Glynis Paxton
@glynispax.bsky.social
Local bluebells . Few random observations, books, art, gardening, food. Surrey
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
“I write twelve pages to get one page, and I cut all the time. Unless a writer is superb, I don’t think it’s enough just to go wuffling on.”
And here's my own tribute to Beryl Bainbridge (and her 1973 novel The Dressmaker in particular).
She should have won the Booker "three or four times," said her friend Paul Bailey* after her death. "Hers were better than the junk that did win."
*they used to watch Corrie and compare notes by phone
She should have won the Booker "three or four times," said her friend Paul Bailey* after her death. "Hers were better than the junk that did win."
*they used to watch Corrie and compare notes by phone
The Dressmaker at 50: a novel that encapsulates Beryl Bainbridge’s idiosyncrasies | The Booker Prizes
An uncompromising and funny story of love and death, The Dressmaker was the first of five novels by Beryl Bainbridge to be shortlisted for the Booker.
thebookerprizes.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:16 PM
“I write twelve pages to get one page, and I cut all the time. Unless a writer is superb, I don’t think it’s enough just to go wuffling on.”
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
I'm starting to think I should do some read-ins on Zoom/Substack live or something where we all just turn up with our books, pop a few words about what we're reading into the chat and sit in silence for 45/60/75/90 minutes to read companionably together.
November 2, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I'm starting to think I should do some read-ins on Zoom/Substack live or something where we all just turn up with our books, pop a few words about what we're reading into the chat and sit in silence for 45/60/75/90 minutes to read companionably together.
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Brilliant.
At Southwark Cathedral this morning, Hodge the cat was ready to preach a sermon from the pulpit
October 7, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Brilliant.
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Wise words from a wonderful woman.
Please watch.
Please watch.
Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.
October 5, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Wise words from a wonderful woman.
Please watch.
Please watch.
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Do you like supporting your local eel historian? Well! Have I got some opportunities for you!
1. Over at my ETSY store, I'm selling subway-style maps of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia. You can get them as prints or as digital versions!
#LOTR #maps
www.etsy.com/shop/Surpris...
1. Over at my ETSY store, I'm selling subway-style maps of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia. You can get them as prints or as digital versions!
#LOTR #maps
www.etsy.com/shop/Surpris...
October 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Do you like supporting your local eel historian? Well! Have I got some opportunities for you!
1. Over at my ETSY store, I'm selling subway-style maps of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia. You can get them as prints or as digital versions!
#LOTR #maps
www.etsy.com/shop/Surpris...
1. Over at my ETSY store, I'm selling subway-style maps of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Narnia. You can get them as prints or as digital versions!
#LOTR #maps
www.etsy.com/shop/Surpris...
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
I wonder how many others out there are dumbstruck today that Patricia Routledge only ever performed FOUR Kitty sketches which run to less then 10 minutes in total. She and Victoria Wood created an immortal comedy character in less than 10 minutes.
RIP the great Kitty. Say hello to Victoria, and save some gypsy creams for me "up there". youtu.be/T-iDlTBZhKg
Patricia Routledge Kitty
YouTube video by ukcomedy
youtu.be
October 4, 2025 at 11:04 AM
I wonder how many others out there are dumbstruck today that Patricia Routledge only ever performed FOUR Kitty sketches which run to less then 10 minutes in total. She and Victoria Wood created an immortal comedy character in less than 10 minutes.
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
A free post on Robert Jenrick's campaign to become the next Reform party leader. Plus UnHerd and English folk music
open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
Aces Low
Robert Jenrick and the political uses of nostalgia
open.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 3:25 PM
A free post on Robert Jenrick's campaign to become the next Reform party leader. Plus UnHerd and English folk music
open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
I haven't had a Mac since around 2002 but I'm a bit tired of the planned obsolescence of Windows laptops and wondering . . . if I switch back to Apple will I be glad or sad or mad?
August 28, 2025 at 5:00 PM
I haven't had a Mac since around 2002 but I'm a bit tired of the planned obsolescence of Windows laptops and wondering . . . if I switch back to Apple will I be glad or sad or mad?
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Naomi Alderman and I have broken the fourth wall and are continuing the article in the comments...
![Comment from me (replying to a comment not shown):
Yes. Lots more to be said in this area that I didn't have room for in the article. Naomi Alderman made the point that the process of writing is a way for a writer to work through the topic and 'exorcise' it. You can't do that by giving ChatGPT a prompt and delegating the writing. Delegating the writing is delegating the thinking.
Comment from Naomi Alderman (replying to my comment):
In that way it's like any machine, right? The strengths and the weaknesses.
As an analogy: used to be when a person wanted to chop down a tree they had to get an axe out, think carefully about how that particular tree was growing, whether it was too big for them to safely control, and then swing the axe themselves again and again, they would see what was happening to it and whether a bird or an interesting beetle flew [comment continues, unseen]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2cadvbwpkxtuvmv2gpy5laml/bafkreicecxcd4h6iwhk5yohqybdpfq6rfhcdhbyz63uzv7bew27hfcojby@jpeg)
August 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Naomi Alderman and I have broken the fourth wall and are continuing the article in the comments...
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Can’t believe all the time we’ve wasted down the years watching men’s football
July 27, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Can’t believe all the time we’ve wasted down the years watching men’s football
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
The novel that pretends to be a biography of its own author after his death; a story in the form of a report on Earth by aliens; a book that runs backwards and forwards; one that runs entirely backwards; and more.
