Let's lead with the good news and bury the bad – tonight, I will be in conversation with the glorious Eley Williams at Daunt Marylebone at 7pm. (Bad news: Monica Heisey has covid 😢). Thanks for stepping in Giant Rat of Sumatra. Tickets for Daunt Books here: dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/events/re…

Thanks to Guardian Books for asking me to look back through some formative bookshelves. (Alternative title: ‘To Slime Own Self Be Goo: R L Stine and Failures of Theology as Bibliomemoir’)

As John has pointed out, the playing cards for Subbuteo Angling are MAGNIFICENT!

Eley Williams, author of the brilliant, prizewinning short story collection ATTRIB. AND OTHER STORIES, will be at the shop on 6 Aug to discuss her new collection MODERATE TO POOR, OCCASIONALLY GOOD with So Mayer Book your tickets now: lrb.me/kn3

This is now up on the Crowdfunder - £20! It’s the good stuff, I’m telling you - Rose won 2 golds and 2 silvers in the World's Original Marmalade Awards 2022 🍯🫙🏺literally award-winning stuff

A flower for today Borage (Borago officinalis), Cym. tafod yr ych (oxtongue)

Feeling lost, I decided to plot the location of all the discarded gloves I saw as I drove my van around Huddersfield. Maybe they would literally point the way for me? themostdifficultthingever.com/2024/07/hudder…

As my hairdresser, podiatrist, and obituary-writer-in-training attest ‘neat endings’ aren't my forte (they go on to say something that begins with ‘and we STRONGLY recommend—’ but let’s move on, this is not important). Thanks, Guardian Books, for reading and this encouragement

FANTASIA, the new poetry collection by Nisha Ramayya, publishes today ✨ 'FANTASIA is full of insight, energy, wit and curiosity' Eley Williams uk.bookshop.org/p/books/fantas… Snap up one of the remaining (free) tickets to the launch event at SET eventbrite.co.uk/e/launch-of-fa…

EVENTS THIS WEEK lrb.me/events TUES: Eley Williams & So Mayer lrb.me/kn3 WED: Yasmin Zaher & Sheena Patel lrb.me/3n3 THURS: Goodbye to the Cake Shop late shopping evening lrb.me/9n3

TONIGHT! Still time to grab your tickets for Eley Williams & So Mayer - at the Bookshop, 7pm tonight - book here: lrb.me/kn3

This, from the FB group Terrible Art In Charity Shops, is from a charity shop in Wexford. I think it is fantastic.

let people writhe

If you're under 30 and in London: There are £25 tickets for front stalls seats at the Lucien Msamati/Ben Whishaw Waiting for Godot reserved for under-30s. There are not many left and I just nabbed 2, go get em

Coming out in October: DUETS! Eight astounding short stories co-written by sixteen authors. Lyrical and exhilarating, their brilliance formed by the harmonies and tensions in their creation. scratch-books.co.uk/product-page/d… Featuring (brace yourself)…

I just backed Verso Books on Kickstarter - for £25 you get a host of amazing ebooks and get to help support one of the most vital publishing houses of the left. If you can, please chip in! kickstarter.com/projects/verso…