Michael L
@birdmichael.bsky.social
Birds, books, netball, cats
Darwin day off really delivered
May 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Darwin day off really delivered
Laura is basically the loveliest person in the world and also an incredible goddamn writer, how???
May 16, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Laura is basically the loveliest person in the world and also an incredible goddamn writer, how???
Thrilled to be at the launch of Laura Elvery's incredible debut novel - highly recommend it and both her short story collections
May 14, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Thrilled to be at the launch of Laura Elvery's incredible debut novel - highly recommend it and both her short story collections
I've drifted back to the bad site for the past month or so, but I'm gonna try to return here more regularly. Mostly I just wanted another place to post this photo of me distracted by a goshawk during the Ballarat marathon
May 13, 2025 at 5:46 AM
I've drifted back to the bad site for the past month or so, but I'm gonna try to return here more regularly. Mostly I just wanted another place to post this photo of me distracted by a goshawk during the Ballarat marathon
34km this morning, 90+ for the week, everything is sore and tired
March 16, 2025 at 7:43 AM
34km this morning, 90+ for the week, everything is sore and tired
No cat can resist the charms of the lap
March 12, 2025 at 6:43 AM
No cat can resist the charms of the lap
Getting ever more powerful
March 2, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Getting ever more powerful
First golden whistler of the year for me
March 1, 2025 at 7:02 AM
First golden whistler of the year for me
Book 24: Beautiful, brutal novel about growing up gay in working class France. Shot through with class consciousness, it's utterly devastating
February 25, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Book 24: Beautiful, brutal novel about growing up gay in working class France. Shot through with class consciousness, it's utterly devastating
Time for my annual failed attempt to predict @thestellaprize.bsky.social longlist! What have I missed here gang? Gimme your hot tips and predictions
February 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Time for my annual failed attempt to predict @thestellaprize.bsky.social longlist! What have I missed here gang? Gimme your hot tips and predictions
Book 23: Could have put this down disoriented and a bit annoyed after 50 pages, but so, so glad I stuck at it. Two men, one dying, telling each other stories - it's sublime and inventive, experimental and deeply human
February 23, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Book 23: Could have put this down disoriented and a bit annoyed after 50 pages, but so, so glad I stuck at it. Two men, one dying, telling each other stories - it's sublime and inventive, experimental and deeply human
Book 22: borrowed this because of a blurb that said "for fans of Miriam Toews," and that's just setting the bar too high. This has some lovely moments, but lacks the warmth and humour that I was expecting
February 21, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Book 22: borrowed this because of a blurb that said "for fans of Miriam Toews," and that's just setting the bar too high. This has some lovely moments, but lacks the warmth and humour that I was expecting
Googled Kate Jennings' Snake after @sightlined.bsky.social's post and this is just garbage: publication date out by nearly 50 years, a made-up co-author - remember when the internet used to work?
February 20, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Googled Kate Jennings' Snake after @sightlined.bsky.social's post and this is just garbage: publication date out by nearly 50 years, a made-up co-author - remember when the internet used to work?
Book 21: I just adored this beautiful short book about grief and family and the things we can and can't say. And squash. Squash as metaphor, squash as gloriously described embodied experience. Made me want to play again
February 19, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Book 21: I just adored this beautiful short book about grief and family and the things we can and can't say. And squash. Squash as metaphor, squash as gloriously described embodied experience. Made me want to play again
Book 20: an ambitious novel that tells the story of the US via a patch of land and the people who live on it - it didn't always work for me, but by the end I was basically won over
February 16, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Book 20: an ambitious novel that tells the story of the US via a patch of land and the people who live on it - it didn't always work for me, but by the end I was basically won over
Absurdly boring for everyone else, but god I'm loving feeling noticeably fitter and stronger each week of this marathon training block
February 16, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Absurdly boring for everyone else, but god I'm loving feeling noticeably fitter and stronger each week of this marathon training block
Me responding to doodle polls for meetings I probably won't attend anyway
February 15, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Me responding to doodle polls for meetings I probably won't attend anyway
Book 19: a beautiful and warm portrait of a nearly forgotten way of life, protecting eider nests on remote Norwegian islands. Slightly weakened by the need for the author to experience some sort of personal growth, but when he focuses on the setting and the story it's sublime
February 14, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Book 19: a beautiful and warm portrait of a nearly forgotten way of life, protecting eider nests on remote Norwegian islands. Slightly weakened by the need for the author to experience some sort of personal growth, but when he focuses on the setting and the story it's sublime
The cutest netball team in Melbourne? Surely
February 12, 2025 at 9:54 AM
The cutest netball team in Melbourne? Surely
Book 18: review redacted until bookclub meets, but this wasn't at all what I was expecting (in a mostly good way)
February 12, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Book 18: review redacted until bookclub meets, but this wasn't at all what I was expecting (in a mostly good way)
Pleased to report that I continue to confuse and alienate my run club by pointing out random birds in the distance (today: an Australian hobby hunting around the Rathdowne public housing towers)
February 11, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Pleased to report that I continue to confuse and alienate my run club by pointing out random birds in the distance (today: an Australian hobby hunting around the Rathdowne public housing towers)
28km in the tank this morning for a 75km week, training block is intensifying
February 9, 2025 at 12:19 AM
28km in the tank this morning for a 75km week, training block is intensifying
Book 17: a bit biased because Robert is a friend, but this is a banger. Funny and sad and edge-of-the-seat compelling - if there's any justice it'll be a smash hit
February 8, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Book 17: a bit biased because Robert is a friend, but this is a banger. Funny and sad and edge-of-the-seat compelling - if there's any justice it'll be a smash hit
What's everyone's favourite parrot, and why isn't it purple crowned lorikeet?
February 7, 2025 at 7:03 AM
What's everyone's favourite parrot, and why isn't it purple crowned lorikeet?
Book 16: a day in the life (and mind) of a precocious oxford student wrestling with an essay on Shakespeare. Sections of this were electric, but a few digressions had me drifting - a really bold and interesting book though
February 7, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Book 16: a day in the life (and mind) of a precocious oxford student wrestling with an essay on Shakespeare. Sections of this were electric, but a few digressions had me drifting - a really bold and interesting book though