Things suck, so imma pull some books off my shelves and recommend them. Steeple Chasing is is a love letter to old English churches. We meet the people who care about them, learn their history, discover the preservation challenges they face. A Waterstones clerk recommended it; I’m grateful. - ThreadSky

levistahl.bsky.social • 60 days ago

Things suck, so imma pull some books off my shelves and recommend them.

Steeple Chasing is is a love letter to old English churches. We meet the people who care about them, learn their history, discover the preservation challenges they face. A Waterstones clerk recommended it; I’m grateful.

Comments

indyposterboy.scot•60 days ago

Andy Kelp would have enjoyed it, I’m sure. 😉

margaretkearton.bsky.social•59 days ago

It looks perfect, have ordered it, thank you!!

kirkus-maximus.bsky.social•59 days ago

I'll have to check this one out! Fell in love with churches in art history class, the love was renewed while reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Highly recommend if you want some tender and intimate historical fiction about the building of a church and how it brings a community together.

ny2va.bsky.social•60 days ago

That sounds like a book I would love! Thanks for the recommendation!

ibrokebatman.bsky.social•60 days ago

I've had a little too much wine this evening, so forgive me, but at first I thought this was a book about a character named Steeple Chasing. And I was like, damn, that is a choice. 😀

goodgreatokayish.bsky.social•60 days ago

📌

cloverandquill.bsky.social•60 days ago

I love this book, the chapter on stone was so interesting. Beautiful cover too. Have you read Peter Ross’ other book ‘A Tomb With A View’? I listened to it on radio 4 and it was great

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

No, this is the only one I’ve read thus far. But it’s good enough that I’ll get his others when I’m in London next month.

cloverandquill.bsky.social•60 days ago

I’d highly recommend it. 📚

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

St. Clair McKelway was a midcentury New Yorker writer. This collects his pieces on (mostly minor) criminality. “Mister 880,” about a forger of $1 bills, became a sweet little movie starring Burt Lancaster and Edmund Gwenn.

McKelway’s war writing, also collected, is well worth reading, too.

katwithsword.bsky.social•60 days ago

New contender for best title ever. Rascality!

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

Most of Nancy Lemann’s modest body of work is out of print, so grabbing these as a stand-in—read all of it. She writes of an old order, the genteel, moneyed South, drinking & idling itself away. It’s funny & sad & biting; her favorite words are “decrepit” and “decayed.” Her sentences are marvels.

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

Take refuge in the past, friends; remind yourself that existence has always been fraught, the world always raising a hand against us. The sheer distance and strangeness of the poems and fragments and prayers in this collection is transporting. You’ll be away for a while.

kirkus-maximus.bsky.social•59 days ago

The refrain of the Anglo Saxon poem Deor - þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg - is something we all need to remember right now.

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

Dan Beachy-Quick is a poet; this is prose, but it’s kin. He writes here under the spell of Moby-dick, parsing and jumping off from whaling terms. It’s a great dip-into book.

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

The voice of this recent novel is what carries it—distinctive and honest and funny. Bad relationships, bad behavior, various kinds of destructiveness, all convincingly told.

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

I know y’all don’t want to think about presidents right now. But what about an ex-president on a mad adventure into the Brazilian jungle? This is one of the best of the “these lunatics suffered so I get to read about it from home” genre. The dangers & privations of this trek are mind-boggling.

rozmilner.bsky.social•60 days ago

There was an anthology of his that came out about a decade ago I’ve been keeping an eye out for but it’s proven elusive

phantomcorsair.bsky.social•60 days ago

📌

mick56.bsky.social•59 days ago

Midway through this lovely book as your post arrived. "Fen" resonates with me, being a Brit from the east side of the country, but every chapter has its own character.

loosestish.bsky.social•60 days ago

📌

amyhoy.bsky.social•60 days ago

great thread, going to acquire several of these 💖

jeana30.bsky.social•60 days ago

I recommend this one- it is the plan

marykeenanwrites.bsky.social•60 days ago

Even the cover on Steeple Chasing is engaging - and what a great range of other titles you've selected!

hereinnc.bsky.social•60 days ago

This sounds really lovely.Thank you. Love that a clerk recommended it too.

mrsatkinreads.bsky.social•60 days ago

I have Steeple Chasing on Mount TBR - I’ll move it towards the top!

shamrock57.bsky.social•60 days ago

Found this the other day in a charity shop .Really looking forward to reading it .

historicalholli.bsky.social•60 days ago

Wow, that sounds awesome! Thanks for the recommend!

sarah-the-plain.bsky.social•60 days ago

Adding to the reading list!

noiseresearch.bsky.social•60 days ago

That looks like a good read

squireknottyash.bsky.social•60 days ago

Love this - new one coming by the same author later this year.

jaime-scott.bsky.social•60 days ago

You might like The Longest Crawl by Ian Marchant. He and a friend start at the southern most pub in England and wind their way up to the northernmost, exploring the history of the pubs and their local areas.

levistahl.bsky.social•60 days ago

Oh, that does sound very good.

malongorose.bsky.social•60 days ago

Thank you so much for the recommendation, can’t wait to dive in.

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