Sam Leith
@questingvole.bsky.social
@spectator lit ed. “Clock-white, still friendly to the earth.” https://bit.ly/TheHauntedWood
Pinned
Sam Leith
@questingvole.bsky.social
· Sep 4
The Haunted Wood | Oneworld
'A MARVEL' PHILIP PULLMAN Do you remember the first time you fell in love with a book? The stories we read as children extend far beyond our childhoods; they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys ...
bit.ly
My book is out in paperback TODAY. All about children’s books, which are the best and most important sort. bit.ly/4pdXMNt
Reposted by Sam Leith
Tapping the sign again.
December 14, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Tapping the sign again.
Last minute pre-Christmas self-promotion: The Haunted Wood has been named top non-fiction paperback of the year in The Times (and in the Guardian’s top 30). So feel free to buy a copy for a loved one…
The 31 best paperbacks of 2025
From prizewinners and heartbreakers to comedies and tragic true stories, here’s what our critics most enjoyed this year
www.thetimes.com
December 14, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Last minute pre-Christmas self-promotion: The Haunted Wood has been named top non-fiction paperback of the year in The Times (and in the Guardian’s top 30). So feel free to buy a copy for a loved one…
On Bondi, we’re in that hiatus when we don’t yet know if the latest spate of Jew-killing is by the Islamofascists or their supposed sworn enemies the Fascistfascists. Antisemitism is the one thing they seem to be able to agree on.
December 14, 2025 at 2:16 PM
On Bondi, we’re in that hiatus when we don’t yet know if the latest spate of Jew-killing is by the Islamofascists or their supposed sworn enemies the Fascistfascists. Antisemitism is the one thing they seem to be able to agree on.
John Carey’s gone. A great critic and a very decent man. Knock it off, would you, reaper? I spoke to him about poetry a few years back
A history of poetry with Professor John Carey
This week’s Book Club podcast features one of the great wise men of the literary world: Professor John Carey – emeritus Merton Professor of English at Oxford, author of authoritative books on Milton, ...
www.spectator.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 8:25 PM
John Carey’s gone. A great critic and a very decent man. Knock it off, would you, reaper? I spoke to him about poetry a few years back
Echoes my own thoughts except in its admirable understatement
IN DEPTH: I hate all of you so fucking much and hope Skynet picks the bones clean of everyone involved in generative AI.
IN DEPTH | If you could speak to your dead grandmother forever, would you?
December 10, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Echoes my own thoughts except in its admirable understatement
Reposted by Sam Leith
It was pure joy reviewing Ella Risbridger’s clever, super enthusiastic book about romance (genre AND activity) for @thespectator1828.bsky.social. Thank you @questingvole.bsky.social for the commission!
www.spectator.co.uk/article/prid...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/prid...
Pride and Prejudice retold in a thousand different ways
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that any essay about Jane Austen… must be in want of a poorly rendered paraphrasing of her most famous opening lines,’ writes Ella Risbridger in this sharp, gle...
www.spectator.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
It was pure joy reviewing Ella Risbridger’s clever, super enthusiastic book about romance (genre AND activity) for @thespectator1828.bsky.social. Thank you @questingvole.bsky.social for the commission!
www.spectator.co.uk/article/prid...
www.spectator.co.uk/article/prid...
Reposted by Sam Leith
Seems there’s a new Philip Pullman event as he joins @questingvole.bsky.social at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social to open the Library’s Fairy Tales exhibition. Online and in person tickets available now.
events.bl.uk/events/haunt...
events.bl.uk/events/haunt...
Haunted Woods and Grimm Tales: Philip Pullman and Sam Leith | British Library
Philip Pullman is a master of magical worlds, and his own magnificent stories are loved and appreciated by people of all ages, just as the best fairy tales
events.bl.uk
November 27, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Seems there’s a new Philip Pullman event as he joins @questingvole.bsky.social at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social to open the Library’s Fairy Tales exhibition. Online and in person tickets available now.
events.bl.uk/events/haunt...
events.bl.uk/events/haunt...
Reposted by Sam Leith
I had a chat to Sam Leith (@questingvole.bsky.social) on The Spectator podcast. When it comes to books, he knows his onions.
Available from ye old podcaste shoppe.
(I refuse to say 'wherever you get your podcasts')
open.spotify.com/episode/19QQ...
Available from ye old podcaste shoppe.
(I refuse to say 'wherever you get your podcasts')
open.spotify.com/episode/19QQ...
November 19, 2025 at 8:17 AM
I had a chat to Sam Leith (@questingvole.bsky.social) on The Spectator podcast. When it comes to books, he knows his onions.
Available from ye old podcaste shoppe.
(I refuse to say 'wherever you get your podcasts')
open.spotify.com/episode/19QQ...
Available from ye old podcaste shoppe.
(I refuse to say 'wherever you get your podcasts')
open.spotify.com/episode/19QQ...
Reposted by Sam Leith
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:37 PM
I havent read such a banger of an essay in a very long time. This is so well-written!
Reposted by Sam Leith
This is what is happening. It is cynical. It is strategic. It is organised. It is well funded.
And we need to pay attention.
The far right - and their cheerleaders, mimics, tribute acts, and handmaidens have identified two presentational frameworks that give them cut-through and traction. 1/7
And we need to pay attention.
The far right - and their cheerleaders, mimics, tribute acts, and handmaidens have identified two presentational frameworks that give them cut-through and traction. 1/7
November 6, 2025 at 1:44 PM
This is what is happening. It is cynical. It is strategic. It is organised. It is well funded.
