An end of week fortnight recap

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. It is easier to wage a battle against distant abstractions than to fight the quiet war inside one’s own soul. Yet this is the only war that ever mattered.”
– Leo Tolstoy (Three Methods of Reform, 1900)

It is mighty good to be back with you after my extended break. I had great fun helping Mrs J celebrate her BIG birthday, but the time has come to cease all revelry and devote my energies to some serious link truffling. 🧐

Much yo-ho-ho-ing is called for (in addition to cape-wearing) because in Australia, Canada and the UK it is both International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Batman Day. Those in the United States need not feel left out though, because it is National Meow Like a Pirate Day over there, an occasion when cats and pirates are encouraged to harmonise in praise of paws and patches. Tomorrow, the people of Belgium’s Walloon region come together to honour their culture and traditions on the Day of Wallonia and, what’s more, it is Hispanic Heritage Month in the USA.

In our born-on-this-day roll-call for the weekend, we have the Finnish writer Mika Waltari (1908), British novelist, playwright and poet William Golding (1911), Welsh novelist, biographer and journalist Penelope Mortimer (1918), South African poet and highly regarded figure in modern Afrikaans literature Ingrid Jonker (1933), South African Tswana poet and journalist Keorapetse William Kgositsile (1938), British SFF writer Tanith Lee (1947), American crime writer Laurie R. King (1952) and Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera (1964). 🍰 Then, tomorrow we wish many happy returns to our Sunday assortment, among whom are the Romanian poet and translator George Coșbuc (1866), English poet, novelist, playwright and literary critic Charles Williams (1886), English poet and novelist Stevie Smith (1902), American poet and writer Donald Hall (1928), American author of historical romances Jude Deveraux (1947), American author, screenwriter and TV producer George R.R. Martin (1948), Welsh poet and author Owen Sheers (1974) and American novelist Hanya Yanagihara (1974).

As ever, this is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on the TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming publications, see what folk have on their nightstands and keep readers abreast of various book-related opinions and happenings.

CHATTERBOOKS >>

If you are planning a reading event, challenge, competition or anything else likely to be of interest to the book blogging community and its followers, please let me know. I will happily share your news here with the fabulous array of bibliowonks who read this weekly wind up.

* Time to Split *

The Tove Telegraph has become ever more moominlogged as the year has progressed, so it became necessary to separate the newsy page from the calendar of events. This means you can now keep up with the latest Tove Jansson‑related happenings – exhibitions, shows, parades, book readings and so forth – via the newest addition to Tove Trove. >> Please peruse: The Diary of Tovian Events >> 

Don’t forget there is now a dedicated index page for everything Tove, making it easier to find all the relevant posts. You can access it from the main menu at the top of every Book Jotter page: >> Tove Trove Main Index >>. Plenty more will be happening with this over the coming months, so be sure to check back often. 🎩👜

* Blogs from the Bookcellar * 

I have blown the dust off two (or to be strictly accurate, three) past critiques for you this week. 1) Since it is William Golding’s birthday today, we head back to July 2025 and James Wallace Harris’s appraisal of The Inheritors for Classics of Science Fiction. Published in 1955, this prehistoric novel about “a small band of Neanderthals confronting Homo Sapiens” some 40,000 years ago is mostly told “in [the] third-person” and viewed from a Neanderthal perspective, “following a male named Lok.” However, because “Golding expects his readers to decode action from the limited awareness of [his protagonist’s] mind”, the “narrative [can sometimes be] confusing,” though, James believes this is “intentional” on the part of the author, suggesting the reader is expected to struggle to comprehend events much as the character does himself. It isn’t “a breezy read”, he says – indeed, it reminds him in some ways of Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange – leaving him puzzled over certain aspects. Nevertheless, “Golding offers several interesting speculative theories” and James feels additional “layers” would be revealed with “two or three” readings. To see more of his thoughts, I suggest you drag your knuckles along the ground to THE INHERITORS by William Golding. I also recommend you read Lisa Hill of ANZ LitLovers LitBlog’s excellent December 2018 review of The Inheritors (1955), in which she describes the book as “an astonishing novel” that “took [her] breath away.” 2) Last May, The Hermetic Library Blog published a review of Beasts of England (edited by Nathan Connolly), “an event anthology” containing “eleven new short stories from some of the most distinctive voices in British weird, folk and horror fiction.” Each contributor, we are told, “was given one rule: pick a place you know and search the shadows” – the “result [being] a national bestiary” that “maps the country by its monsters”. There are also eight gorgeously gruesome full-page plates accompanying the text all crafted by Michael Lacey, each featuring a different beast. “Together they form a portrait of merry Albion that your tourist board would rather you didn’t read.” Step gingerly over to Beasts of England for more.

