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M.A.Orthofer

@maorthofer.bsky.social
751 followers 279 following 1.6K posts

The Complete Review and its Literary Saloon. [www.complete-review.com/main/main.h…]

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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 8h
I mean, this is great, too, but when they say: "a comprehensive catalogue of Philip Larkin’s books" I was hoping it was of the books he 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑, i.e. his library, not just the ones he wrote/contributed to ..... newversereview.substack.com/p/philip-lar...
newversereview.substack.com
Philip Larkin by the Book
A Catalogue of Poetry with Commentary
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Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Working on this reported essay, just published, increasingly took over my life for the last two months. PEN America did a terrible disservice with its sloppy reporting about American Jews and Israelis in publishing in July. Josh Lambert and I tried to do better. jewishcurrents.org/what-pen-ame...
jewishcurrents.org
What PEN America Got Wrong About Antisemitism in Publishing
Misleading anecdotes, flawed data, and oversimplified analyses are at the heart of a narrative of Jewish exclusion promoted by the free expression…
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Still unpacking and shelving books. Art section (mostly my mom's books) coming along well. My mom was good friends with Robert Motherwell's wife, so I was kind of hoping one of the many Motherwell-books, catalogues, etc. might be signed, but no such luck. But ...
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Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
On my growing gloom about books
spectator.com
The real reason kids are giving up reading
Even popular books are getting shorter and easier to read: their sentences are shorter, their paragraphs are shorter
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
New review: Giwi Margwelaschwili in conversation with Jörg Sundermeier, in 𝐵𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑛 www.complete-review.com/reviews/modd...
complete-review.com
Bedeutungswelten - Giwi Margwelaschwili
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Bedeutungswelten by Giwi Margwelaschwili.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Props to the Bangladeshi newspaper that publishes someone's "Reflections on editing festschrifts" www.thedailystar.net/culture/book...
thedailystar.net
Celebrating literary minds: Reflections on editing festschrifts
“Festschrift” is a German word coined in the 19th century by combining ”fest”, meaning “celebration” or “festival,” with ”schrift”, meaning “writing” or “script,” to signify “celebration writing” or “...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Flea market right around the corner today, so ... could ... not ... resist ..... Obviously had to pick up the reminiscences-volume by publisher Kurt Wolff. (Bonus: it's the first in the series of Wagenbach-'Quarthefte'.)
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In the mail: always great to see more by Enrique Vila-Matas: his 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑂𝑏𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎, in @yalepress.bsky.social Margellos World Republic of Letters-series yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...
yalebooks.yale.edu
Camera Obscura
From Spain’s most celebrated author, an inventive, quietly radical novel that explores how books illuminate our livesIn Camera Obscura, Enrique Vila-Matas ...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Always good to see Nobel Prize silly-season get rolling www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/23/o... [$] (And how can you argue with: "above all, @stephenking.bsky.social should get the top prize because he’s got the chops" ? That's what the Swedish Academy is always looking for: the chops.)
bostonglobe.com
Stephen King, Nobel laureate? - The Boston Globe
It sounds improbable. It shouldn’t.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
New review: Takagi Akimitsu's 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑁𝑜𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 www.complete-review.com/reviews/trcr...
complete-review.com
Honeymoon to Nowhere - Takagi Akimitsu
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Honeymoon to Nowhere by Takagi Akimitsu.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In the mail: no review copies far & wide (which is okay, for the most part), but couldn't resist an on-line-used-book-binge. Been eager to see that Furukawa for ages (& despairing of it being translated into English ...),& with these two my Nothomb collection is now almost up-to-date complete.
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John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Remember the Penguin Classics edition of Lolita that stripped out the intro by ‘John Ray, Jr.’ (which is part of the novel)? Louise Willder, in her new book The Book Was Better, discloses that the same edition of Pale Fire was almost published without Charles Kinbote’s intro and notes…
Metafiction can wrongfoot publishers too. There was once a move at Penguin to free the classics from scholarly introduc-tions, so somebody decided it would be a good idea to reissue Nabokov's Pale Fire without its foreword or footnotes.* The only problem was that they were part of the novel's metafictional joke: the creation of an invented writer called Charles Kinbote, who we soon realise is a lunatic, believing himself to be king of a country called Zembla. The mistake was caught before the book went to press - but not the misspelling Nabkov' on the spine. Ouch.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
New review: Robert Littell's debut, his 1973 novel, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐴.𝐽. 𝐿𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 www.complete-review.com/reviews/thri...
complete-review.com
The Defection of A.J. Lewinter - Robert Littell
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of The Defection of A.J. Lewinter by Robert Littell.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Can't judge its reported coding & big-maths-problems-solving capabilities, but beyond these remain amazed that anyone would rely on AI when trying to find/get any sort of *factual* information. Its one great talent (admittedly with other issues) is "creative" writing (for which it is denounced ...).
