Book botherer
Joined January 2009
- Tweets 173,170
- Following 428
- Followers 15,641
- Likes 167
14,728 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
29 Oct 2024
“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…
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8 Nov 2024
I’m now posting all my book stuff on b*s*k*y, and some on Threads, so head there if you want to see the thing I did for Kazuo Ishiguro’s 70th birthday today.
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8 Nov 2024
A link, which I suspect may make this post invisible. You don’t need to have a B*sk account to read it (though it’s a nice place there, with lots of the bookish folk who used to be here):
bsky.app/profile/john-self.b…
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6 Nov 2024
Well done to everyone who helped Musk's vision for Twitter, and by extension America, succeed.
23 Nov 2023
I think lots of people don’t want to start over again on B*sky and are waiting and seeing what happens with this place. Which is understandable. The thing with that though is that by continuing to use Twitter, we make it more likely for Musk’s vision of it to succeed.
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3 Nov 2024
'The brevity is not always important, as Levy is not a writer who wastes time clearing her throat. “The purpose of language for Duras is to nail a catastrophe to the page,” begins one brief essay.'
Me on The Position of Spoons:
theguardian.com/books/2024/n…
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2 Nov 2024
"For one of Britain’s most unusual novelists, it’s business as usual."
Me on Gliff by Ali Smith, who I'd describe as a national treasure if I wasn't pretty sure she'd hate the idea:
thetimes.com/culture/books/a…
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
29 Oct 2024
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!
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
29 Oct 2024
“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…
2
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16
5,717
29 Oct 2024
“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…
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29 Oct 2024
Bailey’s writing has an exaggerated understanding of how people speak. “She had the last of her teeth out on Tuesday and a new gas cooker put in.” A character returns after a suicide attempt to a note from his cleaner: “I gave you the Kiss of Life which I enjoyed I must say.”
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
27 Oct 2024
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.
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27 Oct 2024
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.
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27 Oct 2024
I’ve a long thread of highlights from my year of reading Bailey over on Bluesky, fwiw:
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27 Oct 2024
Bailey’s first invention was himself: he was born Peter Bailey, but imagined a twin brother called Paul—““who spoke in a different voice although he had my face and wore my clothes”—and used the name when he joined Equity and there was already a Peter Bailey registered.
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
26 Oct 2024
"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…
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26 Oct 2024
Very sad to hear about the cancellation of the great Open Book 📕
26 Oct 2024
Tune in on Sunday afternoon for the last ever Open Book, featuring @kamilashamsie, @mrsjaneymac and @TeditorTed talking to me and @johnypitts about their most memorable books of the last 25 years @BBCRadio4 @BBCSounds
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22 Oct 2024
“Language is the worst enemy of mental clarity.”
Me on three novels of social change: David Peace’s Munichs, Lissa Evans’s Small Bomb at Dimperley, and Dino Buzzati’s The Singularity (aka Larger than Life).
thecritic.co.uk/tragedy-come…
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
20 Oct 2024
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John Self is now on Bluesky retweeted
18 Oct 2024
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
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