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John Self Profile
John Self

@john_self

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@john_self
John Self
8 days
"It’s thrilling to turn the page after acres of Olympic-standard bellyaching and find the entire text of Kafka’s extraordinary short story The Judgement presented just as he wrote it, in one long overnight blizzard of creativity." Me on Kafka's diaries:
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Jonathan Swan is the new Samuel Johnson
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Mr Silly’s shoes are made of custard creams, discuss
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@lauralexx @govindajeggy The outrage here is that the only legitimately landscape cereal - Weetabix - has been placed in portrait orientation.
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
Twitter is now available in paperback
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Having a bit of a cry at this tragic fairy tale of the magical apple-cheeked landlord who might have to sell his 27 remaining properties to stop the wicked Corbyn from taxing him more.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Walked under a tree today and caught the coronavirus. Didn’t expect it to be this big tbh.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
I didn’t realise they were erected that close together.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@lauralexx @govindajeggy And in fact (I can’t believe I’m discussing cereal boxes on a Sunday morning) boxes like this can be placed in either orientation as shelf space permits. Front/back:
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
Does anyone speak German? Is this good?
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Here's the good news you've been waiting all of 2018 for.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@natalie_anne_99 @HojbjergStanAcc Bruce Forsyth was older than Anne Frank
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@john_self
John Self
10 years
Profile background pic of the week award goes to @grantphilpott . http://t.co/PqgXizQmor
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
Annie Ernaux's Nobel win means that, in the UK, three of the last eight Nobel literature laureates are published by @FitzcarraldoEds . An extraordinary strike rate by any standards.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
Writers who died in 1950, and whose work will therefore be out of copyright in the UK and EU on 1 Jan 2021: - George Orwell - Edgar Rice Burroughs - Olaf Stapledon - Cesare Pavese - George Bernard Shaw - Edna St Vincent Millay - Rafael Sabatini
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
A minute's silence please for the brutal murder of a great joke (which actually went: 'When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep, like my father, not screaming in terror like his passengers').
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
@StigAbell Second best.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
Day 1 of Homeschooling. Tiddler had to write a haiku on the subject of ‘Self’.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
There's a real horror in the cognitive mismatch between the quietness and stasis of most of our lives right now, and hearing that yesterday in the UK, one person died from Covid-19 every two and a half minutes. It's almost impossible to process.
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
“OY!! THAT went a BIT FUCKING QUICK!!!” I wrote this appreciation for the works of the late Martin Amis (just typing that phrase—Jesus), who has died at the age of 73.
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@john_self
John Self
9 years
The 5 best punctuation marks in literature, by @kathrynschulz : http://t.co/Ewhs89Bw9r http://t.co/EkuDjHfTMn
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@richardosman This one on the other hand is the best.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Give me a frigging chance
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Things I still think of as quite new: - Magnum ice creams - Big Brother - GCSEs - Feature phones - BBC Radio 5 Live - Croatia
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
@solomongeorgio @MrKenShabby Let’s not forget this glorious own by Roger Ebert in his review of Schneider’s Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
While they’re at it can they also give us some pointers on why northerly winds don’t create jam and how come eating candle wax isn’t making the north and south poles switch places every year. People must have their concerns addressed.
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@john_self
John Self
7 years
It seems so obvious now!
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
Splitting the Booker was a terrible idea. It detracts from both winners. As Atwood said, she didn’t need the publicity. The chair’s job is to cast the deciding vote if need be. Very easy for it to happen again now, unless the prize’s Literary Director gets a casting vote now.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Wish they'd had a camera on Tim Martin's face during Johnson's announcement, like they do with the nominees who don't get the Oscar
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Instagrammers like to photograph their books in visually appealing ways. Am I doing this right?
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
@KevinGregDennis @kwilliamhuitt Excellent. Goes two better than “pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.”
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@john_self
John Self
3 months
Deeply unhelpful photos in this report - the floral clock hasn't looked like the first pic in a long time. Here it is last year, looking frankly pretty dismal compared to the 1930s photo the BBC report uses.
