John Self is now on Bluesky
@john_self
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“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:.
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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):.
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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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Well done to everyone who helped Musk's vision for Twitter, and by extension America, succeed.
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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'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:.
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"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:.
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RT @SeanD_river: @john_self I read Gabriel’s Lament this year and found his writing and characterisation to be so moving, comical and harro….
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RT @john_self: “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,….
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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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RT @john_self: Immensely sad to hear of the death of Paul Bailey at the age of 87. Reading and rereading his novels and memoirs over the la….
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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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I’ve a long thread of highlights from my year of reading Bailey over on Bluesky, fwiw:
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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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RT @john_self: "The appetite is whetted but not quite satisfied.". Me on the thrills, longueurs, page-turning scenes and backstory hell of….
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"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:.
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Very sad to hear about the cancellation of the great Open Book 📕.
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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“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).
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RT @smcmillanwriter: Join @john_self, @BrianMcGilloway and me for some book chat at @BelfastCentLib on Saturday.
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RT @BCouncil_NI: Wonderful to welcome authors @moniqueroffey, @kevinjhosein & @SafiyaSinclair to @CrescentArts last night. Thrilled to be c….
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