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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 15h

Up at 4.30am, coffee in the garden, reading Partita - Barbara Kingsolver and as expected it’s rather somewhat very good 🙂 #booksky @faberbooks.bsky.social

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Bee Wilson’s The Heart Shaped Tin. She’s writes so well about the way we approach food and how this impacts diet and nutrition. Her latest book is about attachment kitchenalia. See alt text @4thestatebooks #booksky

Popped into @chapternpagebooks for this gorgeous pin and also bought Bee Wilson’s The Heart Shaped Tin. She’s writes so well about the way we approach food and how this impacts diet and nutrition. Her latest book is about our attachment to kitchenalia, of which I have a ridiculously but perfectly acceptable large amount. I’m going to read this to justify my obsession all things kitchen related.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This dude sneaking up the garden table to join for some Miles Davis and wine.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This little chap has mangled tail feathers and can’t fly. We’ve taken him to a wild life rescue, one I support with a monthly donation, where he will be safe until he can fly again.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

My husband and I have both Kindles and Kobos. The latter are better. However we now have these Xteink X3s which are brilliant! They have no light so the text is really sharp, like my old Kindke Touch. And how cute are they?!

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social for this proof of Nick Harkaway’s The Taper Man. Thoughts to follow. @nickharkaway.com

Picture shows a proof copy of the book The Taper Man by Nick Harkaway.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

My thoughts on Where are the Kings - Donal Ryan are in the ALT text. It's not long but just in case you're in a hurry TLDR: It's superb.

Blimey heck! This is a wonderful, glorious book.

The publisher’s blurb describes the plot well enough and it’s a great plot, one which grabs you and makes you want to stay with it. But the story, the back story which Donal Ryan scatters throughout every page in a natural, unobtrusive way is superb. This man can tell a tale write like so few others ad in a way which is oy to read.

Where are the Kings is written in the third person present, which can often leave the reader outside, but Ryan, I think due to the lack of typical formatting (no quotation marks, no dialogue paragraphs etc) makes this feel like a stream of consciousness flowing from Jack’s mind. Past events spring up when prompted, how Jack felt as well as how he feels. It’s a little like listening to Jack tell us his story. I loved it.

There are many lines and paragraphs I highlighted but this one really made me pause:

“Shouting just loud enough to drown out the whispers which rise up through him from the ground, it seems, from the mantle of the planet, from the liquid fire at the heart of the world, a fire so hot it could burn away anything”

Thank you to Random Things Book Tours and Double Day/Penguin for the opportunity to read such a beautifully written book

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Yesterday my husband and I left a cinema at the the interval, half way through a film. The Odyssey is neither literature nor action film. It’s a bit crap, actually but we came home, opened a bottle of wine and laughed about it. #theodyssey #movienight

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Oops! New independent bookshop Chapter & Page. I had buy books and stuff 🙂

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

We used a colander, a piece of card and a field. Oh, and a couple of beers #eclipse

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Sometimes my pizza looks good enough to eat 🍕🌱

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

This arrived today. So chuffed to be part of a blog tour for Donal Ryan’s Where are the Kings? I have photographed this in the garden, which is where I plan to read it 🙂 @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social @doubledayuk.bsky.social #booksky

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Don’t think I’d be welcome in this village butcher. May as well have a “whites only, no coloureds” sign.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

I’m very pleased with these pea shoots grown without soil 🌱 #gardening #sprouting

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Judge ye not. A Pot Noodle and a glass of wine. It’s been quite a day.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I put in an online request at 9.30 this morning for a home visit from a doctor for my mother. The surgery paramedic was here at 1.00pm and the prescription has been sent to our usual pharmacy for collection. I love the NHS. It must be protected. #NHS

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Thank you, so very much to @faberbooks.bsky.social for this copy of Sebastian Barry's The Newer World. Heck, the man can write! My brief thoughts are here: rtcmbooks.wordpress.com/2026/07/22/t...

Picture shows an uncorrected proof of Sebastian Barry's The Newer World, published by Faber, on my mother's garden bench!

