After Octavian

@afteroctavian

Sintesa. Bibliophile. Lieder Enthusiast. Operavore. Balletomane. Gourmand. Oenophile. Eavesdropper Extraordinaire. She/Her They/Them

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After Octavian@afteroctavian· 23d

Of course! This is my beautiful mighty insect hunter relaxing.

Photo of a grey, black, and white tabbie cat curled up on a Japanese grey and pink silk geometric patterned quilt.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· 29d

Because I have all the depth of a puddle, I'll admit this is the first image that came to mind on reading this fascinating article. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Screen still of head and torso of a woman in brass helmet with metal chest plate and fur or feather cloak draped over her shoulders, with helmeted figures in the background. From the television series, The Mandalorian.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Jun 8

@deanbarker.bsky.social Happy Robert Schumann birthday, dear Dean! May you celebrate this special day with beautiful music and a satisfying session at the piano.

1850 photograph of composer Robert Schumann by Johann Anton Völlner. A man in a dark suit with a dark cravat sits against a desk or table with one arm up and his chin propped on one hand.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Jun 6

Meant to include a photo. It's this one.

Album cover of Franz Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, performed by Christian Gerhaher. Photo of Gerhaher, a bearded, brown-haired, hazel-eyed white man in a dark suit and light shirt holding his hand up to his chin, two fingers along his cheek, posed sidelong against a teal blue background.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· May 24

And I did, and there were some good ones! But, for me, Heifetz/Reiner is still the ONE. Do you have a favourite? Something you think will impress a teen and make them a fan for life? Let me know! (2/2)

After Octavian@afteroctavian· May 16

My response to that idiotic Guardian novel list:

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Apr 5

Saturday night book game. Show me two books you’ve had on your shelves for some time and plan on reading this year.

Cover Image of Cleopatra Dismounts by Carmen Boullosa

Cover image of The Art of Joy by Goliarda Sapienza

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Apr 3

Post something random or you will have an awful April

Black and white photo of Chavela Vargas (in a black men's suit jacket) and Frida Kahlo (in a white flower crown and white embroidered huipil) laughing. Photo by Nickloas Muray.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Last book for this go round! I Didn't Talk by Beatriz Bracher (trs. Adam Morris, New Directions 2018) 31/31

Cover image of I Didn't Talk by Beatriz Bracher (trs. Adam Morris, New Directions 2018) Against a deep crimson background fragments of white text and bits of a black and white photograph of a human face float almost randomly.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement by Naomi André (University of Illinois Press, 2018) 30/31

Cover image of Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement by Naomi André (University of Illinois Press, 2018). A young black woman in heavy chalk white makeup, upswept reddish curled hair, and an Elizabethan ruff collar, holds a single finger to her lipsticked mouth.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong (trs. Natascha Bruce, Two Lines Press 2020) 29/31

Cover image of Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong (trs. Natascha Bruce, Two Lines Press 2020) Against a shadowy black background a woman's purple satin clad arm emerges, her single hand up against the front of the cover as if she were pressing against a pane of glass.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge (Da Capo Press, 2001) 28/31

Cover image of According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 31

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (Vintage, 2019) 27/31

Cover image of The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (Vintage 2019). Blue green reeds or tall grass reach up across a sunny gold and orange background. Title in bold white text.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Natalja's Stories by Inger Christensen (trs. Denise Newman, New Directions 2025) 26/31

Cover image of Inger Christensen's 'Natalja's Stories' (trs. Denise Newman, New Directions 2025) Against a beige background striped with narrow black vertical lines, three quarters of a large golden yellow dot covered in black squiggles intrudes and sets the text askew.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Complete Butcher's Tales by Rikki Ducornet (Dalkey Archive Press, 1994) 25/31

Cover Image of The Complete Butcher's Tales by Rikki Ducornet (Dalkey Archive Press, 1994) Three images (a filmstrip?) of a Claissical female nude statue holding what may be a fruit cut across the black background.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Scent of Buenos Aires by Hebe Uhart (trs. Maureen Shaughnessy, Archipelago Books 2019) 24/31

Cover image of The Scent of Buenos Aires by Hebe Uhart. Whimsical, colourful drawing of houses with roofs like sails, a bay, and a peculiar flying machine that looks like a folding screen held up with balloons.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen (trs. Isak Dinesen, Vintage International, 1993.) 23/31

