thechesilbeach.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

And as I planned, one chapter a day and I finished Moby-Dick today. I think if I’d tried to read it all on one go, I’d have been overwhelmed, but I’ve looked forward to each new chapter every day. Off to listen to the @backlisted.bsky.social episode again now.

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Listening to the new @backlisted.bsky.social episode on Patreon, sitting on a bench with a view. I can hear birdsong as a background to the podcast. Perfect Sunday.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

I’ve inhaled On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle tr. Barbara J Haveland. This novel will live in my head rent free for a long time. Not much happens, and yet it’s so completely and utterly compelling, and whenever I think about it, all I can think is What…? How…? Uhm…? Brilliant.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Backlisted has featured some outstanding 50s/60s London books, and they are among my favourites too - The Lowlife, Absolute Beginners and The Bloater are all fantastic reads. Great to see The Lowlife back in print.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Synth fascinating fact of tonight’s Top of the Pops is him indoors first sighting of an Oberheim SEM #totp

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Another @backlisted.bsky.social book by an author I never would have read without the podcast, and in this case one I probably won’t read again. It’s a seedy, nasty life in this story by J. G. Ballard, full of crime, drugs and deviance under a veneer of wealth and privilege.

submitted 26 days ago • 2 comments

I finished the blanket, only five years after I started it!

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

Starting my next @backlisted.bsky.social book. Always thought (based on absolutely no evidence) that Ballard wouldn’t be for me, so let’s see how it goes.

submitted 31 days ago • 1 comment

My favourite OH, in a shopping centre outside a bookshop (read in a Bristolian accent): “It’s like them people that reads them vampire books. They’d shit ‘emselves if they met ‘em in real life.”

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

I’m not sure if @backlisted.bsky.social have announced the next episode yet outside of Patreon, but as a subscriber, I got to listen to it yesterday. It was an exceptional episode, very thought provoking with a deft, knowledgable discussion on the writers life and works. Highly recommended.

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop is a graphic memoir of growing up in a strict Christian household, a love of art, Disney animation, a coming out story, and a truthful depiction of sexuality and family. It’s funny, poignant and sad at times, but I absolutely loved it.

submitted 53 days ago • 1 comment

I loved Lucy Mangan’s Bookworm, a memoir of childhood reading, when I read it in 2018, so was delighted when I saw a new companion, Bookish, all about how Lucy’s reading has influenced and impacted her at various periods through her life. I finished it yesterday and it was a gorgeous read.

submitted 53 days ago • 2 comments

Finished my latest @backlisted.bsky.social book, A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe. It certainly wasn’t an easy read, but fascinating to read with hindsight of the pandemic. It made me realise that not much has changed in human society, with parallels to 2020 throughout the novel.

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

And so my favourite book of last year is on the @womensprize.bsky.social longlist this year. Huge congratulations to @regretteruane.bsky.social!

submitted 71 days ago • 1 comment

Read my latest @backlisted.bsky.social book pick today - May We Borrow Your Husband? & Other Comedies of the Sexual Life by Graham Greene. Definitely nowhere near challenging for my favourite, but it was better than I’d been expecting, so that’s something.

submitted 73 days ago • 0 comments

Tried my new pen. Definitely a bit rusty, but my practise pad says it’s been six years since I did any calligraphy so will try and get back in the daily habit.

submitted 75 days ago • 1 comment

My birthday present to myself is here! Finally decided to invest in a decent art pen. After looking at a few options, I chose a Tom’s Studio sage coloured fountain pen with a titanium flex nib, and a pot of deep black ink. It’s beautiful but I’m nervous to use it as it’s so fancy!

submitted 77 days ago • 1 comment

Three Bristol bookshops in this list. Congrats from me, especially to Storysmith and @gloucesterroadbks.bsky.social!

submitted 85 days ago • 1 comment

I wonder if Elizabeth von Armin will feature on Backlisted one day?

submitted 85 days ago • 0 comments

Took my other half to the new Heron Books in Clifton, and I picked up a copy of The Visitor by Maeve Brennan, and he chose a couple of Alice Oswald poetry collections.