Maylin
@blithespirit4.bsky.social
Canadian living in Liverpool, UK. Knitter, reader, hiker, lover of all textiles and the great outdoors. Once a bookseller, always a bookseller.
I've been wanting to read more of Maylis De Kerangal since reading Canoes, her collection of short stories. Enjoyed this short, intense novel about a soldier deserting on the Trans-Siberian train and the woman reluctantly trying to help him. Translated by Jessica Moore, book 2 for #witmonth
First book read for #witmonth After a slow start, I really enjoyed this novel about the relationship between an author and translator, cultural differences, colonialism and unconscious bias. Inventive structure especially the afterwords. And a detailed banquet description to make you very hungry.
Happened to be in two bookshops today, adding to my pile of potential #Witmonth reads. The Hjorth comes highly recommended by @jacquiwine.bsky.social and I wanted to add some short story collections to the mix. I am going to alternate between authors new to me and those who I want to read more of.
As always, some stunning quilts on display at The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham. Congratulations to Silent Eyes by Sung Yeon Park which won Best in Show and was truly the most incredible quilt I saw. It's absolutely stunning. #FOQ2026
Pulled some great options from the bookshelves for #witmonth #witmonth2026 Will likely start with Taiwan Travelogue but open to suggestions for must reads during the month. I am hoping to get through at least ten.
Warming up for #witmonth with a novel ( not in translation), about 8 translators searching for their missing author, translated by the English one who is also a character in the story written by the Spanish one, and so she adds footnotes. Halfway and it's weird, funny, playful and I'm hooked.
Two Scottish writers' take on what happens when writers become jealous of each other. My first McDermid and I really enjoyed it. Ali Smith blurbed Thompson as "Angela Carter crossed with the Scottish diffidence of Muriel Spark". Hmmm. Definitely weirder and less comic than Spark but good island lit.
Enjoyed his talk in Chester last month, so this will be a fun event. And send you down the Muriel rabbit hole. . .
James Bailey@drjamesbailey.bsky.social · last mo.Hello, I’ve an event for my Muriel Spark biography next Weds (15th) at Waterstones Liverpool. We’ve sold barely any tickets, however, and it might be cancelled as a result. Please get a ticket if you’re nearby - it’ll be a lot of fun, and I’ll bring badges! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waterstone...
June was Muriel month. 3 bios led to 3 novels & the complete poetry and short stories. With a break for The Correspondent which was fun. Spark's short stories were especially wonderful, thanks @drjamesbailey.bsky.social for the recommendation. A dip turned into reading the whole collection! 1/2
Quite glad in this heat to have a garden full of alpines, succulents, grasses and some lavender. They seem to be flourishing in the sun and don't need much watering. Although the weeding will wait until it cools down. #gardensky
Read these back to back. The Finishing School, Spark's final novel was a little too pat for my taste, but I really enjoyed Symposium - surely there is a literary sub genre for the dinner-party-goes-wrong novel. Very funny, eccentric characters, and Spark's usual flair and craft with time shifts.
Back from a lovely week's holiday on the Isle of Arran. Coastal walks, caves, walks through Glen Rosa and Glen Sannox ( one slightly scary scramble), some rain, but good food and company. HF holidays are the best!
RIP David Hockney - I will always be grateful to you for your role in helping restore Salts Mills. And thank you for all the colour no one created more beautiful trees!
It's Muriel month inspired by two brilliant biographies. Wilson's focuses more on the first part of Spark's life: dreary relationships & bedsits, wartime codes & paranoia. Her surmise about Nita McEwan - wow! Bailey writes engagingly about her public persona & her later years and novels. And cats.
Saw this adaptation of Woolf's novel last night. It was pleasant enough but nothing extraordinary. A good cast but often given nothing to do. Love Sally Phillips for example but she barely has any lines and most of those are mumbles. And definitely more could have been made of Mary Datchet's role.
I love discovering new indie bookshops and if you are ever visiting Chester, a visit to Books on the Walls is a must. A quirky, excellent choice of titles, lovely coffee, a friendly owner and a real boho vibe. And you have to walk the medieval city walls there! Good events schedule too. #booksky
Always love going to an Alun Perry gig - Liverpool's "Woody Guthrie". Inevitably influenced by the Beatles too. A talented storyteller with catchy tunes. He played my favouite song, Ulysses. A simple concept - everyone's life is an epic like Joyce's novel. "We can be Ulysses too." #Liverpool
Tebay services in Cumbria has long had the best loos on the M6. It now has the best toilet stall advertising too! You can see the sheep grazing outside. Can't get wool more local than that. It's lovely and very reasonably priced. Selection varies - this time there was 4ply. Only £6 a ball #knitsky
Hiked today to Angle Tarn, my favourite place in the Lake District. A little tranquil gem among all the beautiful fells. Weather was perfect - cloudy with a slight breeze - after the heatwave we've had.
Another thought-provoking volume in this fabulous series. With another intriguing cliff hanger at the end. It's going to be hard to wait for the next book which I don't think is published until November. Probably on November 18th. #booksky
Two more on the Women's Prize shortlist - both about writers confronting painful pasts and the coming deaths of loved ones. Of the two, Kingfisher was infinitely more interesting and enjoyable. I suspect I might have appreciated the King when I was younger, but sadly found the story superficial.
May is the month I catch up on some shortlist reading for the Int'l Booker and Women's Prize. Enjoyed both of these, each painful and sad in their own ways. The Director would make a great film in the right hands.
My latest FO - a simple but effective scarf to show off five natural sheep colours. Knit with five 25g balls of Foula Wool, bought at last year's Shetland Wool Week market. I wish you could smell its sheepiness. So soft too. Love it. Pattern is Quintet Shawlet by Ambah O'Brien. #knitsky
Been three months since discovering arthritis in both knees and this is the first hike I've been on. Taking it easy, only went up about 200m as slowly building up knee strength. But wasn't sure I'd get this far so am happy. Partner doing tougher walk; I'll head to excellent bookshop in Grasmere.
Reading the chapter "Books in Films" in Nicholas Royle's Shadow Lines reminds me of the awful beginning of 1943's Jane Eyre - scripted by Aldous Huxley. The film begins with a shot of the first chapter of the book. Except as millions of fans know - it most definitely isn't. Ugh.
Alas, moving across an ocean and limited space have effectively ended my book collecting days. Thankfully I can vicariously relive the joy of the hunt through the quirky adventures of @nicholasroyle.bsky.social ( am halfway through Shadow Lines now), and at least there's one set complete.
Some excellent reading in March. Themes seemed to be prisons, real and fictional, and imprisonment, whether in the mind ( two were about dementia) or through life's circumstances. Highlights were the Harpman and Hoult and I am still enjoying Balle's inventive series. The Feast was clever and fun.
What an astounding, heartbreaking novel. I defy anyone who has known anyone with dementia, not to well up in sad recognition. The Blitz setting adds an extra layer of confusion and danger. Based on Violet Hunt who held literary salons and also wrote ghost stories, that I will now seek out to read.
