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I have decided that 2026 will be my year of reading (and rereading) Virginia Woolf's novels. I just downloaded Night and Day and The Voyage Out. They’re free on Amazon.jp. Probably on Amazon.com, too.

December 9, 2025 at 1:16 AM

Reposted

Levi Stahl

@levistahl.bsky.social

Reupping for the West Coast crowd: The first-ever Extremely Specific This, Not That Gift Guide is live!

Books (and alternates) for your friend who:
•Has run out of Nero Wolfe stories
•Enjoys reading about people endangering themselves through travel
•Spends too much time on NextDoor
And many more!

Levi Stahl @levistahl.bsky.social · 16d

Issue 8 is out: The Extremely Specific This, Not That Gift Guide!

Looking for a book for

•Your weirdest friend?
•Your friend whose every 3rd text is gossip?
•Your friend you call when the heist goes sour?
•Your friend who won’t stop talking about Moby-Dick?

I’ve got you for those & many more!

Issue 8: The Extremely Specific This, Not That Gift Guide

Having spent time the past few weeks thinking about your friends and family, every person on your holiday gift list, I present the following, ready to clip and take with you to the shops this weekend....

this-not-that.ghost.io

December 5, 2025 at 5:08 PM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

My review of Black Hearts in Battersea is up at Conspicuous Consumption.

afterblockhead.blogspot.com/2025/12/blac...

Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken

I'm on record as saying that I don't like children's literature. This is not because there is anything wrong with children's literature, ...

afterblockhead.blogspot.com

December 5, 2025 at 10:17 AM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

In other news, I saw two shooting stars this morning.

December 3, 2025 at 10:24 PM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

It was some consolation,
Like Mahler, or riding a bicycle.

—Robert Kelly

December 3, 2025 at 12:55 AM

Reposted

Some Melodious Plot

@somemelodiousplot.bsky.social

Apparently Spielberg asked Tom Stoppard to write the screenplay for Jaws, but Tom said he couldn’t as he was writing a play for the BBC.

"I'm offering you a fortune to collaborate with me on a Hollywood blockbuster, and you turn me down to write a play for BBC TV?"

"No," Tom said, "BBC Radio."

December 1, 2025 at 11:58 AM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

I've never seen a Tom Stoppard play, and doubt I will be able to remedy that soon. My question is, do his plays work on the page? If they do, which one should I start with?

December 1, 2025 at 10:01 AM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

My review of A Passage to India is up at Conspicuous Consumption.

afterblockhead.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-pa...

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

I have concluded my year of reading E.M. Forster with the work that many consider his magnum opus, A Passage to India . It was good in the...

afterblockhead.blogspot.com

November 29, 2025 at 8:33 AM

Reposted

Andy Miller

@iammilliam.bsky.social

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it
'Til I satisfy my soul.

youtu.be/atZ7BlqSPUg?...

Black Friday

YouTube video by Steely Dan - Topic

youtu.be

November 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM

Reposted

Prof Ben Pohl

@benpohl.bsky.social

Only a genuine idiot or a nasty piece of work could think that making one’s country less welcoming and hospitable so fewer people want to come and live there constitutes an achievement worth bragging about.

November 28, 2025 at 6:43 AM

Reposted

kimdorman.bsky.social

@kimdorman.bsky.social

6.30 a.m., a row of egrets flying east toward sunrise

November 25, 2025 at 1:28 AM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

The harder they come . . . .

November 24, 2025 at 9:57 PM

dcozy.bsky.social

@dcozy.bsky.social

My review of Ashenden: Or the British Agent by William Somerset Maugham is up at Conspicuous Consumption.

afterblockhead.blogspot.com/2025/11/ashe...