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@BBCBristol
BBC Bristol
3 months
It's been a landmark in Weston-super-Mare since 1935 🌸 But the group looking after the floral clock say they needed to make it easier to look after. This is their plan ➡️
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
I don’t actually read the books on my bedside table, I just keep piling more on top until the ones at the bottom compost and disappear.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
wtf
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Who would you put in Room 101? Trivial quibbles only. For me, people who queue across (and block) the pavement at cash machines instead of making a line along the wall.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@Samfr @joshspero Lee and Herring used to have a running joke about this:
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@john_self
John Self
10 years
Kathryn Schulz on the greatest punctuation marks in literature: (via @RichardNSkinner ) http://t.co/ngMdkv3PEe
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
How’s your morning going
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
“Master your day, you lazy human bastard.” ‘Midwinter’ by Roger Robinson [From his Forward Prize-winning collection A Portable Paradise]
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@john_self
John Self
7 years
Don't pretend you're not interested.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
@davidmackau THIS is a tone shift
@ladyhaja
Hannah Jane Parkinson
6 years
This is now my favourite political segue of all time & it’s doubtful I’ll ever stop laughing.
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
TIL that in his 1968 novel Enderby Outside, Anthony Burgess used the word 'onions' three times consecutively in a sentence -- twice.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Are we sure this result is accurate? I’ve seen some pretty compelling Twitter polls that would suggest a very different outcome.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
What is it about 2020 -- or is it just middle age -- that makes me backward-looking in a way I've never been, listening to the music of my teens and 20s, remembering friendships, reflecting on the passing of time in a ruefully sentimental way?
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@john_self
John Self
10 months
Have now spent too much time wondering what expletive Noel Gallagher might have used that begins with a vowel sound.
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
As dad of the household, one of my chief duties is to use the rear two slots of the toaster that nobody else uses, so the whole thing wears out evenly.
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
Toploader. Of course it was Toploader.
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
The Peasants, Władisław Reymont’s four-part, 900-page epic of peasant life in early 20C Poland, is out now in a new translation by Anna Zaranko.
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
Marcel Proust died 100 years ago today. On his death, his friend Jean Cocteau, noting the manuscript volumes of ‘À la recherche du temps perdu’ by his body, observed that “that pile of paper on his left was still alive, like watches ticking on the wrists of dead soldiers”.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Don’t worry, by sharing for free a paywalled article, you’re helping put news organisations out of business so there won’t be as many reports like this to make you angry in future 😀
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@RoryStewartUK @Jsoosty Here he is on tiptoes to ensure he’s taller than everyone else:
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@john_self
John Self
7 years
ooh I love a good pick me up
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
The browser looked from Animal Farm to Animal Farm, and from Animal Farm to Animal Farm, and from Animal Farm to Animal Farm again, but already it was impossible to tell which was which.
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
Anyone remember the olde worlde novelist Zadie Smith?
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
“Like many showy personalities, he is of weak character. He supposes himself to be Winston Churchill, while in reality being closer to Alan Partridge.” Get off the fence, Max.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
@Mr_Considerate "Does shitposting count?"
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
The extraordinary opening of Joan Didion’s essay ‘The White Album’, where every line drives you on to the next, and every paragraph makes you keep going until it’s time to turn the page.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
It's, er, not how I pictured him
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Best thing about this headline is it shows that people laughing at blue passports has really ruined Paul Dacre’s Christmas.
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Tadpole Self has written a story with a fight in it.
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@john_self
John Self
8 years
"In London, it's said you're never more than 6 feet from a difficult woman." 'Difficult' by Helen Mort:
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
Reminder that this is what Danielle Steel's desk looks like
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Hi I’m Henry I wrote a bunch of books that are all exactly the same length
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@john_self
John Self
10 years
Must. Resist. New pocket hardback non-fiction from @classicpenguins , design by @CBickfordSmith http://t.co/LTnx531uYt http://t.co/9aQWaMXhuy
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
@MrKenShabby @tomhfh @michaeljswalker Came here to say this. Genuinely having a cognitive mismatch moment at a Guido writer suggesting that wealth and privilege are to be frowned upon.
