Books
The Skinny book guide – bringing you book reviews, features, events, reviews and author interviews. Find previews and on the ground reporting from festivals of literature and poetry in Scotland and beyond.
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Book ReviewsPorn: An Oral History by Polly Barton
Polly Barton's Porn: An Oral History assembles a series of intimate interviews to trace the history and sociology of pornography Read more »| 29 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsGrimmish by Michael Winkler
A metatextual, experimental novel about the life and legend of Italian-American boxer Joe Grim, Michael Winkler's Grimmish is a paean to pain in all its forms Read more »| 29 Nov 2023 -
EventsScottish Books Events: December 2023
A bit of a quiet one on the books front this month, but there's plenty of cosy launches and readings to help add to your holiday reading list Read more »| 28 Nov 2023 -
FeaturesThe (Un)Holy Land: Adania Shibli's Minor Detail
In its recent deplatforming at Frankfurt Book Festival, Adania Shibli's Minor Detail has come to represent many of the contradictions of Western attitudes to the Middle East. We revisit the book in the wake of the bombardment of Gaza Read more »| 27 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsWifedom by Anna Funder
Anna Funder's Wifedom explores the woman behind George Orwell's life and works, his wife Eileen O’Shaughnessy, offering a lucid interrogation of misogyny and what it means to write ‘truth’ Read more »| 24 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsMrs S by K Patrick
K Patrick's runaway hit Mrs S explores gender and queerness during a simmering summer at an all-girls boarding school Read more »| 24 Nov 2023
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Book ReviewsCurious Affinities by Sophie Chauhan
Sophie Chauhan's Curious Affinities is a lyrical exploration of the personal and political residues of intimacy, and what happens when the borders of things meet Read more »| 20 Nov 2023 -
FeaturesWord Soup: Sean Wai-Keung on Dumpling Poetry
We chat with food-poet Sean Wai-Keung about his Push The Boat Out event Dumpling Poetry, and the community spirit inherent to both cooking and performance Read more »| 17 Nov 2023 -
IntersectionsSaving Words: On the Importance of Libraries
Cuts, cuts, and more cuts – our libraries are under attack. One writer reflects on a lifelong love for her local library and the need to keep the doors open, especially in these difficult times Read more »| 10 Nov 2023 -
FeaturesNathalie Olah on Bad Taste
We catch up with author Nathalie Olah to discuss her new book Bad Taste, dissecting the hierarchies of taste and class in 21st-century Britain Read more »| 07 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsPraiseworthy by Alexis Wright
In a small Aboriginal town called Praiseworthy, locals confront the dust cloud of their ancestors and looming climate collapse in Alexis Wright's extraordinary experimental novel Read more »| 02 Nov 2023 -
EventsScottish Books Events: November 2023
Two big book festivals take place in Edinburgh next month, with book launches, poetry nights, and spoken word everywhere from Glasgow Women's Library and The Stand Read more »| 01 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsThe Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova
Queen of the grotesque Camilla Grudova returns with a true-to-form collection of disgusting short stories Read more »| 01 Nov 2023 -
Book ReviewsBlackouts by Justin Torres
Justin Torres' highly anticipated sophomore novel experiments with form to consider how we document and preserve queer histories Read more »| 30 Oct 2023 -
Book ReviewsLet Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
Twice winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, Jesmyn Ward returns with a stunning, defiant historical imagining of the American South Read more »| 25 Oct 2023