iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

New on the blog today, my thoughts on A FEW GREEN LEAVES by Barbara Pym. A charming, beautifully observed novel, laced with Pym's trademark gentle humour & quiet insights into the social dynamics of village life. A delightful read for #SpinsterSeptember! 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/09/13/a...

jacquiwine.wordpress.com

A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym

I love Barbara Pym, an underappreciated writer whose gentle comedies of manners and unrequited love among the genteel middle classes are charming and quietly poignant. She creates an idiosyncratic …

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Simon's Cat @simonscatofficial.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Avoiding the vet box at all costs!

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

So many good books. Last week's reads: Daniel Mason's COUNTRY PEOPLE and Ann Patchett's WHISTLER. 💙📚 Now it's Mark Billingham's THE SHADOW STEP--I love a police procedural with a heart.

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Bebe Neuwirth (she/her) @bebeneuwirth.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Dammit. Now where the hell did I park my. . . Ah. Found it.

A black house broom is lying on a city street next to the curb, as though it had been parked there like a car.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I finished John Boyne's The Elements a few days ago and I can't stop thinking about it. The subject matter, child sex abuse and its insidious legacy, could hardly be more grim. The four separate but interlocking stories are a perfect vehicle for exploring the tentacles of abuse

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Kathleen Turner in Body Heat. You're not too smart are you. I like that in a man.

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🥀🪦 @graveyardgirly.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Another shot of the door at St Edward’s, Stow-on-the-wold.

The church door at St Edward’s, Stow-on-The-Wold.

Supposedly inspired Tolkien’s writing of the “Door of Durin” from the Lord of the rings (although this is not authenticated, but he was known to visit stow in particular)

The church resides on the site of a Saxon church and these two ancient yew have grown against the doors for centuries, their roots embedding themselves naturally framing the arched stone door frame. Above, Are stained glass windows with ornate tracery, in reds and blue. A wrought iron lantern hangs above the door which lights up the Cotswold stone in the evenings .

This door is highly popular in stow and heavily photographed by Tolkien fans in the summertime, so I visited on a early morning during a rain shower, and got a good few moments to appreciate the church and the churchyard on my own. Highly recommended a visit to stow if you are ever in the Cotswolds!

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Garrett Carr @garrettcarr.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Great example of textual ambiguity on a door in the Glasshouse Hotel, Sligo.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew. --Jack Gilbert

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Matt B @mattbernico.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Kelly Latimore's painting of The presentation of christ features Joseph with an @ufw.bsky.social shirt on. Absolutely losing my mind about this.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Reading Speak to Me of Home by @jeaninecummins.bsky.social. As previously mentioned, I love books with maps (San Juan!!). There is also a bonus family tree. And a great story. Heaven. #💙📚

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Loving the new Mick Herron--CLOWN TOWN. 💙📚

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GONZO the Ca'at @gonzo.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Latenite archival BabbyGonz time!

Orange and white kitten sleeping on his back on a fluffy pink bed, arms to his sides like little cherub wings

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Just finished @patrickryannyc.bsky.social 's BUCKEYE and I could feel my heart expanding as I read it. A bighearted novel.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Reading Stephen Greenblatt's Dark Renaissance, a biography of Christopher Marlow. You need two bookmarks because the endnotes are great. I had no idea reading Virgil and Ovid in 12th grade Latin was so subversive. I am now rethinking my entire life. 💙📚

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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

New on the blog today, I've written about some of my favourite spinsters in literature for @pear-jelly.bsky.social's #SpinsterSeptember, which starts tomorrow. Featuring books by Anita Brookner, Muriel Spark, Rumer Godden and many more! #BookSky 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/08/31/s...

jacquiwine.wordpress.com

Spinsters in literature – some recommendations for #SpinsterSeptember

If you follow Nora (Pear Jelly) on Bluesky or Instagram, you’ll know that she’s been gearing up to host #SpinsterSeptember, a brilliant reading event showcasing books featuring spinsters, from the …

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Reading @alexhaybooks.bsky.social 's The Queen of Fives. It's so much fun-- a twisty Victorian caper with a great female lead. You never know who's going to wink at the reader next.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

When I picked up @garrettcarr.bsky.social 's The Boy from the Sea, I knew it was set in 70's-80's Northern Ireland, I had read a review, but it wasn't what I expected. So much hard but gentle truth about relationships, families, and time, how time changes things and doesn't change things. Wow.

