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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#Book no. 13 - longlist complete Think feminism, Greek mythology, Ancient Greek religious ritual, Dante, Transcendentalism, male paternalism, and … an unreliable, or maybe more, an un-self-aware narrator. And an author having some fun. 🙂 🐕 www.librarything.com/work/3400122...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#Booker no. 12 Surreal weirdness and illusion. Flora gets bitten. Twice. She’s spends time in a Mexican hospital with an old German lady who talks but doesn’t listen. And then in London with the lady’s son, and the book’s hero, a 🐁. Fun, weird, odd stuff. www.librarything.com/work/3586890...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#Booker no. 11 You’re inside the head of someone with Alzheimers, with his own euthanasia scheduled. The entire way. His death flight. You may not like him. And anyway what does he remember or understand? What’s outside the text? I thought of Dante

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A book for Shakespeare lovers. And language lovers. On the intimacy with the language required for translation. Full of famous and obscure lines from almost every play - including Romeo and Juliet’s combined sonnet. Hahn reads it himself on audio. 🎧 www.librarything.com/work/3588426...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#Booker no. 10 - my winner How to capture this 600-page thing? You have to experience it... and feel it. This a book of sustained discomfort. Violence - and the anticipation of it, and the shock of it. I felt my nerves try to hide in their protective sheaths as I worked through. It’s all necessary.

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

#Booker no. 9 Not sure any readers understand this, or understand why it sits with us, making is think … and even maybe not know what we’re actually thinking about.

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

September Reading - finished the #Booker longlist 59. **** The End of Everything 60. ***** The Disappearers 61. ****½ If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation 🎧 62. ****½ Switzy 63. **** The Shadow of the Object 64. ****½ Helen of Nowhere 65. ***** Mrs. Dalloway (reread)

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

August reading 50. **** Black Bag by Luke Kennard 51. ***** The Vivisectors by Missouri Williams 52. **** The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty 53. **** The Renovation by Kenan Orhan 54. **** May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry 55. ****½ The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout …

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#ThePalmHouse by #GwendolineRiley #bookreview #booksky #8 #BookerPrize longlist Laura Miller tells us of her friendship to an editor in a midlife crisis. And about herself. A book of reflection and none of it is directly spoken. I loved it. www.librarything.com/work/3582857...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#ABriefHistoryofSevenKillings by #MarlonJames #bookreview #booksky Wow. The 2015 #BookerPrize winner is one of the best There are a lot more than 7 killings. And nothing is brief. A book of voices, and a dictionary of delightful curse words. Wonderful on audio www.librarything.com/work/1490390...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#AllThemDogs by #DjamelWhite #bookreview #booksky #7 #BookerPrize longlist Tony Ward is self-destructive restless enforcer for West Dublin organized crime families. A book built on delayed intensity. Something is coming. Some flaws, but also feels. www.librarything.com/work/3498739...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#TheThingsWeNeverSay by #ElizabethStrout #bookreview #booksky #6 #BookerPrize longlist Man, this hit my outlook anxiety. I’m still feeling it. Strout’s layering. Artie Dam finds his safest assumptions undermined - by maga and by personal secrets. www.librarything.com/work/3497759...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#MayWeFeedtheKing by #RebeccaPerry #bookreview #booksky #5 #BookerPrize longlist The one book every Booker reader seems to like! It’s a mulling on the recreation of history I must highlight the short chapters imitating prose poems, and how human our MC is. www.librarything.com/work/3559118...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#TheRenovation by #KenanOrhan #bookreview #booksky #4 #BookerPrize longlist Dilara’s bathroom is a portal to a prison in Turkey. This layers loss of memory through dementia with loss of democracy in Turkey. Nostalgia and anxiety. A terrific novel. www.librarything.com/work/3470441...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#TheRobberBridegroom by #EudoraWelty #bookreview #booksky My 1st Welty Her 1st novel is a retelling of a Grimm fairytale - expanded and relocated to Mississippi River of the 1700s surrounded by wilderness full of “Indians” and smiling bandits all ready to cut your throat. Gory with wry humor.

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#TheVivisectors by #MissouriWilliams #bookreview #booksky #3 #BookerPrize longlist My absolute favorite on this list so far. Ominous, obscure, philosophical, with parables. I adored everything and only understood a little. Review is on the feels: www.librarything.com/work/3514007...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#BlackBag by #LukeKennard #bookreview #booksky #2 of #BookerPrize longlist A book about "the coming meaninglessness”, an oddly dark things to say about a funny novel, narrated by the nicest person ever. But under the humor this book is dark dark. www.librarything.com/work/3512656...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

#Intimacies by #KatieKitamura #bookreview #booksky (10 reviews coming) Kitamura is a wonderful prose writer, working her ideas into language and its textures. It’s a special book for those who love language. I adore what she does. Five stars from me. www.librarything.com/work/2592835...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Booker prize longlist readers will enjoy spending two minutes here.

