Tom Bentley
bentguy.bsky.social
Tom Bentley
@bentguy.bsky.social
Fiction and nonfiction books plus a slew of travel, essays, content marketing and word stews | adept balderdash tosser | offers open mouth to classic #cocktails
Reposted by Tom Bentley
December 30, 2025 at 5:36 PM
This beguiling writer sounds gifted, eccentric, and charming. And she knew how to cook a coyote. #recipes #cooking

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/b...
A Last Meal With One of the Finest Food Writers in America
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Fascinating to hear these short snippets of famous authors (Baldwin, Didion, Vonnegut and more) speaking at presentations:

#JamesBaldwin #JoanDidion #KurtVonnegut

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/b...
Joan Didion and Kurt Vonnegut Had Something to Say. We Have It on Tape.
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Beatiful and moving piece. Here’s to your friend’s memory.
December 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Sad to hear that Betty Soskin died, but at 104, she moved through time, and with impact. I talked with her 10 years back in a very short profile for The American Scholar:

#BettyReidSoskin

theamericanscholar.org/riveting/
Riveting - The American Scholar
theamericanscholar.org
December 22, 2025 at 10:14 PM
This is hilarious (but scary, since the robots are coming)/
December 17, 2025 at 11:31 PM
A proud gathering of mushrooms under some pines at New Brighton State Park (CA) yesterday. No, we didn't eat any...
#mushrooms
December 15, 2025 at 7:20 PM
In a moment when censorship is spreading rapidly, and school libraries remain dramatically under-resourced, this bill sends a clear message:

Fund school libraries, stop book bans.

action.everylibrary.org/hr6640s3365 via @everylibrary.bsky.social
SEND AN EMAIL: Support the Right to Read in the United States
In a moment when censorship is spreading rapidly, and school libraries remain dramatically under-resourced, this bill sends a clear message
action.everylibrary.org
December 14, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Tonight’s respite: a Black Manhattan, w/ Restoration rye, Montenegro amaro, Antica vermouth, Angostura & Peychaud’s bitters, brandied cherry. Ooh, needed this one… #cocktails
December 13, 2025 at 1:06 AM
I love these structural and artistic breakdowns of how poems work, with the helpful visual highlighting. #Poetry

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/11/books/louise-gluck-poem-early-december-croton-hudson.html?rsrc=flt&smid=url-share
I Think This Poem Is Kind of Into You
Our critic A.O. Scott feels the heat of a wintry lyric by the Nobel laureate Louise Glück.
www.nytimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 11:10 PM
So now typefaces are woke too. Our government, fallen so low into the pit of the pathetic, continues to plummet.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/u...
At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke
www.nytimes.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Good (if unsettling) stuff.
December 3, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Nice chew by a NYT book critic of a novelist's single paragraph to taste all its colors and shapes, using visual prompts for the writing.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
From NYT’s 10 Best Books of 2025: A.O. Scott on Kiran Desai’s New Novel (Gift Article)
Our critic A.O. Scott breaks down a scene from Kiran Desai’s lavish new novel, “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny.”
www.nytimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:52 PM
It has to be difficult to be a writer for The Onion these days, when the miserable antics of this administration are beyond irony.

Clown Car Diplomacy
open.substack.com/pub/steady/p...
Clown Car Diplomacy
Maybe Trump’s developer friends should stick to real estate
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:56 PM
This monarchical creature was a newborn yesterday. We have 10 other chrysalises hanging from various spots in the yard (we have lots of milkweed and the monarchs have laid lots of eggs) for their chances. #monarchs #butterflies
November 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Retired trains and a mural from the Salinas, CA train station #trains #California
November 17, 2025 at 10:51 PM
A salute to my dad on #VeteransDay. He's now in the big B-17 in the sky, but flew many campaigns as a waistgunner both over Europe and Korea, and managed to come home with his warm sense of humor intact. Here he is with his brother Sturge (L.), and reacquainting himself with a machine gun.
November 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Ignoring vile politics for the nonce, I was delighted to see this NYT recipe for intoxicating chocolate cake from a Lisbon bakery we visited in mid-2023. The memory tastes good, but this cake IRL, wow!

cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020...
Lisbon Chocolate Cake (Published 2019)
cooking.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Helpful advice on showing—and sharing—some light with young men:

tim.blog/2025/10/24/a...
Notes on Being a Man, and Advice for Young Men Who Are Feeling Lost — Scott Galloway - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
I'm hoping Scott's book will act as a virtual mentor for young men who are feeling lost, stuck, angry, or despondent about the future.
tim.blog
October 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM
A great day at the plaza in Watsonville, CA. Many hilarious signs (mine is a contender) and the marvel of famed labor activist Dolores Huerta, who addressed the crowd with vigor and a strong, persuasive voice. Dolores is 95. Heroes are made of this.
#NoKings
October 18, 2025 at 10:47 PM