HeyJaredthatwriterjennycolgan
Jenny Colgan knows books and also MMA. I don't actually know MMA I just don't want anyone to attempt to fight me. My wee cousin knows MMA and he is brilliant, so there.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 7
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- Sep 27, 2026
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- Jul 5, 2026
Latest issues
Critical Mass (opens the original)
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One of the reasons I started doing this newsletter was because I missed reviewing. I’ve always reviewed books, and it’s always1 been a really fun part of my job. The wonderful Simon Mayo , when he was on BBC radio 5 Live used to have a weekly book panel team that would review- this sounds so nuts now in our post-literate age- two new books, live, whilst the authors had to actually sit in the studio and listen to you do it, and six million people would li
Nun but the Brave (opens the original)
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I was a pi child. I was raised Catholic, and even though I found mass extremely dull, nonetheless I read the bible and learned my hymns and some catechism and was of the strong and widely-shared belief that families who went to mass were fundamentally better than those who did not, an unhelpful input for any child.I kept it going for a long time too, I was still attending mass as a postgraduate. Until I just couldn’t. Not that I chose not to, or turned away from God or anything like that. I just
Double Bubble (opens the original)
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Trigger warning: swearinessOkay so the point of this substack is, I read a bunch of books, then pick one a fortnight to recommend and if none of them are really that good/ interesting, I’ll go back to something I loved once upon a time. So you should always get one thing, ideally new, but definitely terrific.BUT! This fortnight I have two! How often does that happen? Never. Amazing. All those Imminent! Publishing! AI WIPEOUT APOCALYPSE!!!! substacks are going to have to eat my shorts, an impecca
The Summer Effect (opens the original)
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It is not very useful to announce that alone amongst I think the entire Northern Hemisphere Scotland has had a pretty average summer, lots of cloud, rain, lot of 14 degree days, usual thing. Is currently hosing it here in mid-August. I know this is no compensation for everyone who’s been having a miserable time through the heatwave, but it has been a little wearing when people ask us how we’re coping 🙄. So I haven’t had quite as much lying out and reading time as I was hoping for. But the loveli
Unmanned (opens the original)
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Ooh, GOODNESS. You know, writers get asked all the time, ‘do you use people you know in your writing?’. And we have to patiently explain, repeatedly, that we magpie. You will use tiny little bits of people here and there. I was on a course once with a roboticist who kind of spoke in science, and it was amazing. I couldn’t stop asking him stuff (how does that bank card thing you have at home work? Should you leave lifts on the bottom floor? Why can’t my dog reverse around a lamppost?) and he trea
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