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
@aljwhite Photographer: "could you just interlace your tattoo-obliterated hand with hers so that it looks like a massive alien claw? Lovely, thanks. *click* *click*"
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
@jamiesont Danny Finkelstein in July, during the leadership contest:
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
'Reading Rushdie’s characteristic tidal wave of pathological pun-making, paragraph-long lists and how-do-you-do-fellow-kids cultural memery, made me think of Frasier asking Niles: “When was the last time you had an unexpressed thought?”' My Booker guide:
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
All books should open new chapters like this.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
@Baddiel J. K. Rowling says she followed this breathing technique, recommended by her doc husband.
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
@NikkiPhysNerd @itsjamesherring Both much better than if you arrive in Cork by train.
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@john_self
John Self
8 years
Easter Eggs from the 70s and 80s. Shockingly, no mention of 'Easter' on the front of most of them then either.
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
Instead of stupid things like ‘Sounds good to me!’ and ‘How about Friday?’, Gmail’s auto-suggestions should be responses appropriate to any situation such as: • That escalated quickly • Seems legit • Sir this is a Wendy’s • Well done everyone
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
@Pandamoanimum @justplayed It’s up there with this:
@Pandamoanimum
Amanda
7 years
It's a year today since Prince died. So a reminder of this, because sometimes sadness can still bring laughter.
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
What does a writer do all day, Philip Roth?
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@john_self
John Self
7 years
Jetpack solves everything
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
I think the caption should clarify that it wasn't this colleague.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
Today I learned that Scrappy Doo's Wikipedia entry is nine times longer than Marcel Proust's.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
5 out of 5. Penguin European Writers.
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
Rishi Sunak
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
The Penguin Book of Oulipo, edited by Philip Terry. Out at the end of this month. (The back cover recreates the book’s title using the Oulipian constraint n+7, which replaces each noun in a text with the seventh one following it in a dictionary.)
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@john_self
John Self
7 years
Fuck you Nestlé
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
In June, Granta will reissue Virginia Woolf's diaries in their full, unabridged, five-volume form, with new introductions by Margo Jefferson, Siri Hustvedt, Adam Phillips and more. Chunky hardbacks, £30 apiece.
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
Things I believed I would see a lot more of in life based on the childhood comics I read: • Lost property offices • ‘Keep off the grass’ signs • Magicians in tuxedos
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@john_self
John Self
1 year
The artist Tom Phillips died yesterday. He’s probably best known for A HUMUMENT, his treated version of an obscure Victorian novel (A Human Document by W.H. Mallock), which made every page into an extraordinary work of art. The final edition was published in 2016.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
@akblakemore @sarahgperry1 As Elif Batuman pointed out re the fact that the dog in Chekhov's Lady with Lapdog doesn't have a name: "No contemporary short story writer would have had the stamina not to name that dog."
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
Listening to The Divine Comedy albums in order and struck, as I have been before but never quite so forcefully, at the depth and scale of Neil Hannon’s talent and imaginative energy.
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@john_self
John Self
7 years
The LRB gets stick for not having enough women in it, but look - they've done a themed special and made it pink because women like pink.
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Also, someone needs to explain to the magical landlord that you only pay CGT when you sell something at a profit, so any "huge bill" will be by definition a fraction of the money you're making from the sale.
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
Bad news, everyone. Looks like Penguin are issuing all of John le Carré’s novels in this (to me, irresistible) look. May as well set up the direct debit now.
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
"My government will make it a criminal offence to write PARTY TIMEEEEE on your Instagram story when you mean PARTY TIIIIIME."
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
“My own particular weakness is a refusal to learn the difference between ‘which’ and ‘that’.” Julian Barnes on being edited by The New Yorker (from Letters from London):
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@john_self
John Self
3 years
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
@socialistdogmom @EwaSR Replacement child not included
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@john_self
John Self
6 years
RT if you always copy and paste rather than cut and paste just in case you never see it again
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@john_self
John Self
8 months
Delighted to find this beautiful 1987 Virago edition of Angela Carter’s 1974 collection of stories Fireworks in a charity shop today. Cover illustration is by Hiroshi Manabe.
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@john_self
John Self
2 years
Rereading this shortly. Could it be a literary universal solvent, that rare book that everyone likes?
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
Times readers aren't buying it
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@john_self
John Self
4 years
@mrnickharvey I'm afraid, essential as it is to the rhyme and tone of the song, "I'll do what I should have did" in 'Real Gone Kid'.
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@john_self
John Self
5 years
This is kind of amazing
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