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Hayley Anderton

@desperatereader.bsky.social
636 followers 628 following 684 posts

Reads books, sell books, buys books, knits, grumbles a bit, cooks a bit.

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Reposted by Hayley Anderton
Naomi Alderman @naomialderman.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Week three of the couch to 5K for reading is here! naomialderman.substack.com/p/reading-is...
naomialderman.substack.com
'reading is a radical act'
"Couch to 5k" for reading week 3. includes: an interview with Emma Gannon! a celebration of reading plays! and: how to memorise a poem! (if you want to)
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Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
If you can no longer lose yourself in a book, absolutely recommend you do this.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
That parents, and even more, grandparents learn more about comic books and drop some of the prejudice around them.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
There is, and this is pure optimism, always the possibility that a focus on a wordy book will give children the chance to find that wordy books are also for them and not as daunting as they can seem. What actually needs to happen is that schools have proper libraries with librarians
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
For sure. As a bookseller I'm not sure what this year is achieving. I have real issues around the reality of delivering wbd books though. They're not necessarily getting to the kids who need them the most. This is also imperfect but at least all those children get something
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The Delicious Legacy Podcast @deliciouslegacy.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
📣 The food of Odyssey: The rituals, the feasting, the wine and bread and libations. The sacrifices of sheep and goats. Milk and honey and feeding the ghosts of the Dead. All this and more on the latest archaeogastronomical adventure! Listen! shows.acast.com/the-deliciou...
shows.acast.com
Odyssey: Food, Feasting and the meaning of 'Xenia' | The Delicious Legacy
Food in Bronze Age Greece
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
2nd thought is does it really matter if children do or don't read the book? Having the option to do so does matter though, & 3rd is that a single charitable act is just that, a nice thing for sure, but no kind of long term answer.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
My first thought about this is that it's going to be much cheaper to deliver a single book, which has to be a consideration. With WBD titles there's the ones which go in the first few days and then the ones that are left over. Somethingis better than nothing
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Marianne Doherty @mariannedoherty.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Over David Attenborough’s lifetime the natural world has become ever more eroded. On his 100th birthday let’s use #KidsBooksFriday to celebrate children’s books that carry on his environmental legacy, help us delight in nature and encourage us to protect its future. #KidLitUK #UKKidLit #KidLit
Book cover for Drawn To Change The World: 16 Climate Activists, 16 Artists by Emma ReynoldsBook cover for Usborne’s 100 Things To Know about Saving the PlanetBook cover for Tidy by Emily GravettBook cover for Global by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano
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Siobhan Hoffmann Sønderborg @siobhanhoffmann.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
I'm just going to say this now... If you voted Reform, unfollow me. If you think a party that approves of the idea of concentration camps is the one for you, you are the problem.
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Waterstones Leicester Highcross @waterstoneslhx.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Anyone want a puffin video to celebrate puffin day? You're getting one regardless
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Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
theguardian.com
Possum found nestled in with plush toys at airport gift shop in Tasmania
A brushtail possum was found peering out among the toy kangaroos and dingoes in a retail store in Hobart’s airport, delighting staff and customers
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 21/02/2026
A retired British primary school administrator with a British passport and a valid visa was shackled, chained and detained for six weeks by ICE www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks
Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
We're also all a bit older since covid - lock down time is fuzzy, but i came out of it peri menopausal and nothing has worked the way it used to since. Hope you feel much better very soon
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Retail is not the best payed career, & people spend a lot in these last few days. If you haven't been there its hard to explain how seeing those numbers feels. But yeah - thanks, our pay increase kicked in this month and now the emails about increased energy costs are water off a ducks back
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Say what you want about a labour govt but thanks to 2 good increases in minimum wage and my employer being generous about keeping the margins between job roles this is the first year where there will be no day where turnover is higher than my annual salary - and that's really motivating
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Please give me the patience to get through the next 3 days of pre Christmas retail. And if you're thinking of shoving your phone in someone's face to ask if they sell something, don't. We have not memorised a stock file that extends to tens of 1000s of lines or have any idea of what sold today
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chloehadj.bsky.social @chloehadj.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
The latest in the Salt Path scandal. TV doc made by the brilliant team @candourtv will be on Now and Sky tomorrow. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk
‘Don’t look for the money. I’ve taken it all’: Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s ‘confession’ that she stole from her family | The Observer
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Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE
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Rachel McCormack @rmccormack.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
This is really fascinating especially the tiny bit about the establishment’s fascination with the exotic and that exotic changing fashion. So the orientalism of the Brighton Pavillion becomes Balmoral Castle. Plus ça change open.spotify.com/episode/6Y6Q...
open.spotify.com
Romantic History: Balmoral
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Waterstones @waterstones.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Loved by booksellers and readers from day one, THE ARTIST by Lucy Steeds is our #BookOfTheYear 2025 & THE CAFE AT THE EDGE OF THE WOODS by Mikey Please is our Children's #BookOfTheYear! 🎉 & Gift of the Year is Tim Siadatan's PADELLA! 🎁 Find them here: www.waterstones.com/category/cul...
