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 ReviewsGood As Dead by Mark Billingham
Not to be confused with Mark Billingham’s last book, From The Dead, this latest offering is a solid police procedural. In fact, there’s r... Read more »| 25 Aug 2011 -
Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Yorkston vs Rankin!
Singer, songwriter and Fence Collective member James Yorkston will be interviewed by Ian Rankin. Need we say more? Read more »| 04 Aug 2011 -
Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival: Mr Gray, His Life and His Play
Artist, novelist and playwright (amongst many other things) Alasdair Gray has two events at the Book Festival this year. We caught up with the man himself for a quiet word about what to expect Read more »| 04 Aug 2011 -
FestivalsEdinburgh International Book Festival: Lots To Do and See
Perhaps too much to do and see? Want to see something at the Book Festival, but don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve broken it all down into event types to make it easier to digest. That’s the theory, anyway Read more »| 03 Aug 2011 -
Book ReviewsThe Incomplete Tim Key, by Tim Key
Tim Key’s quirky, humorous, poems were very enjoyable. In fact, I had to share them. I shared them with my cat, Charlie. Charlie bloody loved them! He ... Read more »| 02 Aug 2011 -
Book Reviews
Tretower to Clyro:Essays by Karl Miller
This is a genial collection of essays by an esteemed critic, including a foreword by one of his friends, Andrew O’Hagan, and pieces on his frie... Read more »| 29 Jul 2011
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Book ReviewsThe Immaculate Heart by Andrew Raymond Drennan
This book, his second published work, is something of a leap forward for Andrew Raymond Drennan, with his prose in particular significantly more confident th... Read more »| 28 Jul 2011 -
Book Reviews
A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
John Burnside's eighth novel is both an evolution of his previous work and an entirely self-contained fable. It is set in the Norwegian Arctic Circle... Read more »| 27 Jul 2011 -
Book Reviews
Aaron and Ahmed by Jay Cantor (writer) and James Romberger (artist)
Aaron and Ahmed is subtitled ‘A Love Story’, but it’s not that simple. It’s the story of Aaron, who becomes a soldier in Guantanamo B... Read more »| 07 Jul 2011 -
Festivals
The Ways of Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at University of Hertfordshire. But before that, he was a professional magician. He describes this transition as “pretty straightforward” Read more »| 01 Jul 2011 -
Festivals
Des Dillon Goes Eclectic
Novels, Poetry, Theatre, Television, Screenplays... what else can Des Dillon do? Stand-up comedy, that's what! Read more »| 30 Jun 2011 -
Festivals
The Paris Review, Interviewed
The Paris Review is perhaps the best of all literary journals, and almost certainly the most reader-friendly (yes Granta, even including you) due to its emph... Read more »| 30 Jun 2011 -
Festivals
Love's Rebellious Joy – A Tribute to Paul Reekie
Irvine Welsh and the Subway Sect's Vic Godard pay tribute to the memory of Paul Reekie, while Gordon Legge shares a new piece of writing in honour of Scotland's most maverick man of letters Read more »| 30 Jun 2011 -
Book Reviews
Top Gear Drivers' Handbook by Richard Porter
Following on from Haynes, the Car Manual publisher who branched out into novelty books – The Star Trek based U.S.S Enterprise Manual, Dad Manua... Read more »| 28 Jun 2011 -
Book ReviewsThis is Not the End of the Book, by Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere
There have been too many hand-wringing discussions on the future of the book. This is not one of them. Author and academic Umberto Eco and his friend... Read more »| 27 Jun 2011