We've probably passed Each Peach Pear Plum's peak popularity - it was every night at the start of the year - but I read it to my daughter tonight after hearing that Allan had died. And we still have The Jolly Postman books to come... Bless you, Janet and Allan. What very special souls you were.
July 31, 2025 at 6:45 PM
We've probably passed Each Peach Pear Plum's peak popularity - it was every night at the start of the year - but I read it to my daughter tonight after hearing that Allan had died. And we still have The Jolly Postman books to come... Bless you, Janet and Allan. What very special souls you were.
What. A. Ride.
As Robyn Cowen said just before the penalties, being an England fan should carry a health warning.
The mighty, miraculous #Lionesses. Heroic again. Inspiring and uplifting girls of all ages. ❤️❤️❤️
As Robyn Cowen said just before the penalties, being an England fan should carry a health warning.
The mighty, miraculous #Lionesses. Heroic again. Inspiring and uplifting girls of all ages. ❤️❤️❤️
July 27, 2025 at 8:31 PM
What. A. Ride.
As Robyn Cowen said just before the penalties, being an England fan should carry a health warning.
The mighty, miraculous #Lionesses. Heroic again. Inspiring and uplifting girls of all ages. ❤️❤️❤️
As Robyn Cowen said just before the penalties, being an England fan should carry a health warning.
The mighty, miraculous #Lionesses. Heroic again. Inspiring and uplifting girls of all ages. ❤️❤️❤️
The absolute shadiest grift.
July 7, 2025 at 10:03 AM
The absolute shadiest grift.
'Critic at large' Jason Farago: 'Its lighting is immoderate, its tone forbidding, but compared to the last one its subject’s mood has actually brightened.'
How spectacularly embarrassing. What a desparate, feckless small man Jason must be.
Oh, and just below this monstrous puff-piece...
How spectacularly embarrassing. What a desparate, feckless small man Jason must be.
Oh, and just below this monstrous puff-piece...
June 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
'Critic at large' Jason Farago: 'Its lighting is immoderate, its tone forbidding, but compared to the last one its subject’s mood has actually brightened.'
How spectacularly embarrassing. What a desparate, feckless small man Jason must be.
Oh, and just below this monstrous puff-piece...
How spectacularly embarrassing. What a desparate, feckless small man Jason must be.
Oh, and just below this monstrous puff-piece...
Returning to the earlier work to better understand the new. Delighted to have been commissioned to write a dual review on forthcoming books by @joannapocock.bsky.social and @jennashworth.bsky.social, two writers I hold in the highest regard. @sceptrebooks.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
April 29, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Returning to the earlier work to better understand the new. Delighted to have been commissioned to write a dual review on forthcoming books by @joannapocock.bsky.social and @jennashworth.bsky.social, two writers I hold in the highest regard. @sceptrebooks.bsky.social @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social
'I'll learn to work the saxophone
I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me...'
I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me...'
April 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
'I'll learn to work the saxophone
I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me...'
I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me...'
Yes I am! Gosh, eh?
March 26, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Yes I am! Gosh, eh?
The recently published new one by Susan Barker, Old Soul, absolutely fits that bill. Exquisitely constructed - it's a gripping narrative puzzle box, and deeply moving.
March 26, 2025 at 9:54 AM
The recently published new one by Susan Barker, Old Soul, absolutely fits that bill. Exquisitely constructed - it's a gripping narrative puzzle box, and deeply moving.
Aaaaaaaaaand breathe. 💚
March 14, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Aaaaaaaaaand breathe. 💚
George Mackay really does come up short against Lea Seydoux, who is extraordinary here, and some of Bonello's Lynch steals are beyond words, but this is still a mind-bending delight - an emotionally astute, multi-stranded (sort of) sci-fi epic assembled with flair and guile.
March 2, 2025 at 2:23 PM
George Mackay really does come up short against Lea Seydoux, who is extraordinary here, and some of Bonello's Lynch steals are beyond words, but this is still a mind-bending delight - an emotionally astute, multi-stranded (sort of) sci-fi epic assembled with flair and guile.
Forget the usual 'avoid the trailer' warnings - here's a movie where the marketing dopes have given away the entire narrative bedrock of the thing on the actual poster FFS. Absolutely moronic. Zero care for - or trust in - their audience.
Maddening, because, all told, Companion is not bad at all.
Maddening, because, all told, Companion is not bad at all.
February 23, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Forget the usual 'avoid the trailer' warnings - here's a movie where the marketing dopes have given away the entire narrative bedrock of the thing on the actual poster FFS. Absolutely moronic. Zero care for - or trust in - their audience.
Maddening, because, all told, Companion is not bad at all.
Maddening, because, all told, Companion is not bad at all.
The procession of hyper-stylised, thematically clueless US horror rumbles on. A colossal lead turn from Willa Fitzgerald housed within a film so wrong-headed, cruel, deeply misogynistic. Absolutely not equipped (intelligence, empathy) to go anywhere near its sensitive subject matter. Horrible.
