Stramash by Daniel Gray

Somewhat unusually, Daniel Gray has followed up Homage To Caledonia, his book about the Scots who fought in the Spanish Civil War, with a book about lower division Scottish football teams. Happily, it's a great read, because Gray doesn't write about just football, he uses football as an excuse to explore the histories of small towns in Scotland. Employing the same research skills used in Homage, he digs up theoretically fascinating facts about towns like Arbroath, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. And they are fascinating, because he works these into a narrative of his visits to see the small town's football teams in action.

So historical detail combines with the day-to-day, as when he writes "[a manufacturer's] family would later gift the town the museum in which I now stood, being tutted at by a curator for allowing my mobile phone to erupt", and it's this approach that keeps the book moving pacily along, before we even get to the football. As for that, if you've ever wanted to know why Arbroath FC are called the Red Lichties or why Tommy Ring and 'Vodka Vic' are legendary in some postcodes, this richly researched and humorously written book is for you. [Keir Hind]