* Lit Crit Blogflash *  

This is where I share my favourite pieces of writing from around the blogosphere. There are a great many talented people producing high‑quality book features and reviews, which makes it all the more difficult to pick only this one – posted in recent days:

BOOK REVIEW: The Wine-Dark Sea by Victoria Hislop – In her latest historical novel, The Wine‑Dark Sea, English novelist Victoria Hislop “explores the chaos unleashed on Greek families during the post‑war era” in what is described here as “a powerful, moving and thought‑provoking story” set as one war ends and a new battle begins – “a civil war that will rage for decades and tear families apart.” Her “meticulous research is evident on every page, bringing the characters and story to life in vivid detail”, says Bolsoverian reviewer Emma Alvey, of Emma’s Biblio Treasures, and with “skilful storytelling and rich historic detail, [the author] brings this little‑known chapter in Greek history vividly to life.” Emma “loved how Hislop showcased the dichotomy of people’s experiences during the conflict, finding its “captivating and memorable characters […] a joy to read.” In fact, by the time she had finished the novel, she found herself “an emotional wreck” – but in a positive way, of course. 

* Irresistible Items *

Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I often make a point of tweeting/x-ing (not to mention tooting and bsky-ing) a few favourite finds (or adding them to my Facebook group page), but in case you missed anything on your literary rambles through cyberspace, here is a selection of interesting snippets:

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The Seaboard Review of Books: 🍁🎶 Fret by Nadia Bozak – Canadian mystery novel Fret, about middle-aged Kate – a one-time rising indie rock star now down on her luck – takes place during a heatwave in “the grim, sticky intensity of […] a lower income rental district”. Following its protagonist to the brink and back, Nadia Bozak’s book is “a cautionary tale about the effects of financial and environmental instability on the vulnerable” that proves “humble triumphs […] are possible.”

Necessary Fiction: 💔😊 The Cut Line – Carolina Pihelgas’s ultimately hopeful novella “is two things at once: a classic story about a bad breakup, and thoughtful geopolitical fable. Gorgeously translated from the Estonian by Daisy Hurford, the novel follows Liine, a middle-aged woman who flees her life in the city of Tartu, in southern Estonia, in an attempt to escape an abusive relationship.” Diane Josefowicz shares her thoughts on The Cut Line.

Gathering Light: 🖨️ A list of independent publishers who will change your reading life for the better – Dominika’s tip for the week is “pay attention to independent publishers, especially those that reprint out-of-print books” – then take a look at the “list of publishers [she likes] to keep an eye on and support.”

The Sydney Morning Herald (via Archive Today): 🦘 Sorry, Jane Austen, but these Australian novels had us at hello – Sophie Quick may be drowning in bonnet-wearing classics, but she thinks it’s about time to talk about the real literary masters.

Tolkien twosome: 🧙‍♂️🍻
The Middle Page: An Introduction to Tolkien’s short stories: Farmer Giles of Ham and Leaf by Niggle – Kelly enters “the fall season [by introducing her readers to] two of J.R.R. Tolkien’s short stories that stand outside of any of his Middle-earth writings: Leaf by Niggle and Farmer Giles of Ham” – both written when he was “working diligently on what would become The Lord of the Rings.” Here she has created “short summaries of each of these stories and the historical context of how they fit into Tolkien’s life, [along with] reading prompts, discussions [and] questions”.
Open Culture: Discover J.R.R. Tolkien’s Personal Book Cover Designs for The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – “Long known as a visual artist as well as a literary one, Tolkien left behind over 100 illustrations for The Hobbit, one of which adorns 2011’s HarperCollins 75th anniversary edition of the book. He also created these original cover designs for each book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.” It is unknown, says Dan Colman, “if [any of] these designs ever made it onto books published during his lifetime”.

