Although I have stopped posting on social media, I do like taking photos and sharing them with people is fun. I just want to do it in a place where I don't feel icky every time I open the app. And so this is the first of what I hope will be a roughly monthly photo dump on my blog and newsletter.
The only necessary context for what follows is that my husband and I have a tiny cottage on one of the smaller islands in Orkney and that we spent some time there this summer.
Just a normal summer evening. Taken from the end of our road.Morris explores the Earl's Palace in Birsay.We went on an expedition to the Orkney mainland to visit this beautiful beach. I did knit that headband myself, yes — a vital summer accessory in the far north of the UK where it is somewhat warm but also windy enough to want your ears covered.A curious local cow.The primary school children were asked to make signs for the island gym about why exercise is worth doing. I really like the last point here: "If you keep going to the gym you could be like this snail."The flower festival in St Magnus' cathedral in Kirkwall was both weird and wonderful. Each arrangement had a very specific theme and this one was "Eurovision Song Contest" (?).While we were in Orkney, we went on a little mini-break for a couple of days to one of the "outer" isles (ie the ones where the ferry from the Orkney mainland takes 90+ minutes). We went to Stronsay, known as the "Island of Bays". Morris tried to swim at all of them while we were there.There was also an excellent heritage centre with displays about the island's boom years as a landing place for a massive herring fleet.Another one of Stronsay's many lovely beaches. I like a beach where you wear boots, gloves and a coat to visit it in August.Stronsay's other major attraction is this rock arch known as the "Vat of Kirbister". Most of the rest of our days looked a bit like this: back on our usual island, enjoying the fact that (barring Storm Floris) the weather was exceptionally good this summer.On our way south to get back to our usual abode in north-west England, we stopped at Loch Brora so Morris could swim. (Are you sensing a theme of how we travel, it's mostly just between bodies of water so our dog can enjoy himself.)Then we went to Edinburgh, a place I love but have only made very fleeting visits to for book events in recent years.This time we were there for a bit longer and managed some wandering about, as well as some time working in here, the National Library of Scotland.And now we have returned to our usual stomping grounds. The willow has grown rather.
If you were missing the photos of my dog I used to post on Instagram, I hope this has made up for it! I'll aim to do another photo dump at the start of next month.
The Serial-style narrative podcast series is already almost extinct, because they don't make as much money as regularly publishing celebrity interview shows. An interesting analysis.
For some reason, I've been convinced from the start that there was something odd going on with Selena Gomez's mental health startup, "Wondermind". Turns out I was right!
This is a thought-provoking look at the gendered nature of the literary feud. I did also like the author's all-caps disclaimer addressed to those who found the piece on Bluesky.
Thoughts on the question "How Can I Write At A Time Like This?". "Maybe one answer to how to write now is to teach yourself what you might need to be relentless. To ask yourself how do I tell the truth while I’m alive, and how do I keep telling the truth after I die?"
I've seen a lot of Penelope Fitzgerald appreciations in the US media recently, I think because it's the 25th anniversary of her death this year. Apparently she is having a moment over there? I recommend her novel Offshore, by the way, which was a very important book to me while I was writing The Way to the Sea.
This is an entire YouTube channel dedicated to instructional videos for all manner of letter-locking techniques (this being how you securely enclosed your missive prior to the adoption of the envelope). The one above is a Jane Austen special.
This is my first time seeing one of my books published in translation and I'm completely thrilled by the experience. I think everyone in this line of work has different things that make them feel like a "proper author", and I didn't know until it happened that this was one of mine. Many thanks to everyone at Wydawnictwo Czarne and my literary agency, C&W, who brought this about.
Sarabet Chang Yuye gives some sensible advice for keeping house when you're not very good at keeping house. This part especially resonated with me:
"Explicitly enter THE MODE. Part of the despair is not knowing when I should be in THE MODE or not. Set a timer for the end."
