Weekend Miscellany

Another week has flown by, and the main thing keeping me going is Celebrity Traitors! I’ve also started my second level of British Sign Language, which is already quite a step up from the first level. So it’s all go here, and I don’t seem to be finishing many books – but I’m excited to launch into the 1949 Club next week! As ever, Karen and I are asking everyone to read and review books from a particular year, and this time it’s 1949. Exciting!

Before we get there, here’s a book, a blog post, and a link…

1.) The book – I’m delighted that there’s another volume of Shaun Bythell’s excellent, hilarious diaries from Scotland’s largely secondhand bookshop, and it has just been published: Return of the Bookseller Diarist is out now.

2.) The blog post – it’s a bit of an older one, but I like this centenary look at Flower Phantoms by Ronald Fraser over at Wormwoodiana.

3.) The link – this might just work in the UK, but if you watch the most recent episode of Repair Shop, you’ll see my Mum! She brought in a portrait of our ancestor who embezzled from a bank and went to prison – you can watch it here (and if you’d like to buy Mum’s book about his story, then email me on simonthomasoxford[at]gmail.com and I’ll pass on the info!)

How is it this hot and it is literal October?? It feels very wrong to still be in a t-shirt, and to have the windows open at home. It continues to be a super busy time, and looks like it might be that way for the foreseeable – but let’s take a breather with a book, a blog post, and a link.

1.) The link – exciting news! I was on Naga Munchetty’s Book Club on Radio Five Live this week, thanks to an invite from Kate of the Book Club Review Podcast. We were meant to have an hour of talking about mid-century novels, but breaking news of the plane hijacking rather squeezed our time. You can listen back here – we were about 12.20-30 and 12.45-1.

2.) The blog post – it’s from a few months ago, but I just discovered it: Wormwoodiana’s thoughts on the centenary of Ronald Fraser’s Flower Phantoms. Includes mention of many books I did my DPhil on, and still an endless source of interest to me.

3.) The book – …and in that review, he mentions R.B. Russell’s Past Lives of Old Books, which I hadn’t heard of (despite loving another of his books about old books). I have a copy from Tartarus Press on its way to me…

Happy weekend, everyone! I had the day off on Friday (to recover from working at a Christian festival last weekend) and spent most of it reading and relaxing, which was lovely. It also means I’ve totally lost track of what day it is. But I’m pretty sure it’s now the weekend… and so here is a book, a blog post, and a link for you.

1.) The book – three years ago I wrote about R.C. Sherriff’s brilliant memoir, No Leading Lady. It focuses largely on the genesis, writing, staging and success of Journey’s End, as well as looking at his other works, his home, and his beautiful relationship with his mother. Well, it was also impossible to find copies of it. But thankfully that is no longer the case! It is now available in two volumes from Slightly Foxed Editions! I’m delighted that it’s back in print and urge you to get your hands on the limited edition copies.

2.) The link – it is time for Spinster September again! Nora can explain…

3.) The blog post – …and Radhika has some recommendations for books you might enjoy during it.

Happy weekend, y’all. I’ll be writing a sermon on Colossians, making only my third sermon appearance at my church, so wish me all the best with that! Otherwise, just getting ready for Women in Translation month… Usually, I only manage to read one or none, but this year I’m hoping to do a bit better. I’ve got a few candidates lined up. Hope you have a fab weekend, and here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to help you on your way.

1.) The link – it’s very old, but while trying to see if there’s any table of all previous Booker judges (I couldn’t find one), I stumbled across this excellent Guardian article from 2008. It was celebrating 40 years of the Booker, and managed to get a judge from every previous year to spill the beans – often quite indiscreetly.

2.) The blog post – I wanted to remind myself of the characters in On the Calculation of Volume III before I started On the Calculation of Volume IV, and so stumbled across a blog post on a blog I didn’t know before, A Reader of Else. Well, it certainly acted as a reminder – but so much more than. It is such a brilliant piece of writing about literary fiction and science fiction, characters changing their worlds or resisting them, etc. I can’t believe such fascinating, well-written literary criticism is just available for free!

3.) The book – somehow I only recently learned that Anne Fadiman has written another collection of essays! Frog is the title – does anybody know it? Ex Libris was the starting point for my love of books-about-books, so a new Fadiman volume is always welcome.

Happy weekend! It feels like the heatwave here will never end, and let me tell you, I have largely forgotten to water my garden. But I might be going punting for the first time since 2007 this weekend, so at least I’ll be interacting with water in some way. (What I am definitely not doing is going on my church camp. One year… I will at least find an airbnb nearby.) Here is the usual miscellany to get your weekend off to a good start.

1.) The blog post – I loved Jacqui’s take on The Spring House by Cynthia Asquith so much.

2.) The book – I spontaneously bought Opening Night by Sara Baume while in an independent bookshop in Clapham, following my oh-so-hard rule that I have to buy a book in an independent bookshop. To help the community! You’re welcome, everyone. I didn’t know anything about this book, but it was the one that most appealed – anybody got any thoughts?

3.) The link – this is only relevant if you’re in the UK and work for the NHS, a charity or are a teacher. Are you aware of Tickets for Good? Free or discounted tickets for all manner of concerts, plays and other things – you have to move fast for the most popular things, but a lovely idea that a friend recently told me about.

