Stephen Baird

My hand holding a paperback book. The cover has coloured concentric circles with the silhouettes of a woman, a man and a child holding hands, in the centre. I am in Muntpunt, the Dutch language library in central Brussels. Another library user is in the background.

I’m reading “Stad O” by Koen Caris and it’s absolutely excellent. I really hope it gets translated into English because you should all read it! (Much more enjoyable than Dune Messiah which I finished last week.)

Several things on the go, but Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James is the most pressing; I’ve already renewed it three times. Took me a while to get into the rhythm of it. It’s not quite as opaque as Seven Killings, but it’s not your bog standard alt-Europe fantasy by any stretch.

Book cover for Boy Everywhere by A. M. Dassu.

I’m reading Boy Everywhere by A. M. Dassu which I’ve been slowly reading in pockets of time waiting for appointments etc. for a few weeks. But it feels all the more real and hard-hitting in the last few days. I suspect it’s one that’s a tougher read for adults than kids, but important for both.

We solve murders. Fluff. But fun.

Just over halfway through Paladin’s Strength by @tkingfisher.com and LOVE IT! Hilarious and great mystery. I got the whole set for my birthday and am extremely excited that I have two more novels in this world on my tbr pile!

I just finished Why Q Needs U by @dannybate.bsky.social - really interesting for language nerds! - and now I'm starting 1923 by @nedboulting.bsky.social, which is bidding fair to be just as interesting for cycling nerds!

Good morning #booksky! after a run of very satisfying vintage Girls Annuals from the fifties, I am about to start reading Elizabeth Taylor by Donald Spoto. #amreading

Front cover to the English Language paperback edition of 'All Fires the Fire' ('Todos los fuegos el fuego', 1966) by Julio Cortázar

'What do all disasters share? The real disaster is not the illness, or the fire, but the indifference of ordinary life'

Book Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Good morning!
I'm currently reading Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

Lots of commute time this week, so I am listening to Tom's Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski.

I loved Monk and Robot!

I’m finishing “An Echo of Things to Come” by James Islington today, and starting “Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Woman They Destroyed” by Maureen Callahan

The 2nd DADA Manifesto “The magic of a word – DADA – which for journalists has opened the door to an unforeseen world, has for us not the slightest importance.” To launch a manifesto […]

“The magic of a word – DADA – which for journalists has opened the door to an unforeseen world, has for us not the slightest importance.” To launch a manifesto […]

Back to Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger.

Cover of The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

This week’s read is THE REFORMATORY by Tananarive Due. Have been looking forward to this one and am not disappointed. 💙📚🩸

The Mother by Jane Caro, cover is looking up at a simple house with silhouetted figure against a darkish sky. Tag line: "She would die for her daughter. But could she kill for her?".

The Mother by @janecaro.bsky.social

Happy Monday! I am currently reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut. I also want to start This Side of Paradise soon!

Hello 😀
I'm reading Still Life by Sarah Winman. It's beautifully written.

Hardback edition of Arthur: The Always King, by Kevin Crossley-Holland, illustrated by Chris Riddell. The cover is a beautiful bright shade of blue and shows a knight on horseback levelling a lance. The horse has an abnormally long back, and this is because the illustration was designed for a double page spread where the fall of the pages makes it anatomically correct. Therefore a slightly eccentric choice for the cover, though it is a striking image.

Morning!

I have stolen my daughter’s copy of Arthur: The Always King, by Kevin Crossley-Holland and illustrated by Chris Riddell. I need to mug up on Arthur for a work thing & don’t have enough time for Malory. Great storytelling, great illustrations!

A pair of paperback books arranged side-by-side on a table. Each has a yellow bookmark poking out of the top. On the left is “The Liar’s Knot” by M.A. Carrick, while Ada Hoffmann’s “The Infinite” sits to the right.

🙋‍♂️ Ahoy there! I have started two new ones in recent days, so I’m just a few pages into each. One is for 🛋️ reading while the other remains upstairs for 🛌

Still on Circle of Days by Ken Follet. I was really hesitant about it, but I should have known KF doesn’t write boring stories. So it’s pretty good, not his best but it keeps me engaged.

Morning all!

Top of my pile for fiction this weekend is Kiran Millwood Hargrave's Almost Life (which is partially set in Norfolk & at 'my' university - UEA)

I'm a bit short of non fiction choices at the moment but will try Books Good Enough For You by Nancy Hudgens.

Happy Reading!
💙📚

Morning. A good week for reading and staying offline, I reckon 😵‍💫 I’m reading All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes by Maya Angelou.

A picture of the cover of the book Pagans by James Alistair Henry. A stylised view of the London skyline made to look like a fort bisected by a cut with a red drop of blood with two figures under it. The tag line at the bottom is 'Two cops. One killer. Hundreds of Gods'.

Pagans by James Alistair Henry. Loving every minute of this

Penguin Classics cover shows the sculpted body of a muscular naked male. Light makes the skin glow and his expression seems fierce. The author name Mary Shelley is in slightly larger font than the work’s title of Frankenstein.

Early pages still with Frankenstein. Lots of biographical notes preceding the text but was especially struck by the preface.

This was the only one of the dark tales started in 1816 Geneva to be completed. I happen to be reading it very near to its setting.

Good luck with the reading week! 📚♥️

Front cover of ‘Stakeknife’s Dirty War’.

Back cover of ‘Stakeknife’s Dirty War’.

‘Stakeknife’s Dirty War’ by Richard O’ Rawe.
Was inspired to read this by the last Mick Herron book ‘Clown Town’ which uses this story as part of its narrative.

Good morning! It's been a busy couple of weeks, so I am still on Erik Davis's TechGnosis. I have also started on the poems of Cavafy (in Rae Dalven's translation) - poetry is easier to absorb in bite-sized chunks. Cavafy is one of the long list of writers I really should have read long ago.

Cover of book “This Perfect Day” by Ira Levin. Bright blue background with typeface in white. Illustration of silhouetted figures in white and various shade of blue.

Good morning
I’m still reading “ Excellent Women” by Barbara Pym and have just started “This Perfect Day” by Ira Levin.
#Booksky 📚💙#iamreading

A view from a window overlooking a multi-storey carpark. It's dawn, with a blue sky and whisps of gold and white cloud.

I'm touring schools for World Book Day all this week, and the first stop is Enfield. So here, as is tradition, is the view from a travelling author's hotel window. #KidLit #KidLitUK

Cover in Serbo-Croat, showing a rock, a passport, a red communist flag, and possibly a heap, all set against black and white stripes

‘The Houses of Belgrade’ by Borislav Pekić (1970)

The reader realises that the protagonist cares for buildings rather than humans, giving an absurdly alien view on Yugoslavia’s history. This makes it all the more striking when human darkness intrudes on his narrative #booksky

I'm still on David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, but in the closing stretch!