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

'Wild Poppies' by Colleen Parker, contemporary artist and illustrator #womensart

Three open purple-pink poppy blossoms on long stems with four seedheads on stems behind on a cream background

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Just read Beena Kamalani's The English Problem. I'm so completely in this world. I need to think about "desire."

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

What is Louise Hegarty doing in Fair Play? Golden Age mysteries as a coping mechanism for grief? Strangely, it works. And that final chapter--my heart!

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Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

The world needs more of this and less of most other things

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Kate Strasdin @katestrasdin.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

This is a gorgeous description for a glowing c 1817 carriage gown, made of tartan bombazine. Bombazine is a twilled fabric that typically has a silk warp & worsted weft to create a particular type of texture. The sleeve details are especially lovely. Sold via #kerrytaylorauctions #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

A side by side image of the back of a high waisted tartan gown with green silk trim next to a close up of the green silk sleeve trim

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Ok I just finished Paraic O'Donnell's The Naming of the Birds. Am I the only one that thinks that the voice of the boy Finch is very like that of Henry Cutter? I kept waiting for a big reveal. 📚💙

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Quinn Reed 📚🏈🏒🎶➕️ @quinnreed.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Most definitely an art that I frequently work to perfect. 💙📚🌶

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Just finished Paraic O"Donnell's The House on Vesper Sands. Such a variety of unique voices, and a great story! 💙📚

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

I've read Heart of Darkness maybe a dozen times. Each time I think "Now I get it." Just finished Colum McCann's Twist and it might be a similar situation. 💙📚

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Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertú engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Ynspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes...

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JacquiWine @jacquiwine.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

A good friend, who knows me very well, has just sent me a link to this article about an adaptation of EXCELLENT WOMEN. Great to see this level of interest in Barbara Pym, but I shall be very cross if they muck it up! #BookSky #BarbaraPym 💙📚 www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-r...

thetimes.com

The latest news and gossip from the world of TV

This week: new adaptations of Barbara Pym’s novels are on the way, Amazon handed a hit to its biggest rival, Steve Coogan comes to Netflix, and more TV news

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For the Love of Missy @missybbbobtail.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

“You’re going to end up all alone with just a bunch of cats” isn’t quite the insult you think it is! 😹

Missy, the tabby bobtail making her best kitty loaf, in a small sunbeam on the carpet.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Niall Williams' Time of the Child finally arrived. I'm heading back to Faha. 💙📚

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The Stick: Tea and Books @poetsofsweetpea.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

In the Woods by Tana French As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. And then the bears moved in..

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

I've begun Pat Barker's The Voyage Home, waiting for Agamemnon to get his. I wish here weren't so much collateral damage. 💙📚

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Nellie Cubed @nelnelnellie.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

From the AMAZING children’s author and illustrator @mowillems.bsky.social.

FEB 2 8 2025|

AS long AS
YoU'Re
NOT SHOPPiNg TodAY-why NoT visit your
LOCAI LiBRARY?

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glastomichelle.bsky.social @glastomichelle.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

The stars of Avalon. Taken last night here in Glastonbury.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Just starting John Banville's The Drowned. Quirke and Strafford--enough said.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

I'm reading Niall Williams' History of the Rain. Ruth Swain, the narrator, is a force. I haven't felt this compelled to listen since Coleridge's mariner fixed me with his glittering eye. 💙📚 @christinebreen.bsky.social

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Celeste Ng @pronounced-ing.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

1000% this. Public libraries are actually pretty radical--free to all, and based on the idea that info should be available to all. Get a library card! Use your library! Those numbers often play into their funding.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Every morning I do a Duolingo lesson in Haitian Creole. It's a solidarity thing. I'm terrible at languages and will never be able to speak Creole, but I know that folks in Springfield are struggling to learn English, so I'll struggle too.

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Reezizztour @reezizztour.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Agree. Never turn your back tho…

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

I always wait until the coldest day of the year to clean the oven. I think this is it. Sigh.

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Just starting Susannah Gibson's The Bluestockings. It will take a while because there are plenty of endnotes and of course I have to read each one. Yum. 💙📚

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Kat Black @katblack51.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

My brother gave me Compton Mackenzie's The Monarch of the Glen for Christmas, and I started it today. Laugh out loud funny. Why have I never encountered it before?

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