Obviously all any of us can talk about is the heatwave. Oooof! I am very grateful for aircon in the office, and just about surviving the nights (even Hargreaves the cat has decided that sleeping under the duvet, on my legs, is no longer appropriate). But maybe a book, a blog post, and a link will help cool you down…

1.) The book – I just happened to google Michael Cunningham, to see if there was another book on the way. I didn’t have much hope but, excitingly, there is a memoir coming out in July! Unsayable is about his writing life, and I’m already putting it speculatively on my Best Books of 2026 without having read a word.

2.) The blog post – a couple of reviews of the latest British Library Women Writers title are out. I’m so excited that we managed to get The Spring House by Cynthia Asquith onto the list. It’s an absolutely brilliant, sensitive, moving and often funny portrait of a young woman whose ancestral home is turned into a hospital for injured soldiers. Liz and Books and Wine Gums have both written about it glowingly.

3.) The link – I’ve really got into the podcast All British Comedy Explained recently. A British guy shows classic sitcoms and other comedies to an American comedian who hasn’t seen them, and she gives her hot takes. Very nostalgic for those of us who grew up loving The Good Life, Dad’s Army etc, though possibly not as fun if you don’t already know the sitcoms they’re discussing.

Happy weekend! I had my wisdom tooth out mid-1961 Club and I am kinda done with it being sore (they did warn me it could be at least two weeks) so hoping for some sunshine and book-related-fun to distract me over the weekend. In fact, I’ll be seeing Rachel’s play tonight. I’d invite you along, but it is sold out! There’s another bookish plan that I’ll tell you about afterwards…

1.) The book – or several books! My book group recently read Margaret Atwood’s Hagseed, which I thought was excellent. It’s part of a series of rewriting/updating Shakespeare’s plays, and is based on The Tempest. It all lay dormant for a while but, excitingly, I see they’ve recently republished all the titles in beautiful new editions – and added a couple to the list too. Mark Haddon has covered Pericles in The Porpoise and Isaac Merion has taken on Romeo and Juliet in Warm Bodies. And now, of course, I need all of these. (Image borrowed from here.)

2.) The link – over at This Reading Life, Brona has reviewed the latest On the Calculation of Volume book. I’m a couple of books behind, so have only skimmed the review – but thought I’d reshare her link to an interview with Solvej Balle that looks really interesting.

3.) The blog post – WHY have I never read Shirley Hazzard? Cathy’s review of The Bay of Noon has made me, yet again, keen to get to her sooner rather than later.

Hello all! I’m back from my blogging break, with fresh enthusiasm for it. And let’s kick off with a weekend miscellany – which is really just to remind you that the 1961 Club kicks off on Monday! Grab any book, in any language, format etc, first published in 1961 – and together we’ll read and review as many as we can. Can’t wait.

Alongside that, here is your book, blog post, and link…

1.) The link – I’ve just finished my final Muriel Spark novel, so it’s far too late for me to read an article by James Bailey called ‘Where to start with Muriel Spark‘, but it is interesting nonetheless.

2.) The book – talking of which, James Bailey has just published a new biography of Muriel Spark: Like A Cat Loves A Bird. I’m excited to read it at some point, and we do seem to be in a golden era of new Spark biogs (i.e. there is also Electric Spark by Frances Wilson).

3.) The blog post – I’m delighted to learn that Nicholas Royle has written another book about his bibliophilia – Finders, Keepers – and Karen’s review will make you as keen as I am to read it.

I recognise that, at the time of writing, the weekend is almost over – and somehow it is only my third post in February. It has been a busy year so far! I hope you’re having a good month – I’m pleased to say there are finally signs of spring in the air, and I even have a window open (albeit also a heated blanket). For the final hours of the weekend, here is a book, a blog post, and a link…

1.) The link – I enjoyed this Guardian article on reading targets, with quotes from a wide range of philosophies (and pics of the darling of Book YouTube, Jack Edwards, who seems like a wonderful advocate for reading. And followed me on Twitter back when I had a Twitter account, y’all).

2.) The blog post – is actually a video, forgive me. Ages ago I filmed with Shawn from Shawn Breathes Books about a book we both love: O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith. And now you can watch our hour-long chat in the video below!

3.) The book – speaking of British Library Women Writers, I have now spotted a cover in the wild, so I’ll make a little announcement! It’s been a long time (too long) since we had a new novel in the series – but there will be one in June, and it’s the wonderful The Spring House by Cynthia Asquith. You can preorder in the usual places, and have a gander at what I thought of the book when I read it in 2024.

Happy weekend, everyone! I’m off to a wedding – for the past five or six years, I’ve been down to one wedding a year. How did I ever have the energy to go to five or so in a year? Anyway, this one is local and the weather looks good (but not too hot to put on a suit), and there are lots of people I know there – all ingredients for a fantastic day.

Hope you’re having a good one, however you’re spending it. Here’s a book, a blog post, and a link to accompany you through it.

1.) The book – I still haven’t read any Laurie Colwin, but was very tempted by Another Marvelous Thing (though that US spelling of ‘marvellous’ is very hard to take). Indeed, any W&N Essentials book looks irresistible in their striking new packaging, but Colwin stood out as a writer I’ve been meaning to try for a long time.

2.) The blog post – Moira at Clothes in Books has picked the best cosy crime novels.

3.) The link – is there more to say about the Salt Path situ? Yes, it turns out – Polly Aitken is a disabled nature writer who was told her writing was uncommercial if it didn’t include a miracle cure, and she has some very interesting things to say.