Dan Jenks
@dantjenks.bsky.social
Reading. Cycling. Education.
https://substack.com/@dan1997690?r=4hxm6&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
https://substack.com/@dan1997690?r=4hxm6&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
I don’t think I’ve had to stop and ask myself what’s going on in a book quite so often as I have with this. Not an annoyed querying but a curious questioning of what he’s doing and how fucking clever it is - without being arch and pomo po faced.
Sometimes you need to be puzzled.
Sometimes you need to be puzzled.
November 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I don’t think I’ve had to stop and ask myself what’s going on in a book quite so often as I have with this. Not an annoyed querying but a curious questioning of what he’s doing and how fucking clever it is - without being arch and pomo po faced.
Sometimes you need to be puzzled.
Sometimes you need to be puzzled.
Struck by this passage today re-reading Brideshead.
This weekend I’ve been digging up gold buried over the last 45 years
This weekend I’ve been digging up gold buried over the last 45 years
November 23, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Struck by this passage today re-reading Brideshead.
This weekend I’ve been digging up gold buried over the last 45 years
This weekend I’ve been digging up gold buried over the last 45 years
Fuck! That was good. My first Manchette - I doubt it’ll be my last.
November 9, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Fuck! That was good. My first Manchette - I doubt it’ll be my last.
Reading this half term. Thanks to @backlisted.bsky.social @judecook.bsky.social @stuhennigan.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social @andrewgallix.bsky.social @andrewmale.bsky.social @grantabooks.bsky.social @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social @joannapocock.bsky.social
among others.
among others.
October 31, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reading this half term. Thanks to @backlisted.bsky.social @judecook.bsky.social @stuhennigan.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social @andrewgallix.bsky.social @andrewmale.bsky.social @grantabooks.bsky.social @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social @joannapocock.bsky.social
among others.
among others.
Just seen Kerry James Marshall’s The Histories in Royal Academy. Brilliant stuff. If in the smoke check it out
October 28, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Just seen Kerry James Marshall’s The Histories in Royal Academy. Brilliant stuff. If in the smoke check it out
Been re-reading Demons (or whatever your preferred translation calls it) and again I’m amazed by how it holds together, but only just. Always on the edge of collapse and the incomprehensible. I recognised the same experience listening to Blackout by Bowie today - it shouldn’t work but it does - just
October 24, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Been re-reading Demons (or whatever your preferred translation calls it) and again I’m amazed by how it holds together, but only just. Always on the edge of collapse and the incomprehensible. I recognised the same experience listening to Blackout by Bowie today - it shouldn’t work but it does - just
Blackout by Yann Chateigné Tytelman a remarkable little book - a meditation on grief, silences, solitude, the solaces (or otherwise) of art.
Taking in Charles Ray’s Ink Box, Celmin’s sea pictures, David Toop, Judy Nylon along the way. It’s another fantastic work from @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social
Taking in Charles Ray’s Ink Box, Celmin’s sea pictures, David Toop, Judy Nylon along the way. It’s another fantastic work from @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social
October 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Blackout by Yann Chateigné Tytelman a remarkable little book - a meditation on grief, silences, solitude, the solaces (or otherwise) of art.
Taking in Charles Ray’s Ink Box, Celmin’s sea pictures, David Toop, Judy Nylon along the way. It’s another fantastic work from @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social
Taking in Charles Ray’s Ink Box, Celmin’s sea pictures, David Toop, Judy Nylon along the way. It’s another fantastic work from @lesfugitivespress.bsky.social
Croydon gets everywhere @backlisted.bsky.social - one for Andy in @andrewgallix.bsky.social novel Loren Ipsum - a playful English novel in the French tradition.
October 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Croydon gets everywhere @backlisted.bsky.social - one for Andy in @andrewgallix.bsky.social novel Loren Ipsum - a playful English novel in the French tradition.
Rare event. I got to race with my son today. He’s the second best all rounder in the country - I’m not in the top thousand.
A two-up fifteen mile time trial where he very efficiently almost killed me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
A two-up fifteen mile time trial where he very efficiently almost killed me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
October 12, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Rare event. I got to race with my son today. He’s the second best all rounder in the country - I’m not in the top thousand.
A two-up fifteen mile time trial where he very efficiently almost killed me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
A two-up fifteen mile time trial where he very efficiently almost killed me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
“I’d rather have my mind expanded than my taste confirmed.”
Well, I took @iammilliam.bsky.social at his word and plunged into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen multiverse - I’m glad I did - I didn’t love everything but it was a rich reading experience which I’d recommend
Well, I took @iammilliam.bsky.social at his word and plunged into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen multiverse - I’m glad I did - I didn’t love everything but it was a rich reading experience which I’d recommend
October 7, 2025 at 6:30 AM
“I’d rather have my mind expanded than my taste confirmed.”
Well, I took @iammilliam.bsky.social at his word and plunged into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen multiverse - I’m glad I did - I didn’t love everything but it was a rich reading experience which I’d recommend
Well, I took @iammilliam.bsky.social at his word and plunged into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen multiverse - I’m glad I did - I didn’t love everything but it was a rich reading experience which I’d recommend
The view on the Delta this morning
October 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The view on the Delta this morning
Where are you now, Batman?
Don’t tell me Alan Moore didn’t read this before League and Watchmen.
Don’t tell me Alan Moore didn’t read this before League and Watchmen.