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I have just put a large, sturdy, empty yogurt tub in the recycling and not in the box under my wardrobe with the other “this will be useful one day” sturdy tubs. Big Operation Stop Hoarding (BOSH) is going well. Also filled a bag with books. I feel a little naughty…

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I’m a borderline hoarder (hoarderline?) of books, & boxes/containers that’ll be useful one day. The latter can go easily but books not so much. It’s a small house so I think it’s time to replace many of the unread with ebooks. I also “hoard” musical instruments which I’ll never let go.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

This fuchsia has been magnificent this year but this dude is welcome to it all. An Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar 🐛

An elephant hawk moth caterpillar eating my fuchsia plant

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Openly racist, elderly neighbour, not seen for 3 days. Her son, who’s lovely, asked my white, English husband to check on her. No response. She finally answered son’s call & said someone in a hoody with a foreign accent had been banging on her door. This kind of deliberate misinformation is evil.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I thought my mother had a cute key ring, especially as she loves Blue Tits. Picture in first comment does not disappoint 🤣

Picture shows a Blue Tit key ring attached to a bag

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Marlie Packer and her OBE. Her dress has pockets! #IYKYK Photograph from @england-rugby.bsky.social on the other place.

Marlie Packer holding her OBE wearing a dress with pockets 🙂

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Thank you @faberbooks.bsky.social for this proof of Sebastian Barry’s The Newer World. Thoughts and observations to follow 🙂 #booksky

Photograph shows the book, The Newer World by Sebastian Barry.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Harold Shipman, Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Huntley, Fred West, Rosemary West, Lucy Letby, Beverly Allitt, the three teenage rapists. No riots/protests. Is this two tier outrage?

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Keep out of the sun, people 🙂🌞 48, blimey!

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

To mark England Women’s Six Nations Rugby Grand Slam win my husband gave me this Red Rose Pandora charm 🌹🏉 ❤️ @england-rugby.bsky.social #w6n #rugby #redroses

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Reposted by The Reading Glass

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Feeling overwhelmed with all of this. LISTEN. Another Louisiana resident (Marshawn is the only name we have) testifies against the state’s racial gerrymander, speaking truth to power up and down the hearing room and predicts how this story will end. Speak your truth, fight and believe.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Venus Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell, along with Sebastian Haffner’s Defying Hitler should be required reading. #venusvanishing #rebeccabirrell @panmacmillan.bsky.social @picadorbooks.bsky.social

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Reposted by The Reading Glass

The Booker Prizes @thebookerprizes.com · 28/04/2026

We're looking for three kids to join us on the judging panel for the first ever Children's Booker Prize, supported by AKO Foundation. If your child (or one you know) is between eight and 12 years old and loves reading, make sure to enter now! 🔗 thebookerprizes.com/children youtu.be/JlxCDEri9vM

youtu.be

How to become a Children's Booker Prize 2027 judge | The Booker Prize

YouTube video by The Booker Prizes

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

NO SPOILERS: What a fascinating read! The Anniversary is so well written and translated it’s hard to tell if this is a memoir or fiction. Brief thoughts in photo's alt text.

Picture shows book The Anniversary bu Andrea Bajani, translated by Geoffrey Brock.

Written almost as a stream of consciousness with a confessional feel, this portrayal of modified behaviour and survival around domestic violence and constant threat is bleak but never self-pitying. The book, through the voice of the son, tells how the wife of an abusive husband found ways to exist, probably something many people do every day, and how this becomes the norm. It does not excuse of justify the husband’s behaviour, it simply tells the tale in reflection, rather beautifully.

A line which stands out for me:

“In memory those December days of ten years ago a like a distant star that, now that I’m looking, is still inescapably burning”

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Having read and reviewed Simenon’s The Cat, Penguin sent me this copy of Letter to my Judge; also I was granted a digital copy via NetGalley, so thank you to both, especially as this book is so riveting. My brief thoughts are in the photo’s alt text.

Dr Charles Alavoine, after conviction, writes a letter explaining how everything which went before led to his crime. It’s utterly fascinating and being Simenon, it’s superbly written. Obssession, control and selfishness are at the centre of Alavoine’s actions and in his letter he attempts to excuse and justify them.

Toxic masculinity at it’s worst with some unpleasant “Incel” traits on display, it’s not always a comfortable read, whilst never graphic there is must allusion, but well worth it.

Letter to my Judge is one of Simenon’s psychological noirs/romans durs (including Maigret he wrote 75 novels) and if Penguin wish to send me any more I shall be very happy to read them! It is part of Penguin’s Modern Classics series.

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Not a very active day (Sunday) but nice neat numbers 🙂

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Having reviewed Georges Simenon’s The Cat, which I loved, thank you to @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social for now sending me this lovely new edition of Georges Simenon’s Letter to my Judge. T’is rather fine!

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I have just looked up a lyric which has baffled me for decades. Apparently it's "Make natty shook" Not sure if I've been pranked...

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The Reading Glass @thereadingglass.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I use Wordpress for my blog and website. I haven’t used it for a good while. Logged in yesterday. What the heck? It was fine as it was. Now it’s a pain to use. It’s so clunky I’m considering using a different platform. Ugh! #wordpress

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