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Visited the Austrian 'Literaturmuseum' again yesterday, not least to check out the Thomas Bernhard exhibit again www.onb.ac.at/en/museums/l... There's an 'Ohrensessel' he designed on display, and you can sit on it. It is ridiculously uncomfortable, and not only because it is so low.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Nice to see "the first English publication of these journals in their entirety" — Cesare Pavese's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 — came out earlier this year, but list price (even if C$ ...) 100.00 ... oof. utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/...
utppublishing.com
The Craft of Living - University of Toronto Press
The Craft of Living is a collection of journals written by Italian intellectual Cesare Pavese between 1935, when the Fascist regime exiled him to Calabria, and 1950, the year he committed suicide. This is the first English publication of these journals in their entirety.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Google search finding new ways to top itself in ever-increasing uselessness, *sigh*.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The big question. Paywalled, so I don't know which side they come down on but have to hope that it is: 'Yes, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 stories that do not interpellate us 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 be read, even if they are well-written (indeed, even if they are not).' en.ara.cat/culture/is-i...
en.ara.cat
Is it necessary to read a story that does not interpellate us, even if it is well written?
Andrea Abreu publishes 'Pajaritos preñados', her second novel, after selling 100,000 copies of her debut, 'Panza de burro'
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Be a publisher like Belarusian publisher Лысы Чэрап ! (From: nashaniva.com/en/404486 )
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
New review: Brian Moore's 1975 novel, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑉𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 www.complete-review.com/reviews/popg... He really dreamed up something there .....
complete-review.com
The Great Victorian Collection - Brian Moore
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of The Great Victorian Collection by Brian Moore.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Sorting my books, I'm coming across some (semi-)duplicates. Wondering here what Monet would have made of his wife being considered the obvious choice for the face of Emma Bovary. (The painting is his 'Méditation. Madame Monet au canapé' www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/... .)
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
So I bought the German translation of Georges Simenon's 𝑇𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑦 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑟 today and have now had a look at the English translation on the Internet Archive. Translator not named on the (nicely spare) cover of the 1st US ed. but, hey, translator 'John Clay' gets a front-flap mention ...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
New book acquisitions: really shouldn't be buying any (so many books left to unpack, so many books to shelve ...), but ..... Had to get the translation from the Azer(baijan)i (none yet under review at the CR ...), and after that hard to resist adding a few more. €6 for the lot .....
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Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 08/09/2026
A minor publishing mystery. For a year or so after their publication of The Tin Drum, the English translation of Gunter Grass's novel Die Blechtrommel, Secker & Warburg featured Grass's own illustration of Oskar Matzerath on the spine of all of their books, even for a novel like Georgy Girl.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Finally an upside ? www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...
taipeitimes.com
Literature awards under threat from AI, writer says - Taipei Times
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dealing a heavy blow to literature and literary judging, Taiwanese writer Chu Yu-hsun (朱宥勳) said on Saturday, adding that nearly 40 percent of the novel submissions he ...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
All time, folks ! 𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝐼𝑀𝐸 ! And not fiction art or fiction sculpture, but fiction 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 ! (Though — not mentioned — limited to those that have been translated into English.) metropolisjapan.com/best-japanes... Lists, *sigh* .....
metropolisjapan.com
All Time Best Japanese Fiction Books | Metropolis Japan
Explore articles on life in Japan with Metropolis. From culture and lifestyle tips to English-language resources, dive into stories for the international community.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Very disappointing news steiermark.orf.at/stories/3369... (One of the pleasures of living in Austria is being able to consume these by the pound; I could basically live off a diet of these (preferably drenched in Kürbiskernöl (pumpkin seed oil).)
steiermark.orf.at
Schwere Ernteausfälle bei Käferbohnen
Die Hitze und Trockenheit haben der steirischen Käferbohne heuer stark zugesetzt. Auf manchen Feldern gibt es praktisch gar keine Ernte, auch insgesamt werden deutliche Einbußen erwartet. Hoffnung gib...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I continue to be fascinated by this book tie-in gimmick/stunt/whatever ("An unusual collaboration between a publisher and a convenience store"), not least because the product looks ... not great ? (I think it is safe to say that whatever that is, it is not bread.) www.khan.co.kr/en/article/2...
khan.co.kr
Is this a book or bread? A bookmark is tucked ‘snugly’ inside···The ‘Minumsa bread’ craze sold 200,000 units in one week
With a bread that closely resembles the World Literature Series appearing at convenience stores, an unexpected shortage has emerged. To find bread that carries Minumsa’s World Literature Series des...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Advertising in the back of 1966 paperback I recently reviewed. "He's a hip, he's hard, he likes birds." (1960s, so this does not mean he's an avian enthusiast. Also: "a hip" ?!??) McAlpine might have been the man of today back then, but was apparently a flash in the pan.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
New review: Martin Waddell's 1966 novel, 𝑂𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑦 www.complete-review.com/reviews/gbmy...
complete-review.com
Otley - Martin Waddell
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Otley by Martin Waddell.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Great, as always, to see this — and, as I repeat blue-facedly every year: 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 (𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠/𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡).
