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 ReviewsWe're Flying by Peter Stamm
Following his celebrated novel Seven Years, We're Flying is a short story collection by Peter Stamm, brimming with insight into the psychological r... Read more »| 09 Apr 2013 -
Book ReviewsThe Trade Secret by Robert Newman
Rob Newman's fourth novel is both an investigation into the pervasive forces of corporations, class and capitalism, as well as a swash-buckling adventure ... Read more »| 01 Apr 2013 -
Book ReviewsLove Sex Travel Musik by Rodge Glass
Sharing a theme of cheap air travel, these short stories reflect on a world lubricated by flights that cost less than lunch. Far from realising their dreams ... Read more »| 01 Apr 2013 -
Book ReviewsAn Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful by J. David Simons
J. David Simons’ new novel is primarily noteworthy for the ambition it shows in tackling difficult, often uncomfortable themes. Flitting between the yo... Read more »| 28 Mar 2013 -
Book Reviews
Book of the Month: The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim
Calling Hassan Blasim's second short story collection a ‘tour de force’ seems tactless – a tour by the Allied Western armies, involving dea... Read more »| 25 Mar 2013 -
Events
StAnza International Poetry Festival, St Andrews
StAnza poetry festival director Eleanor Livingstone tells us what attendees can expect this year, what not to miss, and how the recent closure of The Byre Theatre has impacted the programme Read more »| 12 Mar 2013
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Book Reviews
The Investigation by Philippe Claudel
Philippe Claudel’s latest novel is an engrossing and often frustrating descent into the irritation and tyranny of the modern world. Frustrating becau... Read more »| 05 Mar 2013 -
Book Reviews
Stonemouth by Iain Banks
Stewart Gilmour returns home, after 5 years, to the small town of Stonemouth to attend a funeral, but only after getting permission from the Murstons, one of... Read more »| 05 Mar 2013 -
Book ReviewsThe Dandy - The Last Issue
This last ever print version of The Dandy is a pretty representative compendium of some 75 stories. The Dandy's humour was never particularly sophistica... Read more »| 01 Mar 2013 -
Book Reviews
Gone Again by Doug Johnstone
Edinburgh-based Doug Johnstone has pared down the breadth of his subject matter – his last novel, Hit and Run used the setup indicated by its titl... Read more »| 25 Feb 2013 -
Book Reviews
Me and You by Niccolò Ammaniti
The third Ammaniti novel to be translated from Italian into English, he moves away from the thriller format he experimented with in I'm Not Scared and Steal ... Read more »| 23 Feb 2013 -
Book Reviews
Eustace by S.J. Harris
The darkness in Eustace creeps up on you unexpectedly. It begins sadly, but innocently with the travails of a sick child, illustrated in a whimsical, pencil-... Read more »| 21 Feb 2013 -
Book Reviews
Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World by Donald Antrim
Donald Antrim's 1993 debut novel, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World is being published in the UK for the first time. Featuring a pagan-like shrouded figu... Read more »| 21 Feb 2013 -
Book Reviews
The Fields by Kevin Maher
The Fields by Kevin Maher is a coming of age novel set in Ireland during the 1980s. Although the Troubles are present, the focus remains firmly on the a... Read more »| 20 Feb 2013 -
Book Reviews
The Library of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry
It would seem a good plan to release a book about love, for lovers of books, on St Valentine’s Day, but this is an odd one for that particular date. Th... Read more »| 14 Feb 2013