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#TheHours #MichaelCunningham #VirginiaWoolf #BookReview #Booksky My pan of a beloved book, a novel exploring #MrsDalloway My problem is I would much rather spend my time reading Mrs. Dalloway. Of course this book is not actually bad at all. My pan: www.librarything.com/topic/385423...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#JohnofJohn #DouglasStuart #Booker2026 #BookReview #Booksky I was mixed on this, I found it too slow. But it’s tough to criticize. I tried to explain why here: The Literary Protective Armor of John of John www.librarything.com/topic/385423...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#gliff #glyph #AliSmith I read these back to back. Both are fun to read, but dystopian Gliff didn’t do much for me, while contemporary storytelling exploring Glyph gave me a lot to think about. #BookReview #Booksky www.librarything.com/topic/385423... www.librarything.com/topic/385423...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

July’s reading. Lots of books, lots of audio time. But oddly i put in less reading time. Highlight: #Intimacies by #KatieKitamura Also I Am Sovereign , Whistler, Glyph (but not Gliff ☺️)

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

#whistler #annpatchett #booksky We're in good hands with Ann. Especially on audio where she reads it herself. I can forget the awful world and everything else and just be here with this reader of this story. #bookreview : www.librarything.com/topic/385423...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

More Barker. The hyper-present, everything on our minds happing at once, even as not much is happening or spoken. Barker is fun, even while messing with the storytelling structure. #IAmSovereign #NicolaBarker #Booksky #Bookreview : www.librarything.com/topic/385423...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

If theres energy in the words, it’s poetry. This lives, all. Check out @kevinanthonybrown.bsky.social ‘s post. Whoa #booksky #poetry

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

#bookreview #evelina #fannyburney #janeaustensbookshelf #booksky Sent your innocent girl off into the world. What could go wrong? What will you read in that next letter home? A surprisingly fun, fast, entertaining novel from 1778. www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

#bookreview #aworldappears #michaelpollan #audiobooks A fascinating and failed effort to understand the nature of consciousness... a book for the exploration, not the destination. www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Who else is writing #bookreviews ? Everything in this aerial checks off for me.

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

What a mess. Sorry. A kitchen sink of contemporary Indian catastrophes. I didn’t mind listening but also never really got involved. It was a little too much for me. #booksky #arundhatiroy #theministryofutmosthappiness 2016 #bookreview here: www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

A terrific new novel looking at how our minds work, how we keep record, what association we make with the past and memory. … and how unmoored we are without our phones. #booksky #bookreview with a touch of analysis here: www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

The myth of Orlando, or Roland, which ties into The Song of Roland, and to Virginia Woolf's Orlando, and to Roland Mitchell in A.S. Byatt's Possession, and likely every fictional character with these names, begins with historical trivia. #booksky #review here: www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

#Currentread Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf (1922) a #quote I’m stuck on. This is our young widow, Betty Flanders, thinking in her lost husband, Seabrook #booksky #VirginiaWoolf

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I might be in love with Virginia Woolf. Again. I’m on page 21. #booksky

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

@kevinanthonybrown.bsky.social provides a look into the Harlem Renaissance and his personal direct connections through a collection of essays. #booksky You can read a little more about his book here: www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

“…for Thomas, to listen to a story was to become involved in its composition.” I’m enjoying Transcription by Ben Learner #booksky

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

“there is many a reputation up there which, little by little, time has consumed down here like a moth” If the moon could hold such things… This is from Ariosto, d. 1533

What is lost here collects up there. / I do not mean only dominion and wealth, subject to the vagaries of fickle Fortune. I mean also what is beyond Fortune's power to give or take: there is many a reputation up there which, little by little, time has consumed down here like a moth. There, too, are countless prayers and vows made to God by us sinners. / The tears and sighs of lovers, the useless time lost in gaming, the chronic idleness of ignorant men, the empty plans which know no rest, the vain desires are in such numbers that they clutter almost the whole place. In short, no matter what you ever lost here you would find if you went up there.

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

That controversially published Gabo novella It has hung around. It's a simple story, but there is something about it that has stayed with me since I finished Tuesday. And I'm happy to keep in mind. www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

My 1st by Beryl Bainbridge (1932-2010, shortlisted for the Booker Prize 5 times) But… I struggled with most it. It looks at what can’t be captured in a photograph by exploring the 1st war photographed - the bloody Crimean War. www.librarything.com/topic/384249...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

What’s your motto today? (The picture is from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter)

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

A taste of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. A poor inebriated guy talking to our deaf/mute in a cafe: “… because I know you understand the things I want to mean.”

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Any Nicola Barker fans here? This was my 1st. An audience member interrupts a jazz performance setting up a social media storm. It's a fast, light, humorous novel with some serious philosophy, that always stays very human. www.librarything.com/work/3455631...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

A thoroughly enjoyable, fascinating and inspiring memoir by someone who has always been a free spirit and defied any kind of constrictions, whether parents, money, men or even fame. Her mom was quite a character too. 🎧 www.librarything.com/work/3373098...

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graywacke.bsky.social @graywacke.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Nicola Barker on social media (from her 2025 novel TonyInterruptor)

“…because they lack the basic, human, animal resilience - the pluck and imagination - to stay stable - whole - within their own ridiculously fragile sense of self, which means they feel duty-bound to guard and police everything - everything: language, art, freedom. Their identity - their preciousness, their "other"ness, their demented particularity - becomes their sense of victimhood, their victimhood spawns self-righteousness, their self-righteousness spawns their own mealy-mouthed form of bullying. “

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