The Arts Fuse: Book Review: Alexander Herzen’s “Future” Has Arrived – Tom Connolly reviews Alexander Herzen’s “magnum opus” Past and Thoughts: An Annotated Critical Edition (translated by Robert N. Harris), which “restores the Russian revolutionary writer’s intimate family drama and brings his penetrating critique of tyranny, populism, and political extremism” to English-speaking readers. It is, says Connolly, “arguably the most influential memoir published in 19^th-century Russia—an epic of political agitation, marital scandal, death, betrayal, and despair.”

Reads With Alicia: 🍂 What my friends are reading this autumn | Reads With Friends – “116 autumn books from 27 bookish friends [of Alicia Loh] on Substack, from gothic classics and cosy romance to horror, science, and Booker Prize longlist reads”.

The Telegraph (via Archive Today): This literary genius has died much too young – “Lieke Marsman died earlier this year, aged 35. She left behind this stunning, profound and often funny meditation on living”, writes Kate Simpson of On Another Planet They Can Save Me (translated by Sophie Collins), the Dutch poet, novelist, essayist and philosopher’s memoir covering the years 2020 to 2024.

Institute for the Future of Education: Observatory: Opinion | Cosmos and Chaos: The Great Masters – “Borges, Kafka, Joyce, Pessoa, and other great authors never won the Nobel Prize. In this opinion piece, Andrés García Barrios shares his reflections on literature, freedom, and exclusion.”

Literary Ladies Guide: ✍️🚫 Go ahead, judge my book by its cover – Nava Atlas gives first sight of the cover of her latest book, Women Writing Dangerously: An Illustrated History of Banned, Censored, and Silenced Books by Women Writers, from 19^th-Century Scandals to Contemporary Clashes – an investigation into books by female authors who have been censored or silenced.

Washington Independent Review of Books: Swell: Stories – This South Korean collection “is like entering an alternate universe that can only be accessed through the art of fiction”, writes Alice Stephens. The nine stories in Swell (translated by Janet Hong), “demonstrate the impossibility of a narrative’s fixed meaning, as characters try to reconcile their perceptions and memories with those of other characters, and tales are told and retold.”

Do Some Damage: 🕵️‍♂️🔮🫣👻🛸 Investigating the Speculative – Scott Adlerberg introduces his piece by saying, this discussion “was arranged by [novelist] Richie Narvaez, who has contributed to and co-edited the upcoming anthology”, The Speculative Detective Agency: Case Files of the Supernatural and Fantastic. Scott himself “contributed a piece to this anthology […] and [he tells us,] it should be a fun one to read, featuring stories that blend sleuthing and the uncanny.”

Africa is a Country: 🚨 This book was born in the streets – “Kenya’s youth uprising was documented in real time through music, murals, memes, and essays. Publishing that history became an act of resistance in its own right.” Gathanga Ndung’u on the essay collection From Mau Mau to Ruto Must Go: A Scrapbook of Essays on Kenya’s Struggle Against Imperialism, edited by Shiraz Durrani.

Jansplaining: 🪖 The world shouldn’t forget Ukraine’s early suffering as the war enters a new stage – “James Verini’s The Theater has masterly reporting on the bombing of a Mariupol theater full of civilians, including children, taking shelter from the advancing Russian troops”, writes Jan Harayda. “[T]his book is a reminder of what Ukraine has suffered and why it matters.”

BBC Culture: 📜🪶⚣🚫 ‘Revolutionary in form and content’: How the obscenity trial against 1950s poem Howl reshaped US free speech – “Allan Ginsberg’s graphic verse [Howl] had a seismic effect on American society. When two people were put on trial for selling it, the judgement was a landmark moment in loosening censorship”, says Shaun Curran.

The Ink-Stained Desk: 🧚🫣 Fairy-tale Horror: Blood, Teeth and Happily Ever After. – In the latest installment of Christine Maree Reid’s superb Genre Genealogy Series, she leads us into “a shadowy wood, where the breadcrumbs have been eaten, and the path back home is barred.” In other words, we take a deep dive into Fairy Tale Horror.