I wrote about some of the genre-bending novels from @thebookerprizes.com library:
I wrote about some of the genre-bending novels from @thebookerprizes.com library:
10 of the best genre-bending Booker Prize-nominated novels | The Booker Prizes
If you enjoy innovative books that switch between genres, play with forms, and generally turn the reader’s expectations upside down, this list is for you
thebookerprizes.com
July 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The novel that pretends to be a biography of its own author after his death; a story in the form of a report on Earth by aliens; a book that runs backwards and forwards; one that runs entirely backwards; and more.
I wrote about some of the genre-bending novels from @thebookerprizes.com library:
I wrote about some of the genre-bending novels from @thebookerprizes.com library:
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
July 18, 2025 at 4:12 AM
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Verification update: In April we announced a new form of verification to help you know which voices are authentic and noteworthy. We continue the verification process through Bluesky and our trusted verifiers - which distribute power of verification beyond Bluesky to other notable entities 1/5:
July 2, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Verification update: In April we announced a new form of verification to help you know which voices are authentic and noteworthy. We continue the verification process through Bluesky and our trusted verifiers - which distribute power of verification beyond Bluesky to other notable entities 1/5:
And the book Nigella Express is full of good things- including this tasty time saver
“If you don’t approve, you can ignore”.
Words to live on social media by.
Words to live on social media by.
I have a completely lazy, open-a -few-packets-and-jars affair for #RecipeOfTheDay. If you don’t approve, you can ignore, but I love this Naan Pizza! www.nigella.com/recipes/naan...
June 26, 2025 at 6:50 PM
And the book Nigella Express is full of good things- including this tasty time saver
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Absolute Units returns!!!
In this ep, we speak to environmental historian @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social about her research into pigs in medieval England.
Topics include: taking your hogs for a walk, the Hapsburg chin of domestic pigs, Babe 2, and so much more.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
In this ep, we speak to environmental historian @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social about her research into pigs in medieval England.
Topics include: taking your hogs for a walk, the Hapsburg chin of domestic pigs, Babe 2, and so much more.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
June 26, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Absolute Units returns!!!
In this ep, we speak to environmental historian @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social about her research into pigs in medieval England.
Topics include: taking your hogs for a walk, the Hapsburg chin of domestic pigs, Babe 2, and so much more.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
In this ep, we speak to environmental historian @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social about her research into pigs in medieval England.
Topics include: taking your hogs for a walk, the Hapsburg chin of domestic pigs, Babe 2, and so much more.
merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Unknown woman, as fresh as if she'd been painted yesterday: the pin (the pin!), the folds, but mostly the eyes. Rogier van der Weyden, 1440. Today is his day.
June 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Unknown woman, as fresh as if she'd been painted yesterday: the pin (the pin!), the folds, but mostly the eyes. Rogier van der Weyden, 1440. Today is his day.
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Happy birthday Paul McCartney - 83 today.
Here's Fab Macca - with a kerry oot - in Carnarvon Street, Glasgow, in 1970. Hope he remembered the Rizla papers...
Picture: Linda McCartney
Here's Fab Macca - with a kerry oot - in Carnarvon Street, Glasgow, in 1970. Hope he remembered the Rizla papers...
Picture: Linda McCartney
June 18, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Happy birthday Paul McCartney - 83 today.
Here's Fab Macca - with a kerry oot - in Carnarvon Street, Glasgow, in 1970. Hope he remembered the Rizla papers...
Picture: Linda McCartney
Here's Fab Macca - with a kerry oot - in Carnarvon Street, Glasgow, in 1970. Hope he remembered the Rizla papers...
Picture: Linda McCartney
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Ruth & Boaz: good Old Testament excuse for beautiful harvest landscape in the 1660s from Nicolas Poussin, who was born OTD in 1594.
June 15, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Ruth & Boaz: good Old Testament excuse for beautiful harvest landscape in the 1660s from Nicolas Poussin, who was born OTD in 1594.
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
NEW: This is the road to Mar-a-Lago.
The people of Palm Beach are waving US distress flags and going to right to Trump’s front door to give the middle finger to fascism 👏
Heavy police presence.
#NoKings #50501Movement
(🎥 Brian Allen)
The people of Palm Beach are waving US distress flags and going to right to Trump’s front door to give the middle finger to fascism 👏
Heavy police presence.
#NoKings #50501Movement
(🎥 Brian Allen)
June 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
NEW: This is the road to Mar-a-Lago.
The people of Palm Beach are waving US distress flags and going to right to Trump’s front door to give the middle finger to fascism 👏
Heavy police presence.
#NoKings #50501Movement
(🎥 Brian Allen)
The people of Palm Beach are waving US distress flags and going to right to Trump’s front door to give the middle finger to fascism 👏
Heavy police presence.
#NoKings #50501Movement
(🎥 Brian Allen)
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Sukhjot Singh
"This fierce peregrine mom was patrolling her territory to provide a safe airspace for her newly fledged babies. I thought she was going to attack a few gulls that flew close, but she decided to take a hard right and turn around, offering a rare face-to-face moment with the camera."
"This fierce peregrine mom was patrolling her territory to provide a safe airspace for her newly fledged babies. I thought she was going to attack a few gulls that flew close, but she decided to take a hard right and turn around, offering a rare face-to-face moment with the camera."
June 4, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Sukhjot Singh
"This fierce peregrine mom was patrolling her territory to provide a safe airspace for her newly fledged babies. I thought she was going to attack a few gulls that flew close, but she decided to take a hard right and turn around, offering a rare face-to-face moment with the camera."
"This fierce peregrine mom was patrolling her territory to provide a safe airspace for her newly fledged babies. I thought she was going to attack a few gulls that flew close, but she decided to take a hard right and turn around, offering a rare face-to-face moment with the camera."
Reposted by Glynis Paxton
Midweek treat… observer.co.uk/style/ukrain...
May 29, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Midweek treat… observer.co.uk/style/ukrain...