February 14, 2025 at 9:06 AM
The procession of hyper-stylised, thematically clueless US horror rumbles on. A colossal lead turn from Willa Fitzgerald housed within a film so wrong-headed, cruel, deeply misogynistic. Absolutely not equipped (intelligence, empathy) to go anywhere near its sensitive subject matter. Horrible.
I reviewed Old Soul by Susan Barker for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social and used this as an opportunity to waffle on about my teenage love for Stephen King by way of introduction.
February 4, 2025 at 2:03 PM
I reviewed Old Soul by Susan Barker for @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social and used this as an opportunity to waffle on about my teenage love for Stephen King by way of introduction.
January books post updated with this massive blue and white thing I completely forgot to include.
League table order, l-r.
League table order, l-r.
February 3, 2025 at 12:47 PM
January books post updated with this massive blue and white thing I completely forgot to include.
League table order, l-r.
League table order, l-r.
Facebook there, reminding me that it's four years since I committed to some ridiculous nonsense where you were supposed to choose a month's worth of albums you'd never listed to and do a different one every day. I think I've heard five, if that.
February 1, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Facebook there, reminding me that it's four years since I committed to some ridiculous nonsense where you were supposed to choose a month's worth of albums you'd never listed to and do a different one every day. I think I've heard five, if that.
Somehow, I read nine books in January, which is one more than I read all last year. Oof! Arranged in 'league table' order and missing Lauren Elkin's Scaffolding which has gone to charity.
January 28, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Somehow, I read nine books in January, which is one more than I read all last year. Oof! Arranged in 'league table' order and missing Lauren Elkin's Scaffolding which has gone to charity.
Publishing/literary fact: all novels by female writers under the age of 40 are now called either 'Let Me Know If You Have Any Questions' or 'The Window Keepers', and those by their male equivalents are all called 'Trafalgar Psycho X'. Or 'Dogs! Dogs! Dogs!'
January 28, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Publishing/literary fact: all novels by female writers under the age of 40 are now called either 'Let Me Know If You Have Any Questions' or 'The Window Keepers', and those by their male equivalents are all called 'Trafalgar Psycho X'. Or 'Dogs! Dogs! Dogs!'
An ebay search you've had for ages finally flags an album that typically goes for £50+ for a mere tenner... and they send it *deep breath* squeezed into a pizza box. (Box damage not shown in consideration of the squeamish.)
January 27, 2025 at 1:42 PM
An ebay search you've had for ages finally flags an album that typically goes for £50+ for a mere tenner... and they send it *deep breath* squeezed into a pizza box. (Box damage not shown in consideration of the squeamish.)
A moronic carbon copy of the original, obviously. Amidst the endless twaddle, there's a two scene sequence about halfway through - Lucilla revealing The Big Thing to Macrinus, Macrinus grassing her to Captain Darling - that is so shoddily edited I'm still wondering if it was a mistake.
January 26, 2025 at 10:52 PM
A moronic carbon copy of the original, obviously. Amidst the endless twaddle, there's a two scene sequence about halfway through - Lucilla revealing The Big Thing to Macrinus, Macrinus grassing her to Captain Darling - that is so shoddily edited I'm still wondering if it was a mistake.
That time my print review of the new Cate le Bon was plagiarised so shamelessly online that the very meaning of the word was redefined. The Other Outlet's editor after they took it down: 'Our writer claims to have glanced across your piece and thinks some of it must have stuck with them' 🤣🤣🤣
January 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
That time my print review of the new Cate le Bon was plagiarised so shamelessly online that the very meaning of the word was redefined. The Other Outlet's editor after they took it down: 'Our writer claims to have glanced across your piece and thinks some of it must have stuck with them' 🤣🤣🤣
No. Freaking. Way. 🖤
January 23, 2025 at 7:01 PM
No. Freaking. Way. 🖤
Another dual narrative, dual timeline novel! That's three or four this month alone. Do seek this one out when it's published by @DauntBooksPub in March. It's a first-person account of a French girl's upbringing and family life in France alongside the pre-college summer she spends working in...
1/2
1/2
January 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Another dual narrative, dual timeline novel! That's three or four this month alone. Do seek this one out when it's published by @DauntBooksPub in March. It's a first-person account of a French girl's upbringing and family life in France alongside the pre-college summer she spends working in...
1/2
1/2
I think this debut novel is extraordinary. It's so lightly assembled, told with clear-sighted eloquence. How Christine Lai manages its dual narrative and the ingenioualy converging timeline while also attending so well to her chosen themes (the representation of sexual abuse in art...
1/3
1/3
January 18, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I think this debut novel is extraordinary. It's so lightly assembled, told with clear-sighted eloquence. How Christine Lai manages its dual narrative and the ingenioualy converging timeline while also attending so well to her chosen themes (the representation of sexual abuse in art...
1/3
1/3