Japan Nakama: 😌 Seijaku: The Japanese Concept Promising Calm in a Noisy World – Find out why seijaku is resonating far beyond Japan and what this new release [Miki Fujito’s Seijaku: The Japanese Secret to Finding Stillness (illustrated by Leanne Daphne)] reveals about a quieter way to approach modern life”, suggests Giulia Wilzewski.

Caught by the River: 🌱🦋🧑‍🌾 Call of the wild – We rely on the soil and its rich biodiversity for our food, traditions and folklore, but are we guilty of taking it for granted? “In Down to Earth, recently published by Wilton Square Books, Robert Ashton traces our evolving relationship with the soil. In the following extract, he considers self-sufficiency guides and the East Anglian rural wring canon.”

The Monthly: 🦘🛸⚠️ Apocalypse nah – Brigid Delaney finds re-reading On the Beach, Nevil Shute’s classic Australian dystopian novel of “facing an oncoming slow annihilation following nuclear war, hits differently since the Covid lockdowns.”

Economical with Fiction: 🦁🦄 Lipstick and Nylons: Why Was Susan Really Exiled from Narnia? – “Susan, as Narnia fans will know, being the sole Pevensie child (one of the four child protagonists in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) […] does not get to go with her family to the ‘real Narnia’ at the end of the series.” C.S. Lewis’s treatment of this character is often said to be misogynistic or “faith-based”, but E.J. Barnes thinks otherwise. She argues that it has far more “to do with changes between the Wars, Britain’s declining position in the world and its economic relationship with the United States.” Lewis, she suggests, was merely on trend.

The Oxonian Review: Inès Cagnati’s Ordinary Cruelty – Inès Cagnati’s Crazy Genie (translated from the French by Liesl Schillinger) was originally published in 1976 and was reissued by NYBR Classics earlier this year. It “follows Marie, a young girl in rural France, who lives alone with her mother Genie” – both “estranged from their extended, well-to-do family because Genie got pregnant [at a young age] and out of wedlock.” Describing this historical novella, Lydia Tadross Marks comments: “In the current political context, the novel’s attention to normalized bigotry feels especially urgent. Understanding everyday prejudice offers a better understanding of how conservatism and violence against women prevail.”

The New York Times (via Archive Today): 🍁⚣✨ A Slim, Astonishing Novel of a Man Haunted by His Dead Boyfriends – “In The Living Realm, [a British] expat in Germany is visited by phantoms”, says Christopher Bollen of Canadian author Jordan Tannahill’s new gay/magical realism novel.

Gathering Bones: Review: Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple – First published by the English writer of popular fiction in 1953, “Someone at a Distance tells the story of the North family: middle class, comfortably well-off, loving and happy” – until “Louise Lanier, a bitter and unhappy woman […] infiltrates the [household] and ruthlessly attempts to get what she wants, no matter who she hurts in the process”, says Eva Baker. She recommends the book to “readers who value strong characterisation and emotion”.

Cairo Scene: 🖨️🖌️✂️ Within the Folds of Zine-Making in Egypt – “With traditional publishing gradually inching more and more out of reach, people on the Egyptian arts and culture scene take to single sheets of paper to communicate”, reports Layla Raik.

Quill & Quire: 🍁📚 Shop Talk: Lit Wine & Books – Lit Wine & Books, a shop in Collingwood, Ontario, is spotlighted in this “occasional feature in which fledgling independent booksellers take [Cassandra Drudi] into their stores [to] share their reasons for opening” and discuss with her how their business is faring at present.

Larisa’s Substack: ☭ Boris Pasternak. His life and Poetry – The author of this essay, Larisa Rimerm, was “born, raised, and educated in Soviet Russia [graduating] from Leningrad University with a Master’s in Russian language and Literature. In 1980, [she and her] family escaped the USSR, and [they] now [live] in New Jersey.” She writes regularly on “Russian poets before and after revolution” – in this instance focusing on the poet, novelist and literary translator Boris Pasternak (1890-1960).

The Observer (via Archive Today): 🎤 Kate Atkinson: ‘I never talk to other writers’ – “The [British] author [speaks to Ellen Peirson-Hagger about] ethical dilemmas, wriggling winkles, and why she set her new [historical] novel Our Noble Selves in the lead-up to the Festival of Britain.”

