i turned 30 the other day (yippee!) so i have collated a list of thirty small wisdoms
wisdom for your twenties
thirty advice nuggets for thirty years.
ellenmunroedmunds.substack.com
Ellen
@ellenoffrell.bsky.social
book lady, cheese fiend. school librarian. writing a novel. opinions own
Halfway through the #Carnegies2026 shortlist and I have to say, delighted to find that this year's selections have a bit more of a spirit of fun about them. So nice to not be wading through constant dark themes this time! #LibrarySky #BookSky
Have been off the socials for lent! Did a lot of cooking and looking at trees! Recommend
Going offline for lent (almost anyway) You can still find me on app.thestorygraph.com/profile/elle... substack.com/@booktrotting Intermittently.
Ellen | Substack
London school library professional. Cheese fiend. Slow runner. Erstwhile Shakespearean.
substack.com
Only read one of these so time to get stuck in! #SchoolLibrarian
The Carnegies@carnegiemedals.bsky.social · 6mo agoRevealing the longlist for the #Carnegies2026 Medal for Writing! 🏅✒️ Highlighting diversity and community, these 19 works span from humorous narratives and creative reimaginings to artfully using history to explore identity and relationships . 💫📖 https://carnegies.co.uk/2026-longlists-announced/
I'm meant to be doing a CBT exercise where I have 'worry time' for 15 mins every evening where i look at a list of worries I've had that day, and worry about them. What it's giving me more clarity on, however, is how unrelated my anxiety seems to be to specific 'worries'.
First time writing anything particularly directly related to my #SchoolLibrarian work in the #substack but here we go: my thoughts (misgivings) about the practice of sorting kids into houses in children’s fantasy and whether we’re ready for something new:
please stop sorting the children into houses
what to do when the hat calls you fash.
open.substack.com
First time writing anything particularly directly related to my #SchoolLibrarian work in the #substack but here we go: my thoughts (misgivings) about the practice of sorting kids into houses in children’s fantasy and whether we’re ready for something new:
please stop sorting the children into houses
what to do when the hat calls you fash.
open.substack.com
New #Substack! Looking at #asmr and thinking about ASMR roleplays as a form of play #Writersky
tight squeeze, cool breeze, now you've got the shiveries!
is asmr art? is it fetish? or is it play?
ellenmunroedmunds.substack.com
IT’S TIME FOR MY FIRST ANTI-DESPAIR DAYLIGHT UPDATE OF THE YEAR! The sun rose at 8:05 this morning in London, and will set at 4:06. This is 8 additional minutes of daylight on last week. Yay!
celeste ng, yaa gyasi and - for all that is good and holy - mother tartt: why must we hunger so long?
New #substack, looking back of my year of reading big, thick books. #booksky #librarysky
my year of big, fat books
in the game of tomes, the stitches on my tote bag straps are the real loser
open.substack.com
new #substack: on being fundamentally incompatible with your therapist #writersky
where do you feel that in your body? / horchata
the problem, fundamentally, was the maine coon.
ellenmunroedmunds.substack.com
new on my #substack: my thoughts on growing up at the tail-end of mass radio-listenership and a blue cheese and leek pasta #foodsky #blogsky #substacksky #writersky
what's cracklin? / blue cheese n leek spaghetti
the statistics do not support the idea that 'video killed the radio star'
substack.com
Peter Apps is the GOAT when it comes to untangling London’s housing crisis. Show Me The Bodies was as gripping as a thriller and left me in tears. This one is basically showing me the straight line you could draw between landlord greed and schools cutting support staff - including librarians
New on substack: my thoughts on taking up swimming for my stupid mental health as an adult after a fraught childhood experience with it
a swim in the local leisure centre in the rain
on my fraught journey back to the pool, and the struggles of having a big heid.
open.substack.com
Right #LibrarySky and #Booksky — what are your top #kidlit books of 2025? Particularly keen to read stuff on the MG/YA boundary!
I've not made much of a secret of the fact that my mental health has been a little less than stellar of late. Have decided to revisit a teenage coping mechanism, blogging. (This is my roundabout way of saying I've started a substack) #Substack
puddle / paneer
not a recipe, a journal maybe, maybe cope.
open.substack.com
Boyfriend and I have a back and forth on the go at the moment. He recently finished reading Don Quixote, for context. Me: We need to get you a new book to read. Him: Nah, I've finished reading. Finished all the books. Me: You literally just read the first one.
I grew up right at the perfect golden time to make friends on the internet, who have become some of my closest IRL friends. I got to go to one's wedding a couple year's back! I went to another's birthday party on Wednesday. I feel sad for kids now that a lot of these opportunities seem closed off
Conrad Hackett@conradhackett.bsky.social · 10mo agoHas anything great happened in your life because of social media?
“Where do you get your ideas from, Ms Le Guin?” From forgetting Dostoyevsky and reading road signs backwards, naturally. Where else?
I always hate the way Blinkist frames its services like "read a book in 15 minutes" as if you would get away with telling your pals you'd read the Count of Monte Cristo when actually all you'd done was read the synopsis on Wikipedia.
The New Yorker@newyorker.com · 10mo agoAbridging has always been in vogue. Now, apps like Blinkist take entire books and crunch them down to a series of what are called Blinks—which amount to around 2,000 words. “Is that what books are coming to, a handy social lubricant?” Anthony Lane asks.
Happy #NationalPoetryDay. I picked Lochan by Kathleen Jamie for a school assignment in primary school and it's still my favourite to this day
We agree but add this: the #GreatSchoolLibraries campaign highlights that all children need a school library because adequately funded, staffed school libraries deliver enhanced & independent learning as well as reading & curriculum support & contribute to building lifelong readers. #Staffed
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 10mo agoRachel Reeves pledges a library in every primary school in England
Omg this is so delightful for him how gorgeous
𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐤𝐨 & 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧@quietblkgrl.blacksky.app · 10mo agoY’all they’re bringing back Reading Rainbow with Mychal the librarian!!!!