on
It is enough to drive you quite insane. (1/2)
Reposted by Natasha Simonova
Dressing up as a catalogue ghost, that product of a 19th c typo that drains the time of researchers and librarians and which—after initial banishment—reappears unexpectedly elsewhere. For extra horror: the ghost entry seems to describe a source which will solve all your research problems, but alas.
October 31, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Dressing up as a catalogue ghost, that product of a 19th c typo that drains the time of researchers and librarians and which—after initial banishment—reappears unexpectedly elsewhere. For extra horror: the ghost entry seems to describe a source which will solve all your research problems, but alas.
While rambling through the world upon my gap year
I met a traveller from an antique place
He told me of a desert that would dry ya
Where two great legs of stone stand, and a face, (1/2)
I met a traveller from an antique place
He told me of a desert that would dry ya
Where two great legs of stone stand, and a face, (1/2)
October 30, 2025 at 7:53 PM
While rambling through the world upon my gap year
I met a traveller from an antique place
He told me of a desert that would dry ya
Where two great legs of stone stand, and a face, (1/2)
I met a traveller from an antique place
He told me of a desert that would dry ya
Where two great legs of stone stand, and a face, (1/2)
Not even transcribing a 3000-word doggerel poem about the current events of 1825 is preventing me from a good old panic today.
October 30, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Not even transcribing a 3000-word doggerel poem about the current events of 1825 is preventing me from a good old panic today.
I hate that my TV is 'stuck in a boot loop,' which requires software on a USB stick to be posted out to me. TVs should have two states, which are 'off' and 'my shows'.
October 29, 2025 at 11:45 AM
I hate that my TV is 'stuck in a boot loop,' which requires software on a USB stick to be posted out to me. TVs should have two states, which are 'off' and 'my shows'.
Me, contemplating a move:
October 28, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Me, contemplating a move:
Got a drive-by demand to pet the belly today. There is *nothing* under the fluff, she is pure fluff.
October 28, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Got a drive-by demand to pet the belly today. There is *nothing* under the fluff, she is pure fluff.
My body reacts to any changes in the clock by just being hungry All the Time, which means I've spent all day gorging on bread and butter like I'm an 18th-century lord about to go to a late sitting in the House.
October 26, 2025 at 4:24 PM
My body reacts to any changes in the clock by just being hungry All the Time, which means I've spent all day gorging on bread and butter like I'm an 18th-century lord about to go to a late sitting in the House.