Cover image of Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen. Ornate gold and blue border frames a blue-tinged photo of two trees on a low hill against a dark sky filled with billowing clouds.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 The Place of Shells by Mai Ishizawa (trs. Polly Barton, New Directions 2025) 22/31

Cover image of The Place of Shells by Mai Ishizawa (trs. Polly Barton, New Directions 2025) Against a pale gray background a white circular whorled shell appears to open outward like the pages of a book.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (first published in 1951, this edition is Penguin Classics, 2013) 21/31

Cover image of Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson (Penguin Classics 2013) Collage-like cover with a partial photo (upper half of face and head missing) of a long-haired young woman seated at an aggressively stripy grey wood table, one arm holding down a blood-spattered letter with cursive writing in bold black ink. Blood also spatters her hand and dress. All against a lurid wavy purple background.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja (Small Beer Press, 2010) 20/31

Cover image of Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja. Against a background of billowing clouds and a shadowy landscape, a figure in black tips the hat obscuring their face while imagery of a red dancing puppet on strings is superimposed on their raised arm.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Lend Me Your Character by Dubravka Ugrešić (trs. Celia Hawkesworth, Michael Henry Heim, and Damion Searls, Dalkey Archive Press 2005) 19/31

Cover image of Lend Me Your Character by Dubravka Ugrešić. A chalkboard framed in blond wood shows a chalk outline of a stocky vaguely female person with wispy pigtails held together with red rectangular ties. Below, on a black background is the title and author in white blocky letters.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Hell by Kathryn Davis (Ecco Press, 1998) 18/31

Cover image of Hell by Kathryn Davis. A patchwork of bold imagery, including vintage art of little girls running away, gilded frames, a landscape with vaguely menacing figures, and plain rectangles and squares in black, crimson and gray with black and white block text.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 30

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 More catch up. Prodigies by Angélica Gorodischer (trs. Sue Burke, Small Beer Press 2015) 17/31

Cover image of Prodigies by Angélica Gorodischer (trs. Sue Burke, Small Beer Press 2015). Pen and ink drawing (?) with watercolours of an old-fashioned panelled double door with an ornate transom atop it and three stone steps leading to it on a pale cream background with red and black text.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 29

It's Symposium 1281

Cover image of Symposium 1281 A Survey of European Zonophone Recordings 1901-1903. CD or album cover featuring a pale sky blue/teal background and black italic text with a vintage photo of Léon Laffitte in the opera Armide, wearing a dramatic plumed hat and ornate belted jacket with a long sword at this side.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 27

artbytonihautamaki.blogspot.com/2026/03/

Envy from the Nine Deadly Sins Series 2026 by Finnish artist Toni Hautamäki. Bold colourful block letters (green, red, pink, and black) spell out the word ENVY against coloured squares with rainbow drops of paint scattered over all.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 19

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Goose of Hermogenes by Ithell Colquhoun (Pushkin Press Classics, 2025) 16/31

Cover image of Goose of Hermogenes by Ithell Colquhoun (Pushkin Press Classics, 2025) Against a tangerine background a cream coloured drawing of a hand plays with various gems and pendants suspended from their fingers by strings, reminiscent of a puppets strings.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 19

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Béla Bartók and Turn-of-the-Century Budapest by Judit Frigyesi (University of California Press, 1998) 15/31

Cover image of Béla Bartók and Turn-of-the-Century Budapest by Judit Frigyesi (University of California Press, 1998) Black and white photo of a street scene in turn of the 20th century Budapest.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 19

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. (Feminist Press, City University of New York, 1993) 14/31

Cover image of In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes, part of the Femmes Fatales series from the Feminist Press of the City University of New York (1993). A young woman in 40s era clothing runs through the night chased by a man in a cream coloured suit. Lurid red letters spell out the title.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 19

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Excitability: Selected Stories 1986-1996 by Diane Williams (Dalkey Archive Press, 1998) 13/31

Cover image of Excitability: Selected Stories 1986-1996 by Diane Williams (Dalkey Archive Press, 1998) White background with black text. The lower 3/4 of the cover is taken up with an almost Grecian stylised head of a woman in black and yellow.

After Octavian@afteroctavian· Mar 19

#TheWriteWomen: In March, post book by a female author every day • It has to be a book you’ve read • It has to be a book you enjoyed or learned something from #booksky 📚💙 Playing catch up as I am nearly a week behind! Rupetta by N. A. Sulway (Tartarus Books, 2013) 12/31