This piece skews a bit much towards digital marketing agency speak for my liking, but it does make some valuable points about the "cruel paradox" of the so-called creator economy. Successful influencers become successful because the way they communicate their humanity is appealing, but the very process of sharing and distributing this part of themselves slowly kills said humanity. This is what I was trying to get at in my social media essay when I said that I came to realise that "the so-called creator economy is a blatant pyramid scheme underwritten by some of the worst corporations in the world".
A software curator at the Internet Archive explains why it is worth preserving Flash (even if you found it very annoying in the mid 2000s). So much creative expression went into those browser games and animations.
It has long been my opinion that Elementary, the TV series starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, is far superior to the BBC's Sherlock (the Benedict Cumberbatch one). This is not an especially popular or widely held opinion, which made me all the more delighted to come across this essay on why it's both a good Holmesian adaptation and good television.
You've heard of a url shortener — bit.ly et al — but what about a url lengthener? One that adds a lot of needless and meaningless text to make your link much more likely to trigger a spam filter if included in an email? You can even add emojis and philosophy quotes, if you want.
A thought provoking list. As a perpetual diary-abandoner, I'm trying to let this one inspire me:
"I regret that I have never kept a journal, especially in my 20s. Nothing fancy; I just wish I had kept a regular list of what I was eating, who I was meeting, where I was sleeping, what I was doing for fun. I especially wish I had kept a list of everyone I met, and their contact info."
In Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers, the Dowager Duchess is always getting her quotations confused. But this isn't a character trait deployed only to indicate absent-mindedness; as this analysis shows, her substitutions generally have something to say about the book's themes. Sayers, as her fans well know, is very serious about the matter of quotations.
I don't at all understand how this video was made, but I enjoyed flying around a miniaturised Baltic state nonetheless.
A Wikipedia editor has uncovered what looked like a decade-long attempt at self-promotion by a minor American composer, David Woodard. Until recently, Woodard's entry was the most-translated on the entire site, appearing in 335 languages (for reference, the country of Japan only has 334).
"This editing pattern clearly displayed a long-term intent to create as many articles about Woodard as possible, and to spread photos of and information on Woodard to as many articles as possible, while hiding that activity as much as possible. And it worked for a long time, up until the number of inter-wiki links got too high for people not to question it."
A few weeks ago I shared a piece looking at what Gen Z are spending their "fun money" on. Now we can go younger still, thanks to these interviews in the Observer with tweens about what they "really want". Purchases here that I love the sound of and would enjoy today at my advanced age: a Crash Bandicoot Switch game, a top with cherries on it, a Sylvanian family figure and a Jacqueline Wilson book.
What comes after autofiction? This writer makes the case for "igno-fiction", which engages with ideas of spirituality, religion and mysticism. Is this why publishers are churning out the Greek myths retellings these days?
If you are at all interested in the topics of weight loss/body positivity/fat liberation, I recommend watching this video by comedian Sofie Hagen addressing their own weight loss. Content warning, obviously, for all that comes with this subject. It's a graceful and informative attempt to grapple with a difficult subject.
In Pride and Prejudice, Caroline Bingley waspishly states that to be considered accomplished, “a woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all of this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions.” Mr Darcy adds that she must also improve her mind via "extensive reading". This consideration of how that might translate to today speculates that being in a position to turn down romantic overtures from the wrong person is the twenty-first century version of a woman's accomplishments.
"After about two seconds (yes the password was that simple) I had the password! Embarrassingly, it was something we easily could have and should have guessed. But we didn’t, so my effort was for something at least."
I should be clear, this GQ profile of Travis Kelce is not good, in the sense that it is neither well-written nor revelatory nor particularly original. But I still read it compulsively, because it's just such perfect combination of all the most egregious things this style of journalism can be. They did a photoshoot in a swamp Zoolander would be proud of! The interviewer even allowed himself a small moment of horniness: "You don’t ever get to see them, hidden by game pants and socks, but his legs are tremendous, real Bernini shit. And to witness him perform a Nordic hamstring curl is something I will never, ever forget." Chef's kiss.