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Robert Lloyd Parry @nunkie.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
The Ghost Story for Christmas Eve this year is M R James's "An Episode of Cathedral History". It'll be livestreamed at 7pm (UK) but available to watch anywhere, anytime after that. Simply register and pay-what-you-can here christmascathedralghosts.eventbrite.co.uk art by Paul Lowe
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BLPublishing @blpublishing.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Murder in a West End boutique? 🛍️👠 Inspector Charlesworth’s on the case. This month’s Crime Classic, Death in High Heels, dives into fashion, ambition, and fatal secrets. Available today: shop.bl.uk/products/death-in-high-heels Ed: @martinedwardsbooks.bsky.social
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Simon Thomas @stuckinabook.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
The next club is announced! Next April, we are reading from 1961 #1961Club
1961 club badge (13-18 April 2026)
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Dylan Macri, Cadhla182, Commissions Open @dylanmacri.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
George I need you to do to these companies what you could never do to your books and finish them.
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WATERSHED Investigations @watershed-i.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
That this exquisite chalk stream should be polluted with e-coli, pesticides, cleaning products, industrial chemicals, medicines + toiletries is a tragedy beyond words that could be prevented by improving sewage systems so wastewater is treated 3 times - enough to remove most chemicals + pathogens
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Drew Gummerson @drewgum.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Thanks to @adamjfarrer.bsky.social for this brilliant review of Saltburn @renardpress.com - ‘an English Vonnegut’ 😊
This collection of interwoven stories is like a fever dream and Gummerson is an English Vonnegut. I assure you that this statement will make complete sense to you by the time you've reached, I'd say, page 6. What a bloody delight.
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Kelly “Free Link” McGonigal @kellysmcgonigal.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
No I don’t, you chucklefucks, I want Norma Jean to be able to rest in peace without a bunch of technoghouls turning her corpse into a marionette.
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curious ordinary @curiousordinary.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
This terrifying #yokai is actually a blood-drinking vampire tree. #LegendaryWednesday
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Guy Gavriel Kay @guygavrielkay.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Endorsed happily. See the film, it is a delight. It *brings* delight.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
I needed a break to realise I mostly do it to help my own memory. I thought about substack but the more I read about it the less I like the sound of it.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Will miss your posts. Have also been posting much less and considering if I should carry on, I think I will for now as I've kind of missed it over the last month
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Vanda Wilcox @vandawilcox.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
once again, please hire historians [alt text: an image of Ben & Jerry's "Black and Tan" ice-cream]
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
Came back from Scotland today after 2 weeks away. Every bridge we passed had union or George cross flags on it as soon as we crossed the border. It wasn't like that going up. Depressing
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Johnny Mains @johnnymains.co.uk · 28/08/2025
Will talk more on this in the coming weeks. but I'll be back at the TALES OF THE WEIRD festival this November. Thrilled to have been asked back, and you'll be able to buy my 'lost' Christmas Ghost Stories anthology ILLUSIONS OF PRESENCE and get them signed by me there.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Absolutely loving the Shetland weather, and it smells incredible here - floral and salty
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Johnny Mains @johnnymains.co.uk · 19/08/2025
I mean, this bear has SEEN THINGS
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Johnny Mains @johnnymains.co.uk · 19/08/2025
ILLUSIONS OF PRESENCE has a cover!! Really happy with how this one has turned out, it's going to be *THE* book to get this Christmas!! Links to order below! Please share this one far and wide! #christmasghoststories #santasshinyshiny
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Been buying yarn, its so pretty
A collection of balls of yarn
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alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
just saw someone sincerely arguing that they need AI bc they don't have "natural" artistic talent and idk how to make you understand that nobody comes by this shit naturally. it's just...work. it's being bad at it for a really, really, really long time. it's intention, pursued over time! wtf!!!
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
Early morning Shetland behind those clouds
Landscape emerging from cloud cover and the sea
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
Leaving Aberdeen, heading for Shetland. Fine night for it
A picture of Aberdeen harbour
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
If you ever wondered what difference booksellers make compared to algorithms this is it.
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Lion & Unicorn @lionunicorn.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
"One thing that does sell books? Being a Waterstones Book of the Month... find whoever is in charge of this choice & sleep with them" This reflection on the state of publishing & publicity by the great @helenlewis.bsky.social should be required reading for writers. open.substack.com/pub/helenlew...
open.substack.com
The Bluestocking 379: The economics of writing a book
Infinite scroll means infinite ad inventory
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flyingrodent @flyingrodent.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
The thing you should take away from that headline about how a huge proportion of these people already have convictions for violence is that the cops already know who most of them are, because they regularly arrest them in the town centre and they’re regularly called out to their houses.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
It's a difficult time to not be that keen on pistachios
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
It really is. I loved that book, partly because in places she's quite provocative. Interesting to find that a lot of people I recommended it to struggled with that and how there isn't an easy redemptive arc in it.
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Hayley Anderton @desperatereader.bsky.social · 02/08/2025
This is one thing I really liked about Sally Husband's Sea Bean - nature isn't a cure, it isn't redemptive, it's not always even accessible, but it's a point of focus
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