And we need to pay attention.
The far right - and their cheerleaders, mimics, tribute acts, and handmaidens have identified two presentational frameworks that give them cut-through and traction. 1/7
And we need to pay attention.
The far right - and their cheerleaders, mimics, tribute acts, and handmaidens have identified two presentational frameworks that give them cut-through and traction. 1/7
Reposted by Sam Leith
lol
November 6, 2025 at 4:47 AM
lol
Excellent and learned thread from George here
1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵
November 5, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Excellent and learned thread from George here
❤️
November 5, 2025 at 8:27 AM
❤️
Reposted by Sam Leith
HERE IT IS!!!!!
H Is For Hawk - Official Trailer
YouTube video by LionsgateFilmsUK
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
HERE IT IS!!!!!
Reposted by Sam Leith
On the latest Little Atoms podcast, @joannapocock.bsky.social on her wonderful new book Greyhound. Out now from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or here:
shows.acast.com/b5fe8d16-751...
shows.acast.com/b5fe8d16-751...
Little Atoms 975 - Joanna Pocock's Greyhound | Little Atoms
shows.acast.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:15 AM
On the latest Little Atoms podcast, @joannapocock.bsky.social on her wonderful new book Greyhound. Out now from @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or here:
shows.acast.com/b5fe8d16-751...
shows.acast.com/b5fe8d16-751...
Reposted by Sam Leith
Did you happen to leave your @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk purchases on the Metropolitan line yesterday?
Did one of your friends do this and send an anguished message to the group chat?
If so, Darren has just done you a very good turn. 👇
Did one of your friends do this and send an anguished message to the group chat?
If so, Darren has just done you a very good turn. 👇
If anyone lost a bag of books from LRB Bookshop on the Metropolitan Line between Baker St- Watford, I handed it to a cleaner when the train terminated at Watford tube station. And if you have far more followers than me, please share this status. LRB bookshop is not cheap!
November 2, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Did you happen to leave your @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk purchases on the Metropolitan line yesterday?
Did one of your friends do this and send an anguished message to the group chat?
If so, Darren has just done you a very good turn. 👇
Did one of your friends do this and send an anguished message to the group chat?
If so, Darren has just done you a very good turn. 👇
Reposted by Sam Leith
Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo!
I know how hard you worked for this.
I know how hard you worked for this.
![Red Trump-style graphic with images of Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo.
At the top it says, "I'm going to pick [Cuomo]." - Donald Trump, 60 Minutes Interview, 11-2-25
Then beneath it
TRUMP ENDORSES CUOMO](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j5hrotody26iqi24hcusufxu/bafkreib7wnor7hl45ryvmifde4sov74rrnexa3iecbyu7zxjx6brrslsiy@jpeg)
November 3, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Congratulations, Andrew Cuomo!
I know how hard you worked for this.
I know how hard you worked for this.
Wrote about how the troll dynamic has come to trump ideology, with a hat tip to @jamesrball.com
Welcome to the age of the troll
Father Mark Rowles, a Catholic priest in Cardiff, admitted to taking on the persona of 'skinheadlad1488' in neo-Nazi chatrooms
www.spectator.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Wrote about how the troll dynamic has come to trump ideology, with a hat tip to @jamesrball.com
Reposted by Sam Leith
The 2026 Carnegies nominations are live! 🎉 Join us in celebrating the exceptional storytelling and illustration recognised this year. 🏆 Get ready for an inspiring awards season! Congrats to all nominees! 📖❤️
https://carnegies.co.uk/nominations-announced-2026
#Carnegies2026
https://carnegies.co.uk/nominations-announced-2026
#Carnegies2026
November 3, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The 2026 Carnegies nominations are live! 🎉 Join us in celebrating the exceptional storytelling and illustration recognised this year. 🏆 Get ready for an inspiring awards season! Congrats to all nominees! 📖❤️
https://carnegies.co.uk/nominations-announced-2026
#Carnegies2026
https://carnegies.co.uk/nominations-announced-2026
#Carnegies2026
Paging @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social
THIS MOTHERFUCKER HELD A GREAT GATSBY PARTY WHILE 43 MILLION PEOPLE GO HUNGRY AND HEALTHCARE COSTS KEEP RISING.
November 2, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Paging @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social
Ngl I preferred it when they were made with 100 per cent potatoes
November 1, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Ngl I preferred it when they were made with 100 per cent potatoes
Reposted by Sam Leith
Anyway, my actual serious thought through take is that "these beings are inherently evil" in fantasy is problematic first and foremost depending on how close they get to resembling actual sapient beings. Otherwise that's just a demon and I'm sorry but it was not racism that invented demons.
October 31, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Anyway, my actual serious thought through take is that "these beings are inherently evil" in fantasy is problematic first and foremost depending on how close they get to resembling actual sapient beings. Otherwise that's just a demon and I'm sorry but it was not racism that invented demons.
Reposted by Sam Leith
Very good and relevant episode of the Spectator Book Club by the outstanding Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social.
Why do civilized societies collapse?
podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/l...
Why do civilized societies collapse?
podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/l...
Luke Kemp: The History and Future of Societal Collapse
Podcastaflevering · The Book Club · 15-10-2025 · 49 min.
podcasts.apple.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Very good and relevant episode of the Spectator Book Club by the outstanding Sam Leith @questingvole.bsky.social.
Why do civilized societies collapse?
podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/l...
Why do civilized societies collapse?
podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/l...
Reposted by Sam Leith
I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.
Opinion | Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:13 AM
I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.