Read: The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington. This book was so good I want to read it again. πŸ“š


Read: Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner πŸ“š


Read: The Short End of the Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig. Loved this one. Another great recommendation from the Backlisted/Locklisted podcast. πŸ“š


Upwardly Mobile and Hating it β€” Speculative Insight β†’

“The Gentrification of Vimes”.

This is so good. Contains spoilers for the City Watch books by Terry Pratchett but I imagine anyone interested will have already read those. Sam Vimes has always been my favourite Pratchett character.


Started to read: The Name of This Band Is R.E.M. by Peter Ames Carlin. I’ve been looking forward to getting this. I ended up buying the ebook for my Kobo as it hasn’t been easy to find a hard copy in the UK. πŸ“š


Two more to add to the pile…

Two books, "Listen In: How Radio Changed the Home" by Beaty Rubens and "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist" by Liz Pelly, are lying side by side on a carpeted surface.

Started to read: Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford πŸ“š


Read: 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left by Robyn Hitchcock πŸ“š

Can I count this as my first read of 2025 despite starting it a couple of days ago? Anyway this is a short and sweet memoir of how Robyn Hitchcock became a β€œgroover” at school in 1967. A nice origin story of an original artist.


Currently reading : Syd Barrett by Rob Chapman πŸ“š


It is like democracy is a bottle someone can threaten to smash and do a bit of damage with. It has become a time of people saying stuff to each other and none of it actually ever becoming dialogue. It is the end of dialogue.

From Autumn by Ali Smith.


Started to read: Mayday by Jackie Kay. I don’t read a lot of poetry but the blurb on the back cover struck a few emotional chords. πŸ“š


Read: Nobody’s Empire by Stuart Murdoch. Very enjoyable debut by the Belle and Sebastian singer/songwriter. Obviously very autobiographical. Recommended to any fans of the band. πŸ“š