Book botherer
Belfast
Joined January 2009
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- Followers15.5K
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
I read Gabriel’s Lament this year and found his writing and characterisation to be so moving, comical and harrowing. A great tribute to him and like you, I believe he had a real gift for a capturing character in dialogue. This will spur me on to read more! Thanks!
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
“Do you know, if she put all the cocks she’s had end to end, there’d be enough to fit a handrail round the world. Drink up, dear!”
Yes, drink up! I wrote this tribute to the late, great Paul Bailey:
thetimes.com/article/2de02fa…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
Immensely sad to hear of the death of Paul Bailey at the age of 87. Reading and rereading his novels and memoirs over the last year has been the greatest pleasure imaginable.
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
"The appetite is whetted but not quite satisfied."
Me on the thrills, longueurs, page-turning scenes and backstory hell of Tim Winton's "curiously lopsided" new novel of 23rd-century climate activism, Juice:
thetimes.com/culture/books/a…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
Wonderful to welcome authors @moniqueroffey, @kevinjhosein & @SafiyaSinclair to @CrescentArts last night. Thrilled to be continuing our collaboration with @bocaslitfest celebrating Caribbean writing annually with @BelfastFestival
@fightingwordsni @LitBritish #BIAF24 #bocas2024
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
Enjoyable evening at @BelfastFestival listening to David Peace talk about his latest football-inspired novel Munichs
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
How are intimate relations of family & friendship shaped by the tensions & conflicts of societies under pressure? Caribbean writers @kevinjhosein, @moniqueroffey & @SafiyaSinclair in discussion with @john_self at @CrescentArts at @BelfastFestival
#bocas2024 #bocasbelfast2024
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
A treat to have @bocaslitfest in Belfast with @BelfastFestival - superb discussion and readings from writers Monique Roffey, Kevin Jared Hosein & Safiya Sinclair chaired by @john_self in @CrescentArts supported through @BCouncil_NI #BIAF24
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
Delighted to welcome @bocaslitfest back to Belfast with writers Monique Roffey, Kevin Jared Hosein & Safiya Sinclair chaired by @john_self inside @CrescentArts with support from @BCouncil_NI #BIAF24
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
In collaboration with @bocaslitfest, the @BelfastFestival welcomes celebrated writers from Trinidad and Jamaica. Join us they explore how intimate relationships are shaped by the tensions & conflicts of societies under pressure. Tickets: belfastinternationalartsfest… #bocasbelfast2024
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
'It is Enriquez’s great gift that she can make stories with ugly subject matter so addictive and full of life'
@john_self on Mariana Enriquez's A SUNNY PLACE FOR SHADY PEOPLE for @ObsNewReview
theguardian.com/books/2024/o…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
"Bodily suffering is central to Han’s work: when she was writing The Vegetarian she had arthritis in her hands so severe that she had to type the last part holding two pens upside down to hammer away at the keys."
Me on Han Kang, Nobel laureate:
thetimes.com/culture/books/a…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
Bum notes, tin-eared descriptions, a gift for le mot faux, a weird AI version of James Salter’s mandarin style, and a supposedly terrifying attacker called … the Subway Pricker.
I did not like Rumaan Alam’s new novel Entitlement:
theguardian.com/books/2024/o…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
Very sad to hear of the death of Lore Segal, at 96. Read her! 👇
“It took me a decade to find the right drawer to keep my spoons in and now I’m supposed to emigrate to Concordance! I don’t know anybody in Concordance!”
Me on An Absence of Cousins by Lore Segal, “a writer with brio running through everything she does”.
thetimes.com/article/85d54fc…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
'He cried all the way home on the plane, and as he tried to write the book’s final pages his hand became temporarily paralysed. In Cold Blood “nearly killed me”, he said. “I think, in a way, it *did* kill me.”'
Me on Truman Capote at 100:
thetimes.com/culture/books/a…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
I'm tickled pink to be in the October issue of @easyJet Traveller magazine, writing about Vitaliano Brancati's novel Beautiful Antonio, and its glorious setting of Catania in Sicily:
traveller.ink-live.com/html5…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
"Who doesn’t enjoy a good rant? ... A good roar is cathartic, with the energy and vitality of a stand-up comedy routine, and that is part of what Mark Bowles offers in his debut novel..."
Wonderful review from @john_self in Saturday's @TheTimesBooks (we laughed all over again at the sentence about Plaistow):
thetimes.com/article/88d4913…
John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
“Doyle’s control is so nuanced that on one page I was first laughing, then fighting back tears.”
On The Women Behind the Door, which might be Doyle’s best yet (I qualify that only because the first two Paula Spencer novels were high points of his work):
theguardian.com/books/2024/s…