Astmptote: 🍂🕵️‍♂️🔪 What’s New in Translation: September 2026 – “September is a smorgasbord in the publishing industry, and in this edition, [the] reviewers have selected thirteen titles from the rich buffet” – including some of the latest publications from Italy, China, Germany, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Japan, Palestine, Oman, Taiwan, France and Bulgaria. The book featured here is Morgana Kretzmann’s crime novel/political thriller The Red Earth (translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn), set in “the subtropical forest of Brazil’s southernmost state, just over the Uruguay River from Argentina, [where] the soil is red.”

The Indian Express: 🥻👻 New books: Two compelling debuts and one cup of reheated comfort – Aishwarya Khosla, Reva Thakkar and Anusree K C deliver their fortnightly Quick Verdict, where three new titles are weighed for “hit or miss”. For instance, Pia Ghosh‑Roy’s And I Am the Arrow – an “intergenerational” novel tracing the ways in which trauma threads itself through the lives of three Chatterjee women – is a definite HIT.

From My Bookshelf: 👩‍🎓🏫 About That Jean Brodie – Professor of Political Science and Dean of Religion, Humanities and Global Studies at Houghton University, Peter C. Meilaender, shares with us his fascinating take on Scottish author Muriel Spark’s 1961 classic, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie while catching her “acidic gaze”.

Southwest Review: ⚰️🦄 Breaking the Silence – “Mexican author Clyo Mendoza’s 2018 book Silencio”, newly translated by Christina MacSweeney, is “a collage of poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction, recounting the stories of Indigenous people, mainly women and girls, from Oaxaca, where [the author] grew up.” It is an account of surviving femicide and destruction in Mexico, using fantasy to relate atrocities that exist beyond language.

A*** H***: 😆 “A Peep into the Past” by Max Beerbohm – Alan Horn on A Peep into the Past, a satire on Oscar Wilde written by parodist Max Beerbohm in late 1893 or early 1894.

Publishers Weekly: 🍁🦋👦👧 Just Announced: Magic Cat to Reissue Margaret Atwood Middle Grade Novel ‘For the Birds’ – “Magic Cat Publishing, an independent U.K. publisher with a U.S. imprint under Abrams, will publish a newly illustrated edition of two-time Booker Prize winner Margaret Atwood’s middle grade novel For the Birds in spring 2027”, reveals Iyana Jones. Previously a Canadian-only release, this story of a girl whose perspective on birds changes has now been illustrated by Júlia Sardà.

Books On The Go: 🦘 My top 10 Australian novels of all time – “Inspired by ABC Radio National’s countdown”, Anna has selected her list of favourite Australian novels and written “a short blurb [to accompany] each book”. She provides the link for you to vote, too.

The Common: Review: 💘🔮🫣 St. Ulphia’s Dead by Scott Lambridis – “‘If you want the truth, you must ask someone else. Someone like me, who’s been here, on this island, all along,’ writes author Scott Lambridis in his dizzying and darkly humorous debut novel, St. Ulphia’s Dead. Addictive and deceptive, the novel demands the reader’s full attention—as nothing is quite what it seems”, says Britta Stromeyer.

Nippon.com: 🍙🥃👻 Kawakami Hiromi’s “Snack Futari”: One Last Drink Before I Go – “Internationally celebrated author Kawakami Hiromi creates her latest irresistible world in Snack Futari, which was recently published in Japan. A neighbourhood night spot is the setting for a buddy story between the two older women who run it, and a series of encounters with ghostly visitors who have unfinished business”, writes Hatori Yoshiyuki.

In pursuit of the past: 📖✍️ Reading Like a Writer – “What a difference it makes to pick up a book at the right moment!” When Nikki first read Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them she was recovering from surgery and remembers little of the experience. She tried once again but this time found herself “spontaneously thinking of examples from [her] own [current] reading” – leading to her taking notes and creating a “conscious exercise” for others to try out when reading. She encourages everyone to “play along”.

