Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John Self

@john-self.bsky.social

7.7K followers 380 following 13K posts

Book jockey

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 7d

Me on Gore Vidal's centenary👇

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 7d

'Vidal saw Christopher Isherwood remind a young Jewish film producer that the Nazis persecuted gay people too. “After all, Hitler killed 600,000 homosexuals.” The young man was not impressed. “But Hitler killed six *million* Jews,” he said sternly. “What are you?” Isherwood asked. “In real estate?”'

Gore Vidal at 100 — the master of the waspish put-down

The American novelist and critic was born a century ago this month. John Self celebrates the best of his provocative, witty writing

www.thetimes.com

3 8 25

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 19m

When the BBC story described it as the best-selling book for adults of all time, I thought "Adults? Really?"

2 1

Reposted by John Self

Daniel Benneworth-Gray @handle.invalid · 27m

I watched the animated version the other Christmas and it was like have LOVE LAUGH LIVE pushed slowly, deeply into your eyejelly

2 2

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 30m

Lol, sorry but

Listing for The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse: The Fifth Anniversary [sic] Limited Edition (£18.53)

2 2

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 39m

Glenn Moore's "who blons a dumb de now, eh?" tweet from 2014

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 45m

I've never read Charlie Mackesy's book(s), but given this spread was on the BBC News site, I'm assuming it's real and not a spoof of bumptiously sentimental tosh?

Coloured illustration across two pages of a book, showing a horse, fox and boy (and a mole presumably, though I can't see it) approaching a river. Text reads

"Do we know where we are going?" asked the boy
"Not really," said the mole.
"Are we lost then?"
"No," said the fox, "because we have each other."

8 1 7

Reposted by John Self

Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 49m

Ciao, bella.

1 6

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 1h

Yep

Reposted by John Self

Viz Comic @vizcomic.bsky.social · 1h

Subscriptions >>> shop.viz.co.uk/viz349bs

3 79 300

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 3h

Very good

Reposted by John Self

blogmywiki @blogmywiki.bsky.social · 3h

I made a webpage to generate these www.suppertime.co.uk/randomtitle....

Blogmywiki's Amazing Possessive Book Title Generator

www.suppertime.co.uk

1 1 1

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 3h

There’s going to be a novel of this name published within a year, isn’t there?

Einstein’s violin sells for £860k at auction

6 8 23

Reposted by John Self

🅢🅗🅔🅔🅝🅐 @sheena-mck.bsky.social · 4h

This made me laugh more than it probably should 😂
#funny

7 56 180

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 3h

I mean, I already think ours is pretty intuitive. Other members of my family don’t seem to agree.

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 3h

When I open a dishwasher stacked by other members of my family, I like to suck air in over my teeth, like a mechanic. “What cowboy done this?”

1 4

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 3h

Some of us DO NOT WANT a dishwasher with intuitive loading. Being custodian of the stacking is the only power we have.

James Kelleher @jameskelleher.pilcrow.ie · 3h

Instagram’s added a brand new ad format! It’s terrible!

5 3 35

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 3h

‘You could, on the fringes of the conference, hear people muttering that the Tory pitch boiled down to “what if Reform, but led by people who conspicuously failed to do the things they’re now promising?”’

Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 3h

One Small Step: my SKETCH of Kemi Badenoch, a leader unconstrained by reality.

One small step… | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine

“I thought you’d like that one!” Kemi Badenoch shouted as the Conservative Party rose to its feet to cheer. She chuckled happily. There’s nothing Tories like more than a tax cut, and she’d just…

thecritic.co.uk

6 18

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

It's true his moment has probably passed here, but when did that ever concern the Nobel committee? Murnane would be a good one too, though as another perennial favourite I assume he won't win.

1 1

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

"Carefully packaged" - John Self, Daily Telegraph

1 2

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

"Xue has said she never edits her stories: “I rarely correct even a single word.” Well, someone should have a word with her about that. Reading her is like passing through stages of grief, from denial (“maybe it’s not her, it’s me?”) through to acceptance: or rather, rejection. It’s really not you."

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

Me on Mother River. As Amazon reviewers would say, the additional star was for the one story I did like.

A Nobel laureate-in-waiting? Not with these stories

She’s been hotly tipped for the prize for years – but Can Xue’s riddling and opaque collection, Mother River, shows all her flaws

www.telegraph.co.uk

3 2 4

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

My bold prediction: Can Xue - whose last book to appear in English, Mother River, was more or less unreadable - will not win. The Nobel committee are mad but they're not that mad.

Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 4h

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Can Xue and László Krasznahorkai are joint favourites to win 2025 Nobel prize in literature

The Chinese and Hungarian writers are tied with odds of 10/1 – while Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie are also in the running

www.theguardian.com

1 4

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

I think I can answer my own question, which is 'because of the exchange rate'. For most of the 19th century, the pound was worth 5 dollars or more. So the comparison between £ in 1843 and $ in 2025 is not really meaningful.

3 8

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

Why is this figure so high for the US?

In the UK, 15 shillings (0.75 of a £) in 1843 equates to only £83.11 a week now. (per Bank of England inflation calculator)

Karly Kingsley @karlykingsley.bsky.social · 6h

👇

4 5

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

Yes, good point.

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 4h

Do we know why the BBC rarely tells us what people actually said/tweeted in these situations? I mean in this story it would add a lot of understanding for the reader to see how wild the stuff was. (Yes I checked the JC.) All we have is "allegedly antisemitic" and "she denies they were antisemitic".

3 1