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Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Here's a damning fucking chart
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Wow, that paperback ed. of the Dutch translation of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒 / 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑑 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 is a doorstopper. 2160 pages ! (And, yes, it definitely belongs on the best-books 'Gouden Lijst'.)
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Kind of surprised no one seems to have shown much interest in this. FWIW, the authors-behind-the-authors are: Robert Ludlum, Jerry Pournelle, Ken Follett, and Stephen R. Donaldson.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
New review: Jean Echenoz's 𝐽𝑒́𝑟𝑜̂𝑚𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛 www.complete-review.com/reviews/eche...
complete-review.com
Jérôme Lindon - Jean Echenoz
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Jérôme Lindon by Jean Echenoz.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Surprisingly extensive selection of books by authors I have never heard of who, it turns out, I very much have heard of, incl.:
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Good to see relatively low homicide-numbers in Austria (only 38 in 2025), but striking that more women than men get murdered (and have, pretty consistently, for at least the past 25 years). (Safe to assume domestic violence is the *reason*.) orf.at/stories/3440...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Well, if The @newyorker.com says so ..... (Though I suspect they didn't in all-caps ?) (Wading through the very B-list-heavy (B-minus-list ?) collection of thrillers and mysteries from my dad's collection to see what I can weed out.....)
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Missed this a couple of weeks ago (and can't bring myself to link to it), but, hey, good to know this is the level of discourse we're at
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
He's so cryptic they can't even spell his name right in the sub-head (there's an 'e' at the end — it's 'Antoine Volodine'). www.thetimes.com/culture/book... (Paywalled, so I don't know what their take is; presumably they do get it right in the rest of the article. (They managed in the URL !))
thetimes.com
Cult writer’s 11 books in a week: ego trip or literary milestone?
The cryptic French author Antoine Volodin has convinced 11 publishers to simultaneously release what may be the culmination of his ‘post-exoticism’ project
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
New review: Moussa Konaté's 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑎 www.complete-review.com/reviews/mali...
complete-review.com
Headless in Kita - Moussa Konaté
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Headless in Kita by Moussa Konaté.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
That is some lazy-ass copywriting. (Taking copy-writing too literally .....) (Same author; the novels came out 1980 (this pbk. ed. 1981) and 1987.)
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Five Leaves Bookshop @fiveleavesbooks.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
We're only a small shop, but our fiction in translation bays - divided by language - now have fifty languages. Welcome Bulgarian to the club. Some, most, sections are small... we know of only two books in translation from Swahili... but we cover from Albanian to Yiddish. #booksky #booksintranslation
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Book acquisitions: tried to restrain myself, but couldn't resist two charity shop finds (2€ each). Always good to find one of the (East German) Reclam volumes, and while the Manesse edition of Keyserling's first novel would also be nice (and handier) this will certainly do too.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
In the mail: very excited to see crime fiction from Mali, Moussa Konaté's 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑡𝑎, coming from Dedalus www.dedalusbooks.com/our-books/bo... and Jean Echenoz on Les Éditions de Minuit-publisher 𝐽𝑒́𝑟𝑜̂𝑚𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛, coming from @archipelagobooks.bsky.social archipelagobooks.org/book/jerome-...
dedalusbooks.com
Headless in Kita by Moussa Konaté : Our Books :: Dedalus Books, Publishers of Literary Fiction
Dedalus is an alternative, independent publisher, founded in England in 1983. The films on our page are all related to the books we publish. Our list includes contemporary English language fiction, tr...
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Beatrice Harraden's 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 not a great novel www.complete-review.com/reviews/gbpr... , but I did like some of the passages
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
New review: Beatrice Harraden's 1893 novel, 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 www.complete-review.com/reviews/gbpr...
complete-review.com
Ships That Pass in the Night - Beatrice Harraden
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of Ships That Pass in the Night by Beatrice Harraden.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Dear god no www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Future of Reading Is a Party
Come join the fun.
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M.A.Orthofer @maorthofer.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New reviews: two novels by Andrew Bergman featuring his PI, Jack LeVine: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝐾𝑖𝑠𝑠-𝑂𝑓𝑓 𝑜𝑓 1944 www.complete-review.com/reviews/usmy... and 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑦𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑒 www.complete-review.com/reviews/usmy...
complete-review.com
The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 - Andrew Bergman
A review, and links to other information about and reviews of The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 by Andrew Bergman.
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Rónán Hession @ronanhession.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
A bit of unnecessary handholding by the translator here, including the tu and vous forms in square brackets?
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