I have a joke about Achilles, but it’s tendentious.

THE THOMAS HARDY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND is fast approaching!

Join us on the 1st and 2nd of June to celebrate the 184th birthday of one of Britain's most celebrated writers, with a weekend of walks, lectures, poetry readings and more.

You can find more info at
hardysociety.org/oxo/571/thomas…

We love this @guardianbooks feature on librarians' ideas for how to get lost in literature -- everything from exploring audiobooks to checking prize lists like the #WalterScottPrize for Historical Fiction. With thanks to Sarah Phillips and Louise Morrish 🌕
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…

Thank you Prahlad Srihari for this terrific appraisal of The Chosen in the same article as #Maestro and #Priscilla ! 🙏 Quercus Books Ana Sampson McLaughlin hindustantimes.com/books/married-…

Has anyone written a modern P&P where Darcy's letter to Elizabeth is one long, impossible-to-read text sent at 4am?

I feel seen 😁

A book blogger is for life, not just for publication day

Really chuffed to see Anne Enright winning the fiction category of #writersprize2024 with this tough and beautiful novel TheWritersPrize #amreading

With edits and insertions in Percy Shelley’s hand. Funny how they so often make the text wordier, and/or worse (‘was unable to’ for ‘could not’, ‘sunshine’ for ‘day’)

'His most enduring female characters offer an unfiltered picture of a new kind of woman...The paradox is that in the long run Hardy was unable to transfer this insight to his relationships.' Read Elizabeth Lowry's look at Dr Paula Byrne Author FRSA's HARDY WOMEN. the-tls.co.uk/articles/hardy…

This brilliant review includes the phrase “dough before beaus” which should be mandatory in every examination of the marriage market

So pleased to have the chance to review Dr Paula Byrne Author FRSA’s riveting new book about the women in Thomas Hardy’s life for The TLS #Biography

This week’s The TLS, featuring Elizabeth Lowry on Hardy and women; Martin Vander Weyer on high finance; @edithmayhall on Plato; Jessie Munton on Thomas Nagel; Damon Galgut on Diane Oliver; Jeremy Dauber on Yiddish; a new poem by Vona Groarke – and more

Lovely to see The Chosen on this list of former #walterscottprize shortlist picks by WhatCathyReadNext 🥰 #histfic riverrun Elizabeth Masters

(Reading volume 6 of Proust) Come on mate, that lost time isn’t going to find itself

The Iliad

Our Folio Academy has voted 'The Wren, The Wren' as one of the top novels of last year.

Reviewers and critics were similarly impressed 🙌

@ft @katyataylor @guardianbooks Elizabeth Lowry Laura Hackett Sunday Times Culture New York Times Books Ada Calhoun Telegraph Books

I received 3 writing rejections this week and like… am I not my mother’s talented little boy to these people?

Sisyphus when he’s allowed to work from home.