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alifeinbooks

@alifeinbooks.bsky.social

880 followers 250 following 2K posts

Mainly books but also travel and art, viewing rather than creating I blog at http://alifeinbooks.co.uk and live in beautiful Bath, UK.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 7h

The Two Roberts by Damian Barr: ‘The Golden Boys of Bond Street’ alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/the-... @canongate.co.uk

The Two Roberts by Damian Barr: ‘The Golden Boys of Bond Street’ - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 5h

#FridayFun: Old Berlin Houses or How Squalor Became Desirable findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com/2025/10/10/f...

#FridayFun: Old Berlin Houses or How Squalor Became Desirable

And I’m back online! Have you missed me? I’ve certainly missed all of you and your blogs, but I won’t miss waving my phone about on the balcony in the hope of better reception. Sa…

findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 6h

Friday's reading courtesy of #NetGalley - the reliably excellent Bryan Washington's new novel, Palaver, set in Tokyo where a mother pays an unexpected and unwelcome visit to her son. Coming from @atlanticbooks.bsky.social in January

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 7h

The Two Roberts by Damian Barr: ‘The Golden Boys of Bond Street’ alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/the-... @canongate.co.uk

The Two Roberts by Damian Barr: ‘The Golden Boys of Bond Street’ - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

Reposted by alifeinbooks

Andrew Porter @andrewporter01.bsky.social · 7h

Thank you so much, @drmcgowan.bsky.social! 🙂

Fraser McGowan @drmcgowan.bsky.social · 18d

Good morning. I'm reading this elegaic novel about a man determined to find out the truth about his late father, a man who seems both strange and familiar to him. It's so beautifully written that, before you know it, you're halfway through it.

💙📚 #Booksky #Reading

A copy of The Imagined Life by Andrew Porter (London: Europa Editions, 2025).

The cover is an oil painting-like image of a Californian poolside at dusk. Through the patio doors on the right of the image, a sitting room is just visible, illuminated by electric light. The predominant colours are blue and orange.

The book itself is held up against a bookcase.

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 9h

New review on my blog - The Two Roberts by Damian Barr: ‘The Golden Boys of Bond Street’ alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/the-... #BookSky

The Two Roberts by Damian Barr: ‘The Golden Boys of Bond Street’ - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 9h

bookertalk.com/my-reading-l...

My Reading Life: September 2025 : BookerTalk

I’m going for a re-brand of the posts I use to look back at the month just ended. “Reading Wrap Up” was such a dull and uninspiring title I was bored even just writing it into WordPress. So I’m kickin...

bookertalk.com

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Damian Barr @damianbarr.bsky.social · 20h

I’ve been curating an exhibition about the Two Roberts and it opens next week at Charleston in Lewes. Over 100 works, including some that have never been shown before! Big gay Scottish working-class art lov and joy FOR YOU! Book now:

www.charleston.org.uk/exhibition/r...

Charleston — Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: Artists, Lovers, Outsiders

Explore the lives and work of the 'Two Roberts'

www.charleston.org.uk

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 23h

You're my biggest fan of these posts!

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

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No 229 The Ax by Donald E. Westlake for #RIPXX

Donald E. Westlake’s The Ax (1997) is a darkly funny, razor-edged thriller that slices into middle-class anxiety with unnerving precision. I’ve never read Westlake before, but he built his re…

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Karen Faris @karenfaris.bsky.social · 1d

What could be better than travel and books? @alifeinbooks.bsky.social blogs are always special reading occasions!

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 2d

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/eigh... @karenfaris.bsky.social

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

#BookReview of #Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell www.swirlandthread.com/nesting-rois...

Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell | Review

Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (Jan 2025, Scribner) is described as 'tense, beautiful...underpinned by an unassailable love, hope & resilience'

www.swirlandthread.com

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

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Book Review – Dominion of Dust by Matthew Harffy @AriesFiction

About the Book AD 797, Cyprus. Warrior-monk Hunlaf and his crew are on a voyage to acquire an important Christian relic before it falls into the hands of Byzantium’s scheming Empress Eirene. Hunlaf…

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RachelWardbooks @rachelwardbooks.bsky.social · 1d

An acceptable use of an early Christmas tree at Waterstones, Bath yesterday for the launch of Murder at Christmas by Fleur Hitchcock & Ice Dancer by Alex Cotter. It's 10+ years since I wrote a book for younger readers, but children's book people are some of the finest. Lovely evening, fab books.

Two books at the base of a Christmas tree with a teddy bear and some gingerbread men on a table.

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Josh Spero @joshspero.ft.com · 1d

In the creative industries/the media and want to mentor? @artsemergency.bsky.social is looking for enthusiastic professionals

Although we have lots of great potential mentors, we are still short of applicants in the Merseyside region and we could do with more applicants in London working in the following career areas:

- Gaming and animation
- Fashion design
- Broadcast journalism
- Visual arts: illustrators / people with illustration experience or any experience relevant to character design
- Performing arts: musical theatre performers or people with experience in the musical theatre industry
- Film & TV - on screen
- Architecture and interior design

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

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TBR Thursday 473…

The current state of the TBR, and a preview of four books I’ll be reading soon: The Token by Sharon Bolton, The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, and Laura…

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

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Book Review: Four by Four

“Our lives are nothing more than a succession of lies and appearances. We all play a role and it’s only the nuances in our performance that define us.” Four by Four, by Sara Mesa …

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/eigh... #Travel

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

Lovely to hear that! I thought you might miss it.

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Damian Ward @damianward.bsky.social · 1d

Port Meadow, Oxfordshire 2025.

#photography
#monochrome
#blackandwhite

A black and white image of a horse with its mane blowing in the wind.

© Damian Ward 2025.

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 1d

@cathybrown746.bsky.social @karenfaris.bsky.social @theunhurriedreader.bsky.social @hopewellslibrary.bsky.social Many thanks for sharing my post. Enjoy your evening!

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Salt Books @saltpublishing.com · 3d

Help Salt take its publishing to the next level!

Donate to Keep Independent Publishing Alive – Support Salt Books 2026, organized by Christopher Hamilton-Emery

Help Salt Publish Brilliant New Books in 2026 For twenty-… Christopher Hamilton-Emery needs your support for Keep Independent Publishing Alive – Support Salt Books 2026

gofund.me

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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 2d

UAE has no democratically elected institutions, no free speech and an appalling human rights record.

Its economy functions on completely different metrics to the ours & ranks well below us for GDP

No serious person would ever think that we should emulate it.

But here's Tice calling us decadent

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 2d

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/eigh... @karenfaris.bsky.social

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

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Reposted by alifeinbooks

alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 2d

New on my blog: Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books alifeinbooks.co.uk/2025/10/eigh...

Eight Days in Austria, Two Days in Switzerland, Five Days in France and Three Books - A life in books

Book reviews, snippets of book news, and alerts about books outside the glare of the publicity spotlight.

alifeinbooks.co.uk

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alifeinbooks @alifeinbooks.bsky.social · 2d

We did! Already seems a long time ago...