The Wall Street Journal (via Archive Today): 🤖✍️ Writers Are Going to Extremes to Prove They Didn’t Use AI – “People are adding typos, aggressively casual language and references to ‘The Office’ to stay ahead of armchair detectors; ‘It’s like the new McCarthyism’”, says Te-Ping Chen.

Common Threads: 📖📚 A serendipitous reading list by Daniel Puzzo – Since we all enjoy a good book list, I have highlighted Rebecca’s latest “guest reading list” from the “self-proclaimed curmudgeon Daniel Puzzo” (aka Teacher by Trade, Mentor by Mistake), with an “ode to the books he had bought the last time he went charity shopping in the UK.” Here he presents a “Retroactive Seasonal Reading List, consisting of five books, the same number that Rebecca has settled on.”

The Creative Independent: 🎤✍️🖨️ On finding the courage to create – “Writer Roxane Gay and designer Debbie Millman discuss getting back to the page, thinking about the future, and remembering that publishing a book should not be easy.”

Finding Lost Voices: 🎤🫣 Finding Lost Voices: An Interview with Doireann Ní Ghríofa about her new book, Said the Dead – In her “weekly email that brings back the voices of those who have been forgotten or misremembered”, award-winning literary biographer and poet Iris Jamahl Dunkle sits down with Irish writer Doireann Ní Ghríofa to discuss Said the Dead (first mentioned here in WUTW #471), her new historical novel set in a Victorian mental hospital.

The Asian Age: 🖨️ India Becomes a Publishing Hub for Asian Literature – “India is rapidly emerging as an important publishing hub for Asian literature, bringing together writers, translators, publishers and readers from across the continent. With its large and diverse reading public, expanding publishing industry and long tradition of multilingual literature, the country is increasingly becoming a meeting point for literary voices from different parts of Asia.”

University of Cambridge: 📖 Reading for pleasure – and for better health – Craig Brierley reports: “Reading for pleasure – from tucking into a Jane Austen classic to devouring a Heartstopper graphic novel – is linked to better mental health, greater empathy and a lower risk of dementia, say researchers.”

The Conversation: ✈️ Why the places we love in books can never quite be found in real life – From Hardy’s Wessex to Brontë country, literary tourists may be chasing places that never quite existed as they imagine them. What are visitors “hoping to find when they get there?” asks Rebecca Hutcheon. “The answer is more complicated than it might seem.”

BBC Oxfordshire: 🖌️ ‘Illustrating Brideshead Revisited was a privilege’ – “It took Oxford-based artist Weimin He nearly a year to create his ‘deeply immersive’, yet ‘challenging’ project – the first illustrations for a Chinese edition of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, published in August”, reports Galya Dimitrova.

California Review of Books: 🛸🦄 Harper Perennial’s 2026 Olive Editions – David Starkey reviews the latest set of “small-format publications” comprising all “eight of [the] top science fiction and fantasy titles on Harper Perennial’s list” – describing them as “quite elegant, with stylish cover illustrations by Ibrahim Rayintakath.” The title featured here is Highfire by Eoin Colfer about “possibly the last dragon left on the planet.” He recommends it “to anyone wanting a quick read with a salty narrator and plenty of action.” Also included are works by Ursula K. Le Guin, Aldous Huxley and Terry Pratchett.

Hankyoreh: 🎤✍ Damon Galgut on writing in a country where a book can cost half your monthly wage – On a recent visit to Korea “the South African Booker winner [discussed] writing about apartheid when many white people are ‘very reluctant to give up privilege and power’”, writes Im In-tack.

Two pieces on Annie Dillard:
The New York Times (via Archive Today): 🦋✝️ Annie Dillard, Meditative Author of ‘Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,’ Dies at 81 – American writer Annie Dillard’s 1974 memoir Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a “Thoreau-like account of journeys in the woods, published when she was 28, was the first of many ruminations on life and nature, good and evil.”
Lapham’s Quarterly: 🌋🐢 Dear Lewis, Dear Annie – In 1974, “a writer, recently returned from the Galápagos, corresponds with her assigning editor.” A tribute to Annie Dillard in letters.

