An end-of-week, start-of-the-next madcapper in place of my usual recapper
“One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time.”
– G.K. Chesterton (All Things Considered)
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I’m back. Sort of… A day late, somewhat dishevelled and without a wind up to make amends, but I do at least have a few bookish bits and bobs to share with you.
In the USA, it is National Chocolate Cupcake Day and, from today until 24th October, it is National Friends of Libraries Week. Meanwhile, in these here parts, it is the final day of UK Coffee Week. Tomorrow, we can all get decluttering for National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day before making the most of International Gin and Tonic Day. Iechyd da, cheers and chin-chin! 🥴
Today we celebrate the births of English novelist and poet Thomas Love Peacock (1785), American-born British essayist and critic Logan Pearsall Smith (1865), American novelist and short-story writer Fannie Hurst (1889), American novelist and poet H. L. Davis (1894), Macedonian writer Meto Jovanovski (1928), African-American novelist Terry McMillan (1951), American novelist and short story writer Rick Moody (1961) and Indian author and broadcaster Amish Tripathi (1974). 🍸 Among Monday’s merrymakers are English author and polymath Thomas Browne (1605), British-Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833), Lithuanian writer, poet and novelist Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius (1882), Hebrew poet and author Abraham Regelson (1896), Guatemalan poet Miguel Angel Asturias (1899), Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moraes (1913), English author John le Carré (1931), American author and journalist Renata Adler (1937/38?), American crime fiction author Andrew Vachss (1942), English fantasy writer Philip Pullman (1946), American writer Susan Straight (1960) and the Tanzanian-born writer who grew up in South Africa Mark Behr (1963).
* Less is More in November *
Over at 746 Books, Cathy Brown is “gearing up for the SEVENTH year of Novellas in November” – a “month-long blogger/social media challenge celebrating the art of the short book, hosted by [herself] and Rebecca [Foster] of Bookish Beck”, running from 1st to 30th November. Take a gander at Announcing Novellas in November 2026! or Get Ready for Novellas in November! (#NovNov26) to find everything you need to know about this year’s chosen buddy read: Sympathy Tower Tokyo by the award-winning Japanese novelist Rie Qudan, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. You will also find essential information, new images and suggestions for potential activities should you fancy taking part, including My Year in Novellas and New to My TBR. If you’re posting about the event on social media, please be sure to use the #NovNov26 hashtag.
* Yes, MARM! *
“Time to make your MARM selection to read this November!”, says Marcie McCauley of Buried in Print in her announcement for Margaret Atwood Reading Month 2026. She suggests those planning to take part should bring “your handmaid’s bonnet and gown out of storage”, start baking a cake for MA’s 87th birthday on 18th November, select one or more pieces of writing from this remarkable author’s œuvre (novels, poems, stories, comics, non-fiction and essays are all possibilities, even prefaces or introductions she’s contributed to other people’s works), then add your links in the comments section of the official #MARM2026 post. Please peruse In Three Weeks: Margaret Atwood Reading Month #MARM2026 for everything you need to know about participating in this ninth Atwoodian reading challenge. Incidentally, the host has opted this year to read Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature.
* In the Interim *
An extremely sparse sprinkling of bookish oddments for your pleasure:
A Thousand Fragments: 📚 One-Hundred-Word Library: No.1 – In this first short piece on his “journey through the books [in his] library” series, in which he uncovers “favourite reads, curious acquisitions and reconnections to the time and place of first reading, receiving or discovering each book”, photographer, book designer and “lover of the written word” Matt Inwood shares Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet, which he apparently “used to carry […] everywhere with [him] like a Bible of sorts to dip in and out of.” Never intended for publication, this title was assembled from more than 25,000 documents, discovered after the Portuguese poet and writer’s death. The edition featured here is the most complete version of the text ever produced, translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
The Observer (via Archive Today): 📕📗📘 What to read to understand satire – Ben Eastham, author of The Floating World – a dystopia, satire and Bildungsroman, steeped in ancient mythology and contemporary politics – highlights “three books that hold our shortcomings to ridicule, from racial stereotyping to class prejudice and beyond”.
A Reading Life: 📔 How not to ruin your day with a DIARY – A handy little piece from Petya K. Grady for readerly folk thinking of starting a diary or maybe changing their method of diary-keeping. Here she shares a couple of “methods that have truly made a difference” to her journalling.
* Final Word *
That’s all for now, Büchermenschen (since German Lit Month is just around the corner).
Normal service is unlikely to resume in any recognisable way next weekend (and possibly not at all the following week) because I have a rather heavy schedule ahead – but looking on the bright side, you will have a relaxing break from my Saturday megalomessages. 🦖
See my monthly digest at the Book Jotter Journal on Substack. >>
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Categories: Winding Up the Week
An extremely busy reading month coming up – German lit, NoNov, Nonfic Nov, SciFiMonth and goodness knows what else – so how will we all keep up! Thanks for this dispatch, however dashed – there’s still a lot to letch, isn’t there?