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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 9h

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, but this has to be one of the lamest spam emails I've ever received.

Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A privilege to be at the launch this evening of Castles: A Fortified History of the World, the latest book by the extraordinary Dan Jones. So lovely to catch up - all too briefly - with so many friends.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Heaven is a French indoor food market on a Saturday morning

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Some dear friends gave this to me a couple of years ago and we’ve used it every holiday since. Highly recommended. An absolute joy if you like bodding about France eating and drinking, as we do. Thank you @carolynboyd.bsky.social!

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

So much to enjoy in David's answers – Betty MacDonald, Philip Roth, Otfried Preussler – but I particularly liked what he says about Pauline Kael and the art of criticism.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

On holiday in French Burgundy so of course we’re watching…

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Loved this in Rebecca’s Writer’s Bookshelf. I think Restoration comedies are somewhat neglected these days, but they are such brilliantly observed slices of humanity - so fresh and alive, and still properly funny.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Thora Hird in Went the Day Well?

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Love how Amy describes her responses to the Bible here.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Love the kind of memoir you can open at random and find a passage like this.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

This reminds me of the index to a book about Jacques Tati

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Not sure if I’ve mentioned it on here but I’m one of the judges for the HWA non-fiction prize this year. Round of applause then for the publisher that, four months late, has sent me a book post unpaid so I’ve had to shell out to collect from the local sorting office!

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Ian's answers are a treat from start to finish, but I particularly liked this one.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

There’s nothing like waiting 161 years to leave a bad review

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

More from @danigaravelli.bsky.social's wonderful edition of the Writer’s Bookshelf - here on Kathleen Jamie and the power of noticing.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

And this is terrific on Muriel Spark

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Lots to enjoy in @danigaravelli.bsky.social's edition of the Writer's Bookshelf, but I particularly loved this.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I particularly love Daisy's programme of seasonal reading.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

We visited one of the most remarkable churches I've ever seen in England. I wrote about it here mathewlyons.substack.com/p/history-in...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

We went to visit the grave of Tirzah Garwood yesterday, which also commemorates her first husband Eric Ravilious. The text at the bottom is from Luke’s Gospel: “Blessed are the eyes that see the things that ye see.” We also visited the house in Great Bardfield where they lived with Edward Bawden.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I think this might be one of my favourite answers to any question yet.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

@joebankswriter.bsky.social FYI, you get a name check in the notes to the paperback of Geoff Dyer's memoir Homework

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I loved what Lucy says here - how deep reading give the mind life-long resources and a sustaining sense of continuity, recurrence and renewal.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

You might like to know that the exhibition also includes this painting, which we talked about at length on Twitter in 2021 when it was for sale at the gallery as an unidentified Elizabethan. It's now identified as Robert Dudley, which IIRC was your conclusion too!

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I wrote about the Catholic-Sufi mausoleum in Mortlake that houses the bodies of Sir Richard Burton and his wife – newly reopened to the public after seventy years. Link in next post.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

I think Melissa Harrison writes so beautifully here about Philip Larkin and the complicated thoughts and feelings he evokes, and perhaps embodies. (I second her recommendation of Elizabeth Jennings, fwiw!) Link in next post.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Really sorry to be missing the London launch of @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social's exquisitely moving debut collection Little Griefs this evening.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Pro-tip: don't let your house to a poet.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

It was an enormous pleasure to interview @peteralanross.bsky.social about his work. His latest book, Upon a White Horse, is out in paperback today. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/memory-pla...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I will never look at James Joyce in the same way again. From @andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social's delightful edition of the Writer's Bookshelf. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Thoroughly enjoying Katherine Harvey’s wonderful new book exploring medieval attitudes to illness, health and well-being. It’s full of insights and surprises. I hope it will make many people look at the period differently - and with much less condescension!

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

You've reminded me of one my favourite things from the other place.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

New on the Writer’s Bookshelf this morning: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the wonderful @keironpim.bsky.social. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

And finally, ten of my favourite paintings, etc up for auction in London this week. Featuring Redon, Richter, Magritte, Nolde, Man Ray, Sargent and more! mathewlyons.substack.com/p/going-goin...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Then an essay remembering my week performing in a production of Christopher Marlowe's Massacre at Paris many years back. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-massac...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Some weekend reading from me. First up, a brilliant edition of the Writer's Bookshelf with @j-amesmarriott.bsky.social. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Not often that a grave raises a smile…

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Thrilled to get a copy of this exquisite book in the post at lunchtime. Now I just need to find someone who wants me to write about it…

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Thoroughly enjoyed the Samurai exhibition at the British Museum.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Not that I'm at a lose end or anything, but here is the newspaper in question via the British Newspaper Archive

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Excellent book post this morning!

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Had an email scam through the other day addressing me as Damon Runyon – given the circles he moved in, not a man you'd want to impersonate.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The TLS diary column picked up on my Substack post about the John Carey / George Barker contretemps.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

The TLS diary column picked up on my Substack post about the John Carey / George Barker contretemps.

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Mathew Lyons @mathewlyons.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

… to reclaim all manner of griefs and joys. Full of warmth and life, it’s a profound exploration of the consoling power of love and faith and the resurrections they offer to the human heart.

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