John Paul Brammer: ✍️🤖 Writing Should Hurt – “If it’s true no one reads anymore, you’d think there’d be fewer writers. But there are a lot of them [and, if this is the case, they] will [soon] outnumber readers 1,000 to 1.” In fact, there will be little point in writing with no readers left. Author and artist John Paul Brammer on why we hate making an effort and “our relationship to pain and creativity”.

Salon: 📚💵 My library card has saved me $1,330 — and I want more – “Chicago Public Library tells patrons exactly what they’ve saved.” Ashlie D. Stevens says he has “become obsessed with running up the amount”.

Korea JoongAng Daily: 🖨️ ‘Best-sellers’ for sale: Korea’s small book market leaves rankings open to manipulation – “A scandal involving best-selling author Lee Ki-ju has revived scrutiny of an old publishing trick in Korea: buying books in bulk to climb the best-seller charts.”

The Dial: 🤖 Jonathan Swift v. AI – “Three hundred years ago, the satirist warned of a world in which reading and writing are replaced by the flashy simulation of human knowledge.” Might he be able to “help us fix it?” wonders Dónal Gill.

The Front List: 🎤🔖 I’m obsessed with this letterpress subscription – “The monthly Thornwillow Press ‘Dispatch’ is a surprisingly affordable fine press collectible.” Adam Morgan shares his delight in “an artisanal letterpress printing, engraving, and bookbinding imprint in Newburgh, New York, with an affordably priced monthly subscription” – which he describes as “a visual and tactile double shot of dopamine.” Here he speaks with “Luke Ives Pontifell, who founded Thornwillow in 1985”.

London Review of Books: Boozing and Lounging – “One of Willie Wilde’s favourite acts was making jokes at the expense of his famous brother: ‘Oscar was NOT a man of bad character: you could have trusted him with a woman anywhere’; ‘Thank God my vices were decent.’ And he flogged the two trunks of fine clothes Oscar had given to him, raising around £12.” Tom Crewe reviews Matthew Sturgis’s literary biography Relative Failures: The Lives of Willie Wilde, Mabel Beardsley and Howard Sturgis. You can also read Melanie McDonagh’s positive take on this title for The Standard in Relative Failures by Matthew Sturgis: Fascinating tales of sibling rivalry.

Chicago Tribune (via Archive Today): ⚣✍️📖 Biblioracle: Is Marlon James’ new novel ‘The Disappearers’ the novel of the decade? – “It is not possible to write a wholly satisfactory review of Marlon James’ new novel The Disappearers within my weekly allotted space of 600 words”, complains John Warner. “Truth be told, [it] is […] a bit snug for what [he’d] like to say”, so instead he attempts to “capture what it was like to read this book” while allowing the reader to decide for themselves if it is something they would care to read.

McSweeney’s: 🤖 A Note from Your Editor Regarding the Entirely Routine Authentication of Your Humanity – Wearing her editor’s hat, Seema Yasmin pens an explanatory reply to a hopeful writer submitting a manuscript for publication. “To establish that AI did not write your book, we will upload it to an AI detector”, she says, while immediately reassuring them: “Results are extremely reliable, provided ‘reliable’ is understood in its newer, more innovative sense.”

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FINALLY >>

If there is something you would particularly like to see in Winding Up the Week or if you have any suggestions, questions or comments for Book Jotter in general, please drop me a line or comment below. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I wish you a week bountiful in books and rich in reading.

NB In this feature, ‘winding up’ refers to the act of concluding something and should not be confused with the British expression: ‘wind-up’ – an age-old pastime of ‘winding-up’ friends and family by teasing or playing pranks on them. If you would like to know more about this term, there is an excellent description on Urban Dictionary.

>> See my monthly digest at the Book Jotter Journal on Substack. >>

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: Australian Literature, Book Censorship, British Fiction, Canadian Literature, Daniel Hahn, Day of Wallonia, Eoin Colfer, Fantasy Fiction, Folk Horror, Francine Prose, Harper Perennial Olive Editions, Humour, Latin American Literature, Leo Tolstoy, Matthew Sturgis, Moomin Events, Morgana Kretzmann, Nadia Bozak, Nathan Connolly, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Nava Atlas, Nevil Shute, Science Fiction, Tove Jansson Events, Tove Trove, Translated Fiction, Victoria Hislop, William Golding, Women Writers