Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings

Galley Beggar Ghost Stories – The Signalman by Charles Dickens and The Old Nurse’s Story by Elizabeth Gaskell Back in winter 2024, the independent publisher Gallery Beggar Press issued a small bundle of ghost stories called Pocket Ghosts, comprising three beautifully produced slim volumes, each containing …

New on the blog today, my thoughts on two excellent stories from @galleybeggars.bsky.social's Pocket Ghosts series.

THE SIGNALMAN by Charles Dickens & THE OLD NURSE'S STORY by Elizabeth Gaskell - two atmospheric ghost stories to chill the bones. #BookSky 💙📚

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Only Women Bleed by Julie Covington

Later this week, I’m publishing a long Inventory piece about Julie Covington, the wellspring of which was this remarkable single. It seems fitting to flag it up on International Women’s Day. #IWD2026.

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Andrew O’Hagan · Stay Classy: Mummy’s Favourite The late queen can be held responsible for much, but nobody could accuse her of seeming to enjoy her role. For the...

Do you like excellence about his ex-excellency? Then this piece of brilliant writing is for you. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

The Stepdaughter by Caroline Blackwood Born into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family, Lady Caroline Blackwood was, for many years, largely known as a socialite and muse. Her marriages to the artist Lucian Freud, the pianist Israel Citkow…

'She had the pathos of those hopelessly flawed objects which one often sees being put up for sale in junk shops. She gave the immediate impression of having something vitally important missing. She reminded me of some tea-pot with a missing spout...' 💙📚

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“…is your cunning just an aspect of your inner simplicity?” #voices #fredericprokosch Nowadays, the line between reality and fiction has become very blurred; whether it’s a fabricated online identity, a made up misery memoir or an image created with AI, it’s getting hard…

On the Ramblings today, my thoughts on a wonderful piece of literary ventriloquism just reissued by @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social - "Voices". More here: kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2026/03/10/i...

Ethel Mannin’s AN AMERICAN JOURNEY is being republished in May by Boiler House Press thanks to Brad Bigelow who is the force behind @neglectedbooks.com
There is a story here: Back in 2023, I had been posting photos from my trips on the Greyhound bus. Brad saw them & got in touch asking if I… (1)

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but me writing 6000 words for Inventory about Julie Covington.

I’ve finished it, 6600 words. The world may now end.

“It’s a very odd set-up.” #carolcarnac #thedoubleturn Timing is often all when it comes to reading, I find, and today’s book is a wonderful example of that. It arrived on the day I had finished reading the epic volume, “The Waste Land: A B…

On the blog today, another brilliant #CarolCarnac reissue from @blpublishing.bsky.social -such a clever and twisty one! @martinedwardsbooks.bsky.social kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/i...

#WWWWednesday
Last #book I finished: The Owl, the Duck, and - Miss Rowe! Miss Rowe! by #JohnCowperPowys
#Amreading: The Name of the Rose, by #UmbertoEco
#Amlistening to: Lock In, by #JohnScalzi
#TBR Reading next: The Inheritors, by #WilliamGolding

“You must get over these fancies…” #edgarallanpoe Back in January, I went down a bit of a rabbit hole after reading some classic cosmic horror by H.P. Lovecraft, and as I reported, I ended up investing in a number of new titles inspired by that bo…

On the Ramblings today, I explore a rattling good yarn from #EdgarAllanPoe - more here! kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2026/03/03/y...

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One of my indie books for the month and it turned out to be brilliant! 😃

Lovely selection of books there Ali! I had a good month - hard to pick favourites, but Paris Fantastique, short stories by @nicholasroyle.bsky.social was a real highlight.

Reading Independent Publishers Month 2026 This page is to collect together all of the reviews of books published by Independent Publishers during #readindies month 2026! Please do let me know about your posts in the comments below and I wi…

February and Reading Independent Publishers Month #ReadIndies are over, but we should be reading and supporting independent presses all year round. If you want some ideas of what to read next, check out my page with a massive amount of links! kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/reading-inde...

February – a marvellous month of #ReadIndies! February has been quite a month, and I have so enjoyed hosting Reading Independent Publishers Month. This is the sixth time the event has taken place, and I missed having my lovely co-host Lizzy th…

It's the last day of #ReadIndies month, and I share my February reads here: kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2026/02/28/f... Don't forget to leave a comment and share your own reads!

“I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” #readindies #thewasteland My final book for #ReadIndies is from a publisher who’s a huge favourite of mine, and I did wonder if I would get it finished in time as it’s a bit of a chunkster! Fortunately, I embark…

On the Ramblings today, my last review for #ReadIndies, and it's a chunkster - a stunning book about the composition of #thewasteland from @faberbooks.bsky.social - more here: kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2026/02/27/i...

International Booker Longlist for 2026 The longlist for the International Booker was announced yesterday and, although I am now finding it harder and more expensive to order English-language books, I will attempt to join the wonderful S…

A few initial thoughts about the International Booker Longlist for 2026 findingtimetowrite.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/i...

Radio Leeds Book Club tomorrow morning, live at 9.15ish. Tune in if you wanna hear me talk about books by the dazzling triumverate of Naomi Booth, @jamesscudamore.bsky.social and @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social, plus whatever else Rima wants to bring up. Not saying which books though 😀

Tea on Sunday by Lettice Cooper While the British novelist and campaigner Lettice Cooper is probably best known for her literary novels, such as National Provincial (1938) and The New House (1936), both in print with Persephone B…

New on the blog today for #ReadIndies, I've written about TEA ON SUNDAY by Lettice Cooper.

A very enjoyable 'closed circle' style whodunnit in which an elderly woman is bumped off in the run-up to her tea party on Sunday afternoon. #BookSky 💙📚 #CrimeFiction

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Jan Hilliard's Morgan's Castle (#readindies) "What a lot of ways there are to murder someone, she thought..." Oh, what fun this one was!  The sixteen-year-old Laura Dean had thought sh...

Further praise for the new reissue of Morgan's Castle by neglected #NovaScotia novelist Jan Hilliard's 1964 novel.

#canlit #cdnhist

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Most welcome - absolutely loved the book, and still very haunted by the stories!!

Will have to search that one out!

Thanks! I love his non-fiction and was so happy his fiction is just as good!

“I love a dedicated second-hand bookshop as much as the next collector.” #parisfantastique #readindies Confingo Publishing is an indie press based in Manchester, and they have an intriguing list of titles on their books. They’ve appeared on the Ramblings before as they issue Dave Haslam’…

On the Ramblings today for #ReadIndies, a stunning short story collection by @nicholasroyle.bsky.social from @confingopublishing.bsky.social "Paris Fantastique" - so good! More here: kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/i...

An excellent resource for #ReadIndies! 😊