October 1, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Where are you now, Batman?
Don’t tell me Alan Moore didn’t read this before League and Watchmen.
Don’t tell me Alan Moore didn’t read this before League and Watchmen.
The Picasso at the Tate Modern is wonderfully curated - playful and thoughtful - wide ranging yet overwhelming.
September 30, 2025 at 9:32 PM
The Picasso at the Tate Modern is wonderfully curated - playful and thoughtful - wide ranging yet overwhelming.
They’ve sent me on a course - I think mainly to remind me how lucky I am not to have spent the last 25 years commuting. I have suitable @backlisted.bsky.social Reading material with me.
September 30, 2025 at 8:20 AM
They’ve sent me on a course - I think mainly to remind me how lucky I am not to have spent the last 25 years commuting. I have suitable @backlisted.bsky.social Reading material with me.
By sheer coincidence I’ve started to do the same. The pleasure I’m getting out of this Elizabeth Taylor short story collection is so much greater for taking a month to read rather than an afternoon
September 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
By sheer coincidence I’ve started to do the same. The pleasure I’m getting out of this Elizabeth Taylor short story collection is so much greater for taking a month to read rather than an afternoon
I loved the latest by Olga Tokarczuk from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social among her very best. A return to the freewheeling compendium of Flights. This time it’s a Lonely Planet guide that swerves from magic realism, local saints, divination, mushrooms, werewolves, comets and everyday village life.
September 18, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I loved the latest by Olga Tokarczuk from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social among her very best. A return to the freewheeling compendium of Flights. This time it’s a Lonely Planet guide that swerves from magic realism, local saints, divination, mushrooms, werewolves, comets and everyday village life.
Well that was a lot of fun. Read, and in many cases re-read, all of Muriel Spark’s fiction over the last few months. I do wonder if there’s ever been any writer quite so peculiar to be as popular as her. Odd, experimental, sharp, witty all while questioning the nature of good and evil. Brilliant
September 12, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Well that was a lot of fun. Read, and in many cases re-read, all of Muriel Spark’s fiction over the last few months. I do wonder if there’s ever been any writer quite so peculiar to be as popular as her. Odd, experimental, sharp, witty all while questioning the nature of good and evil. Brilliant
I can think of no greater compliment than to say that the @backlisted.bsky.social recommendation The Short End Of Sonnenallee sits squarely next to Skvorecky’s Danny Smiricky stories.
A great fun read reminding us all of the indomitable power of the individual under totalitarian pressure
A great fun read reminding us all of the indomitable power of the individual under totalitarian pressure
September 7, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I can think of no greater compliment than to say that the @backlisted.bsky.social recommendation The Short End Of Sonnenallee sits squarely next to Skvorecky’s Danny Smiricky stories.
A great fun read reminding us all of the indomitable power of the individual under totalitarian pressure
A great fun read reminding us all of the indomitable power of the individual under totalitarian pressure
My favourite bit of ‘public information’
September 5, 2025 at 6:29 AM
My favourite bit of ‘public information’
Book post is the best post.
It’s always a great day when a new Olga arrives from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
It’s always a great day when a new Olga arrives from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
September 3, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Book post is the best post.
It’s always a great day when a new Olga arrives from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
It’s always a great day when a new Olga arrives from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
What I read in August. Thanks to Muriel and @iammilliam.bsky.social @backlisted.bsky.social @judecook.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social @andotherstories.bsky.social @grantabooks.bsky.social @versobooks.bsky.social @reaktionbooks.bsky.social @faberbooks.bsky.social @thamesandhudson.bsky.social
September 3, 2025 at 12:00 PM
What I read in August. Thanks to Muriel and @iammilliam.bsky.social @backlisted.bsky.social @judecook.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social @andotherstories.bsky.social @grantabooks.bsky.social @versobooks.bsky.social @reaktionbooks.bsky.social @faberbooks.bsky.social @thamesandhudson.bsky.social
Another lovely jacket from Macmillan for Spark’s early sixties work.
These are some short stories and radio plays. Four novels into her career and Brodie about to be let loose on the world.
These are some short stories and radio plays. Four novels into her career and Brodie about to be let loose on the world.
August 28, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Another lovely jacket from Macmillan for Spark’s early sixties work.
These are some short stories and radio plays. Four novels into her career and Brodie about to be let loose on the world.
These are some short stories and radio plays. Four novels into her career and Brodie about to be let loose on the world.
A fizzing fix of flash fiction Kathryn Aldridge Morris array of 70s and 80s settings feel all too familiar - evocative in both a good and equally queasy way.
Thanks to Dahlia Publishing and republic of consciousness book club
Thanks to Dahlia Publishing and republic of consciousness book club
August 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
A fizzing fix of flash fiction Kathryn Aldridge Morris array of 70s and 80s settings feel all too familiar - evocative in both a good and equally queasy way.
Thanks to Dahlia Publishing and republic of consciousness book club
Thanks to Dahlia Publishing and republic of consciousness book club
All novels now read. Moving on to the short stories and this curiosity- file it under another novelist who tried and didn’t really succeed to write a play (Henry James/FSFitzgerald et al)
August 27, 2025 at 10:06 AM
All novels now read. Moving on to the short stories and this curiosity- file it under another novelist who tried and didn’t really succeed to write a play (Henry James/FSFitzgerald et al)