Susan Pigman 📚
@1susyq.bsky.social
Avid reader, dog walker, and occasional poet. “It is not everyone,” said Elinor, who has your passion for dead leaves.” Jane Austen
Good morning! Today let us play a game called Who is the best Anne? The contenders are only Sexton, Carson and Of Green Gables and you all only get one vote.
Any recommendations for a good translation of “Lost Illusions” by Balzac?
$25,000 tickets for Trump's self-soothing party are now free. Supply and demand, my friends, is a wonderful thing
🚨BREAKING: A nonpartisan network of former military and civilian leaders is warning that hundreds of thousands of overseas voters could be disenfranchised if a new USPS rule based on the president’s order is allowed to stand. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Thousands of overseas voters could be disenfranchised by Trump mail voting rule, advocates warn
The fate of the USPS rule currently hangs in the balance before the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
democracydocket.com
People regularly mark Outlook emails "high importance." But has anyone ever used the option to mark one "low importance." I'm going to start doing it.
Launching tomorrow! Here comes “The Sun.” The Washington Sun, that is. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/b...
Politics News Site NOTUS Rebrands as The Washington Sun
A trademark dispute scuttled its plans to relaunch as The Washington Star, so the site chose a different name.
nytimes.com
This brought me joy. mehttps://youtube.com/watch?v=GTsgGu-9kIs
Anita Brookner on Art - 100 Great Paintings (BBC)
YouTube video by Culture Vulture Rises
youtube.com
Some thoughts on a fascinating memoir of friendship and art: Opening Night by Sara Baume
Opening Night (2026) by Sara Baume
I was in a small independent bookshop in Clapham when I came across Opening Night (2026) by Sara Baume. I have a self-imposed rule that I can’t leave an independent bookshop empty-handed R…
stuckinabook.com
Some sad news tonight Wendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92 www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/u...
Wendell Berry, Writer Who Extolled America’s Agrarian Past, Dies at 92 (Gift Article)
A Kentucky farmer, he railed against agribusiness and championed small family farms and the environment, winning widespread acclaim.
nytimes.com
"I was not shocked that he helped somebody. My shock is that he was murdered. And no one has given us the complete truth or anyone has been held accountable. And it's been 7 months! ... there was more effort in vilifying him than pursuing justice" -- Alex Pretti's parents
Edwidge Danticat’s "Dèy" is a novel about gun violence that refuses to shout. Its restraint only makes it more powerful. My review: roncharles.substack.com/p/the-united...
The United States of Fear
In Edwidge Danticat’s “Dèy,” a mother survives a mass shooting but finds that the ordinary demands of life won’t wait.
roncharles.substack.com
Gratifying to see the "real world" application of a habit I am constantly trying to instil in my students: better file naming! "Essay (final).docx" or "EnglishEssay.docx" is not good enough! Every submission I get is an English essay!
Trident Booksellers & Cafe@tridenthalifax.bsky.social · 4w ago3) PUT IDENTIFYING INFO IN YOUR FILE NAME! The minute I download your cv, it has been separated from your email. It the file is called "Resume (4).docx" I have no idea who it belongs to and cannot easily pull it up. I am not going to rename your file for you.
"Pray what am I to do with the dukes?" #WingsOfTheDove #HenryJames
Is there anyone in the northern Delaware area who is able and interested in adopting a kitten? Friends found her as a stray & trying to find a forever home. Many of us are unable to take on more animals at this time. Comment/DM if know anyone! #Delaware #Maryland #Pennsylvania #NewJersey
The excellent @andrewmale.bsky.social suggested I provide a list of actual good Father's Day book suggestions, so here are 10 "Dad-coded" books that are actually really great literary experiences.
Caustic Cover Critic@causticcovercritic.bsky.social · last mo.Every year, Father's Day comes along to remind me that, as a dad, I am expected to read the most boring books on earth
Ron Charles is, quite simply, the best book reviewer writing these days (it's a crime that @washingtonpost.com cancelled their book coverage). Here's a recent review of Ron's: as always it's thoughtful, intuitive, fearless,& beautifully written. roncharles.substack.com/p/the-unbear...
The Unbearable Burdens of Childhood
Chang-rae Lee’s “A Tender Age” takes the despair of a boy seriously.
roncharles.substack.com
One of my favorite books of all time. No matter how often I return to it, I am heartened by the reminder that humans have always been absurd and war has always been part of that absurdity.
John Crowley, Whose Fantasy Novels Blurred Reality and Dream, Dies at 83 www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/b...
John Crowley, Author of Reality-Blurring Fantasy Novels Like ‘Little, Big,‘ Dies at 83 (Gift Article)
The eminent critic Harold Bloom called his 1981 book “Little, Big” a “neglected masterpiece” and one of the best novels of the 20th century.
nytimes.com
Just saw that The Woman Warrior is 50 years old today. Felt nostalgic. Dug out my copy. Looked inside the front cover. Purchased in 1985 for ENG 207 Contemporary Lit. $6.95. My first semester in college. The new one to the right is attractive too.
Excited to read this - the subtitle is “The glory days of adventurers and rogues, time travelers and great detectives.” I’ve really enjoyed his other bookish books and highly recommend them. This one’ll be out in December
Cardinal sonnet (with thanks to The Sonneteer): substack.com/home/post/p-...
North American Cardinal, Heard in the Attica Zoo, Greece
A Poem by A.E. Stallings
substack.com
THE DIVINERS is superb, one of my top books this year! A remarkable story about a woman's journey of independence and self-discovery, it is also a novel about writing and the creative process, complicated families and mother-daughter relationships, poverty and social prejudices. My thoughts here:
The Diviners – Margaret Laurence
The Diviners by Margaret Laurence is an immersive novel about family, motherhood, writing, one’s roots, and a woman's journey of self-discovery.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com
GOOD MORNING! ☀️ Cover reveal for Martha Zweig’s Snails of the Apocalypse, design by Alban Fischer, which you can PREORDER TODAY! 📚💙🎉 riverriverbooks.org/store/Snails...
New for #WITMonth, six of the best women in translation from Peirene Press: 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/08/01/w...
Women in Translation with Peirene Press
The Mussel Feast by Brigit Vanderbeke Brigit Vanderbeke’s The Mussel Feast, translated by Jamie Bulloch, is a classic example of allegorical fiction, taking afamily meal as the starting point of a …
1streading.wordpress.com
Done & dusted. This @ravensburgertcg.bsky.social 1000 piecer is one of “Ray’s Comic Series,” and it’s called The Campsite. It was incredibly fun to do; I listened to Louis de Bernieres’ Birds Without Wings, which is an absolutely brilliant novel. Both puzzle and book are highly recommended
If Russian hackers want to seed anger and hate on Bluesky they should simply post about giving up on Middlemarch.
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2mo agoWell, this explains a lot of your behavior. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/b...