Farage needs any number of things. A shred of decency, for example.

Hard to admit (but I was far too young, honestly...)

@fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social Just finished #Septology by Jon Fosse, but finished is totally the wrong word for a book that will stay with me for quite some time to come. An extraordinary achievement, hypnotic and deeply moving.

Do you have/know children between 4 and 15? Do they enjoy books and writing stories? Then you could steer them in them direction of the annual DAUNT BOOKS CHILDREN'S SHORT STORY COMPETITION. Please share this! Entries close 31st January. Good luck!

This is an offer I'm tempted not to refuse.

I don't know if it's my favourite, but I recently reread The Railway Children, and I loved every word of it.

Two dangling clauses.

Something else we have in common, apart from our splendid beards.

@douglasstuart.bsky.social I wanted to thank you for Young Mungo, which I finished reading yesterday. A heart-wrenching read and one I'll be carrying with me for quite some time to come.

I'm loving these!

In Italian too. Formicolio...

Does this scene look autumnal enough to justify the purchase from this convenient stall of an artisan baked bread roll containing some suckling pig, with crackling still attached?

Remember: silence = assent.

Authors receive a payment every time you borrow a book, audiobook or ebook from libraries in 35 countries. Those countries include the UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany to name but a few. Borrowing a book helps the author’s pocket as well as yours.

If you get the legs maybe they deliver themselves.

Sorry about that.

Hard not to feel affection for a place that devotes three whole days each year to the festive consumption of frogs.

Unless you're a frog, of course.

One of the many reasons I love this book is that the Rome it describes was still recognisable in the Rome I found when I moved here in the early 80s. As far as I can tell, I actually lived just round the corner from Annabel's flat!

Festive reflections in a steampunk nativity scene (although you can't really see the old TV set it's rather neatly occupying. Have faith, it's there).

Matthew Lloyd Davies read the audiobook version of a novel of mine and he did a wonderful job.

According to my husband this bears more than a passing resemblance to the author of this post. I have no idea why and I'm far too hungry to think about it at the moment.

There are cherubs...

...and there are cherubs.

I wish I were there!

I finished reading John Boyne's "The Heart's Infinite Furies" this afternoon and now I'm homesick for the world it made for me, so similar to and so different from my own, with all the love and fear and hope that make us what we are.

Bit of a breeze in Rome this afternoon... I'm sure there's an appropriate quote but I'm damned if I can remember it.

It's been on my tbr shelf for years. I thought I'd go for something lighter first. I don't know. The Magic Mountain?

By pure coincidence I'm reading it at the moment and I couldn't agree more. Laugh? Out loud. Cry? Pass the tissues. Race? Whoosh... A wonderful book.

This happened to me once, but with fish soup. I'd rather not talk about it.

Had a handful of homophobic/transphobic messages here today because I’ve created a Starter Pack supporting LGBTQIA+ writers.

Please follow and share this pack to help keep Bluesky the positive place it promises to be.

go.bsky.app/UD2Hf7W

I love the crazy juxtapositions created by alphabetic ordering. Barbara Pym, meet James Purdy. Beatrix? I'd like to introduce you to Marcel.

Thank you, Katy!

Thank you!