EdReadsBooks

Literary adventures. I’m based in London 🇬🇧. Book addict, Theatre, LGBT 🏳️‍🌈 Freelance Book Curator, working exclusively on own shelves. He/him 📕📗📘📚

[Tolkien World @TolkienWorldG]

On this date in 1973, the last known photograph of J.R.R. Tolkien was taken by his grandson, Michael George Tolkien.

Tolkien was photographed at the Oxford Botanic Garden beside a black pine (Pinus nigra), one of his favourite trees.

He died just 24 days later, on September 2, 1973 🕊️

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

In the National Gallery of Yerevan today was bowled over by the portraits of Hakob Hovnatanyan which brilliantly capture the world of late 19th-Century Armenians
https://t.co/pgIh9cQon5

[Pizza @number_pizza111]

Just found what I am 100% confident is the best used book store in the US. Four stories of narrow corridors with no AC. Aisle lights are kept off to save money. I ended up spending $71.50 here.

[EdReadsBooks @ed_reads]

@georgedick doable!

[George Dick @georgedick]

I've read the whole Booker longlist before, but always on a spreadsheet that could tell me what I'd finished and never how far behind I was.

So I built the thing that does.

13 books, 3,824 pages, 56 days. 69 a day.

https://t.co/lv7OcJt8du

[liz 🎐 @lizetteratura]

The Booker Prize 2026 longlist is out! 13 books have made the list!

[EdwardMO 🌻 @EdwardHMO]

The 13 novels selected for the Booker Prize 2026 longlist, announced today, feature authors of seven nationalities, with almost half from the UK. The shortlist will be announced at the Southbank Centre in London on September 22, with the winner named on November 9.

[mary beard @wmarybeard]

Here's our Booker longlist (and us judges). Enjoy!!

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

The wonderful @bbclysedoucet wins the Women's Prize for Non-fiction! Here is my @guardian review of her winning book:
https://t.co/eD1t6Wpp6y

[British Council Literature @LitBritish]

Huge congratulations to Michael Rosen @MichaelRosenYes on winning the Hans Christian Andersen award for his lifelong contribution to children's literature!

https://t.co/KzCMGrfoQp

[weird medieval guys @WeirdMedieval]

Thinking about the 7th century Irish monks who invented the spaces between words....that was honestly so smart of them

[EdReadsBooks @ed_reads]

@KatyaTaylor I’m back now! Totally weird - no explanation at all

[EdReadsBooks @ed_reads]

@KatyaTaylor main account has been suspended permanently for “inauthentic behaviour” (opposition to war??!) Won’t allow appeal, despite the below. I’m permanently off to BS. So long!

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Congratulations brilliant, brave, fearless @owenjonesjourno ! A major moment for press freedom in UK. @BBCNews should be deeply ashamed of its coverage of the Gaza Genocide & for appointing a man with a framed fan letter from Netanyahu on his wall to control its Mid East news

[EdReadsBooks @ed_reads]

@ZackPolanski Hi Zack - my main account on X has been permanently suspended (anti war posts? Who knows?) & system won’t allow me to appeal, despite statement. You follow me, so just saying farewell & good luck! Am on BS.

[EdReadsBooks @ed_reads]

@ChrisCorney1 my main account has been permanently suspended (anti war posts? Who knows) & am unable to appeal. Am on BS. So long & good luck!

[Colin Gorrie @colingorrie]

Noam Chomsky once called English spelling "a near optimal system."

You might think he was being ironic. Far from it.

The silent 'b' in "bomb" reappears in "bombard." The silent 'n' in "hymn" is pronounced once again in "hymnal." The silent 'g' in "sign" comes back in "signal."

English spelling keeps these words looking like the family they are, even when pronunciation pulls them apart.

The past tense ending "-ed" is pronounced three different ways (-t in "jumped," -d in "played," and -ed in "painted"), but spelled the same every time. One spelling, one meaning: something happened in the past.

English spelling is full of inconsistencies and silent letter because it’s not simply encoding how words sound.

If English spelling were aiming to represent sound alone, it would indeed be a total failure.

But that's not the kind of system English has. It encodes words' meaning and history as well.

[Sacha Coward @sacha_coward]

Me.
My boyfriend.
And my boyfriend's boyfriend.

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

My mum's poetry collection has just been published!

Very exciting!

[Taj Ali @Taj_Ali1]

This note is from my English teacher, Miss Fielden. She taught me for 5 years, believed in me and encouraged me to pursue my passions.

More than a decade on, I’ve written my first book.