Craig Cliff
LightNews LightNews
banner
craigcliff.bsky.social
Craig Cliff
@craigcliff.bsky.social
110 followers 99 following 50 posts
Writer in residence at my house | Climate change mahi at University of Otago | Dad life Ōtepoti
Posts Replies Media Videos
craigcliff.bsky.social
#61-#64 I've only read two books in the Booker Longlist so far, but really rooting for Szalay...
Screenshot of Slow Down: the degrowth manifesto by Kohei Saito (audiobook) from the Libby App Screenshot of The Shetland Way by Marianne Brown (audiobook) from the Libby App Screenshot of Flesh by David Szalay (audiobook) from the Libby App Screenshot of The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone (audiobook) from the BorrowBox App. Book 1 was okay. Listening to Book 2 now but kinda losing interest...
August 8, 2025 at 10:24 PM
craigcliff.bsky.social
Catch-up time again... #57-#60
Photo of the poetry collection A Lack of Good Sons by Jake Arthur Screenshot of Pure Innocent Fun by Ira Madison III (audiobook) from the Libby App Screenshot of Well Met by Jen DeLuca (audiobook) from the Libby App Screenshot of A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (audiobook) from the Libby App - for some reason the cover still says Coming Soon, lol.
August 8, 2025 at 10:24 PM
craigcliff.bsky.social
You could borrow it via WCL and the Libby app, once the 19 people ahead of you in the queue are done 😅
July 22, 2025 at 5:53 AM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#53-56 Highlight from this bunch: The Proof of My Innocence
The Forgotten Forest by Robert Vennell. Screenshot from the Libby app. Probably better as an illustration physical book, or a guided meditation. Playworld by Adam Ross. Screenshot from the Libby app. Felt like a novel written by someone immersed in the college creative writing industrial machine who takes a long time between books. Oh wait... The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe. Screenshot from the Libby app. I read lots of Coe around the time of Like a Fiery Elephant and The Rotters Club. Nice to see him still punning with structure and tackling the Liz Truss era. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. Screenshot from the Libby app. Note to audiobook producers: when you have an hourlong foreword, it helps to let the listener know who wrote the foreword at the beginning rather than the end (Reader, it was Satre).
June 28, 2025 at 12:26 AM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#49-52
Star Gazers by Duncan Sarkies. Photo of hard copy, which I've reviewed for Landfall Review Online. The Demolition of the Century by Duncan Sarkies. Photo of physical book. How to Hold a Cockroach: a book for those who are free and don't know it. Screenshot of audiobook in Libby app. This is classic self-help grifter BS, and so excruciatingly repetitive it becomes funny, until it becomes excruciating again. Still don't know if Maxwell has even read Kafka (seems unlikely). Universality by Natasha Brown. Screenshot of audiobook in the Libby app. Loved Assembly. This one felt like a long book that had been compressed to the point it loses all fidelity.
June 28, 2025 at 12:26 AM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#44-48 (Been neglecting this thread but not the TBR pile)...
Photo of Landfall 249 (hard copy of literary journal), which features my story-in-bio notes, 'Connective Tissue'. Careless People: A story of where I used to work by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Screenshot of audiobook in the Libby app. Courting the Wild Twin by Martin Shaw. Screenshot of audiobook in the Libby app. Pounamu Pounamu by Witi Ihimaera. Screenshot of audiobook (English edition) in the Libby app.
June 28, 2025 at 12:26 AM
craigcliff.bsky.social
Was visible to the naked eye, but not as vivid as captured on my wife's iPhone. My android? yeah, nah
June 1, 2025 at 8:16 AM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#41-#44 Can confirm The Book of Guilt is worth the hype. Actually, a strong quarter here.
May 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#37-#40 Recent audiobook listening...
The making of another major motion picture masterpiece by Tom Hanks. Screenshot of Borrowbox app. On the calculation of volume, part one, by Solvej Balle. Screenshot of Libby app Recognising the stranger: on Palestine and narrative by Isabella Hammad. Screenshot of the Libby app. Kāwai: for such a time as this by Montry Soutar. Screenshot of the Libby app.
May 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#33-#36 Physical books by NZ authors read in Aparima Riverton this week.
Pretty Ugly (short stories) by Kirsty Gunn. So cool Otago University Press is publishing story collections now (albeit very slowly) Middle Youth by Morgan Bach (poetry) Biter by Claudia Jardin (poetry) - book and some stones from Marshall Bay beach he's so MASC by Chris Tse (poetry)
April 25, 2025 at 9:26 PM
craigcliff.bsky.social
#29-#32 in my 2025 in reading. All audiobooks. Still thinking about Rejection (lol). Tony Tulathimutte really went there!
Hine Toa: A Story of Bravery by Ngāhuia the Awekōtuku. Screenshot of audiobook in Libby app. Rejection: fiction by Tony Tulathimutte. Screenshot of audiobook in Libby app. The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chudgey. Screenshot of audiobook in Libby app. The Serviceberry: an economy of gifts and abundance by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Screenshot of audiobook in Libby app.
April 25, 2025 at 9:26 PM