Books Contents Archive

RIP the great Ronald Blythe—author of Akenfield & one of the most gently luminous 20th-c writers of people & place. Ronnie died last night aged 100. A beautiful obituary by @patrick_barkham. I visited Ronnie at Bottengoms; he gave me two prints I treasure. https://t.co/YBl7Hmk71Q

Ronald Blythe obituary https://t.co/I6OexXWxDC

Audley "Queen Mother" Moore’s 1963 pamphlet “Why Reparations?” is available online and in its original format in #NYPLDigitalCollections. https://t.co/y7qlTzaWZM

.@SuellaBraverman said in October that people were ‘gaming the system’ by claiming to be victims of trafficking. Migrant and labour organisations responded by pointing out that more than 90 per cent of trafficking claims were found to be genuine. https://t.co/ZpbrEXCDnA

A couple purchases an apartment at auction, still filled with the belongings of the recently-deceased owner. Inevitably, spooky things ensue. https://t.co/2LeD4WvkrM

‘Attacks against her were nearly always gendered. One quip (attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth) was that Thompson was the “only woman in history who has had her menopause in public and made it pay”.’ @DebFriedell on WWII reporter Dorothy Thompson: https://t.co/jBN6lIZVP1

In brief: The Cloisters; My Trade Is Mystery; Sweat: A History of Exercise – review https://t.co/6E1B1gNjLi

We’ve all been there. https://t.co/L0bJxgewic

‘Reading is pleasurable torture, and the public nature of the reaction adds an extra layer of masochism. The strategy is to make fun of, and therefore control, your own “unwellness”.’ Malin Hay on BookTok: https://t.co/cjJISFKpKz

“A story can be living. It can be an activating force that alters vibration, transcends time, & shifts not only how we perceive, but our shared reality itself.” Yes. This. Jamie Figueroa, beautifully, on the power of story-telling to shape better futures. https://t.co/BQz2KnnkfE

Last night a friend asked about why I'm teaching this semester (and, I hope, in future semesters). "Do you really have to hustle that much?" So, a 🧵 on writing, publishing, and money.

"Back home, I’m burdened with such annoyances as doing taxes, loading the dishwasher, or eating leftovers. But in this city where I spent three carefree days, I didn’t have to do any of those things even once." (via @mcsweeneys) https://t.co/Z6weoj2Ux4

💥 Take @BookRiot's 2023 #ReadHarder challenge! https://t.co/pPRj4fTIhv

Why, after so many years, is she with me now? We who were not close in life walk among the caribou lichen whose coral-like low forms, white against the mosses and wild blueberry in its red phase, seem to give off light. ‘Caribou’, a poem by Karen Solie: https://t.co/Sr37nZq48a

10. Last thought: Someone tweeted that it's interesting when people do have privilege that so many of us turn to art. In other words, many of us WANT to create, yearn to create. Let's keep finding ways to give others privilege, too.