I should add that I certainly endorse the recommendations of Victoria, BDM, Counter Craft, and Naomi. (And you!) And I should also recommend Adam Roberts' delightfully variegated Substacks on Fire, Off the Shoulder of Orion. (https://profadamroberts.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips) Adam and Naomi are people I followed to Substack from their previous blogs.
Henry! This is a wonderfully generous post. I appreciate how you celebrate and affirm what’s good in the world—and I’m glad and humbled to be part of it. Grateful for you!
In your list of literary bloggers you left out my favorite, Lincoln Michel, who writes Counter Craft (https://countercraft.substack.com). He writes some about writing (he's also a novelist), but a lot of his substack are straight-up pieces about reading, including both literary fiction and SF/fantasy. A few pieces to start with if you haven't read him before:
Henry Begler's literary criticism has evolved dramatically over the years into a great fusion of personal essay and criticism. I think his best piece was about Key West writers (even as a Floridian I wouldnt have otherwise been interested)
My favorite piece this year was by Sam Kahn (who runs the Republic of Letters) in Castalia, “How Much of Literary History is a Lie” - https://open.substack.com/pub/samkahn/p/how-much-of-literary-history-is-a?r=2mkt5&utm_medium=ios
Henry this is truly kind - thank you!
Completely agree about Victoria's wonderful posts. And Julianne's.
AND of course your own, which are reason alone to be on Substack.
Yes, Laura, I was going to say the same! This was a real highlight:
https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/is-mansfield-park-about-slavery
Excellent, informed, intelligent discussion.
Thank you both :)
I loved this piece by Don Paterson in North Sea Poets on Michael Donaghy and Robert Frost: https://northseapoets.substack.com/p/the-long-game
I should add that I certainly endorse the recommendations of Victoria, BDM, Counter Craft, and Naomi. (And you!) And I should also recommend Adam Roberts' delightfully variegated Substacks on Fire, Off the Shoulder of Orion. (https://profadamroberts.substack.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips) Adam and Naomi are people I followed to Substack from their previous blogs.
'
Adam is such a gift! Definitely feels like someone Henry would like =]
It was a great year for the literary circle. Looking forward to more great writing in 2026.
Some faves from this year:
Lillian Wang Selonick's virtuosic comparison of Rilke, Bellow and Dostoevsky: https://lillianreviewofbooks.substack.com/p/what-to-read-as-you-slowly-lose-your
Gary Arms, "On Not Giving Up" - the struggle of the non-celebrity writer (i.e. almost all of them): https://therepublicofletters.substack.com/p/on-not-giving-up
Peter Shull, "Voice & Style" - a really good analytical deep dive: https://pshull.substack.com/p/voice-and-style
And, just to toot my own horn, the rave review I got in The Metropolitan Review, from Adam Pearson:
https://www.metropolitanreview.org/p/a-flight-from-slow-sad-reality
Henry! This is a wonderfully generous post. I appreciate how you celebrate and affirm what’s good in the world—and I’m glad and humbled to be part of it. Grateful for you!
In your list of literary bloggers you left out my favorite, Lincoln Michel, who writes Counter Craft (https://countercraft.substack.com). He writes some about writing (he's also a novelist), but a lot of his substack are straight-up pieces about reading, including both literary fiction and SF/fantasy. A few pieces to start with if you haven't read him before:
https://countercraft.substack.com/p/short-little-difficult-books
https://countercraft.substack.com/p/style-is-more-than-sentences
https://countercraft.substack.com/p/the-forever-dying-and-the-always
https://countercraft.substack.com/p/the-age-of-genre-bending-blending
If he's not on your go-to book substack reads, give him a try.
I agree about Counter Craft. A similar one (which also has the word "craft" in its title) is Beyond Craft, by Joe Ponepinto:
https://beyondcraft.substack.com/
They do tend to overwrite in the first person though .
Why is 'I' currently the most popular word on the internet ?
Henry Begler's literary criticism has evolved dramatically over the years into a great fusion of personal essay and criticism. I think his best piece was about Key West writers (even as a Floridian I wouldnt have otherwise been interested)
https://open.substack.com/pub/agoodhardstare/p/the-palm-at-the-end-of-the-mind?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=n2hvl)
Ross Barkan's recent personal essay about his father's death was incredible.
Mo_Diggs has done some remarkable culture writing.
Vinny Reads has been reviewing self-published Substack novels and helping cultivate an ecosystem for them.
And I've just been generally dazzled by The Metropolitan Review.
"And I've just been generally dazzled by The Metropolitan Review" - and you've been one of the most dazzling contributors!