"When my first book was published, I thought I'd made it, that I was going to be a Successful Writer now. I was confused and dismayed to realize that wasn’t the case. I’d accomplished this major thing, this lifelong goal, and it didn’t really change anything. It didn’t make it easier to sell my next book or even pitch an article. My thinking before that first book was very black and white: I thought I was about to be a success, and then, when I didn't feel like I imagined being successful would feel, I figured that meant I was a failure."
We should all be writing about our ancestors. This piece about the writer's grandmother Herta Schlerff is full of surprising twists: she was born in Bulgaria to a family of florists, educated in Egypt and Switzerland, worked at the newly created League of Nations, got married, emigrated to Argentina, got divorced, married someone half her age, and more.
Storyterra is an interactive global map showing where stories are set — it includes books, films, games and TV shows. So if you are travelling somewhere, you can scroll around and find some media set in the new place you are exploring.
NPR's Tiny Desk is always worth watching. As someone said in the comments of this one: "Clipse making us realise we’ve been listening to mediocre rap...".
Helsinki has just managed an entire year without a road traffic accident death. The most important thing, apparently, was reducing speed limits, but better public transport and well-designed areas for pedestrians and cyclists also helped.
I don't think I've ever seen such a cinematic video about woodworking. I'm in awe: imagine using a circular saw safely and also thinking about how to make that look interesting on camera at the same time!
The Wicked film promotional rollout was not a fluke, it was merely the mainstreaming of a growing trend: the TikTokification of the press junket. Movie stars are all chasing a single viral clip now, rather than deigning to talk about their work. "There are some of us, still, who want to hear about the actual films, rather than what a good boyfriend the actor would be for the internet. Regardless of the form, it’s a deliberate dumbing down."
Godchecker: a sort of Wikipedia, but just for deities of all origins and cultures.
Are we "scapegoating the algorithm"? An argument that the problems of political polarisation and disinformation already existed before social media. US-centric, but an interesting read nonetheless.
Account of a conservation programme in northern Mexico where ranchers (who previously hunted big cats to protect their herds) are paid per photo of a live jaguar from the motion capture cameras on their land. It seems to both saving animals and producing fun jaguar selfies!
A series of photographs that tell the story of the Lykov family. They belonged to an offshoot of the Russian Orthodox religion known as the "Old Believers" and in 1936 disappeared into the Siberian wilderness so they could follow their faith unmolested by successive Soviet regimes. They were rediscovered in 1978 when a team of geologists flew over their remote cabin, 160 miles from the nearest human settlement. The family did not know that WW2 had happened and declined to be relocated. One daughter of the original patriarch still lives out there.
Use the Tourist Map of Literature to see other readers' preferences mapped and find recommendations. Type in the name of your favourite author and see the strong and weak ties that surround them.
On fame and normality: "I'm sometimes more impressed by normality, especially successful people who've touched the sun and still choose normality in the end."
I am exactly the right age for this piece about rewatching The OC and finding the nostalgia genuinely painful rather than heartwarming (minus the observations about playing high school football, obviously I didn't do that).
"Instead of being bound by time and space, productivity is feelings oriented. It’s hard to define exactly what counts as productive, because the answer is that which feels productive. If your attention span is fried to cinders, watching a movie — a sustained engagement with one piece of media over a longer period of time — does feel productive. Because it is feelings oriented, productivity is itself hyper-individual. It feels different for everyone — although, when we’re all consuming the same online content centred on self-optimisation, it increasingly feels the same. When you want to ‘hit your step count’, going for a walk feels productive. When you want to ‘reduce inflammation’, a six step morning routine, complete with morning yoga and lymphatic drainage massage, feels productive. When you want to ‘heal your trauma’, journalling and going to online therapy feels productive."
"Designing these covers is a joy. My brief is generally: This is the new book by Zadie Smith. The cover needs to convey: ‘This is the new book by Zadie Smith.’"
It's not your fault that you can't work out what to do with your life: this has only been a question humans have faced since about 1850 and our brains have not yet evolved a way of dealing with it. Apparently.
A theory of a certain kind of new novel: one which is designed to be optioned for TV, because that's one of the only ways left a novelist can make a lot of money.
