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 ReviewsElliot Allagash by Simon Rich
Elliot Allagash, the book’s namesake and driving character is a blatant mash up of John Irvine’s Owen Meany, and the rich brat from Kick-Ass: a 1... Read more »| 29 Oct 2010 -
Book ReviewsBlighty: a Cynic's Guide to Britain
Britain: you thought it was all about Cameron, Clegg, Simon, Cheryl and Churchill (the talking dog, not the wartime leader). Turns out there’s ... Read more »| 28 Oct 2010 -
Book ReviewsPhantoms of Breslau by Marek Krajewski
Phantoms of Breslau is the third in a series of books following the investigations of Eberhard Mock, the delightfully unorthodox Criminal Assistant w... Read more »| 27 Oct 2010 -
FeaturesRodge Glass and Dave Turbitt on Dougie's War
Dougie’s War is a new graphic novel written by Rodge Glass (who I’m frankly getting sick of interviewing) and illustrated by Dave Turbitt (who’s a nice guy). Dougie’s War focuses on a particular issue, and a very serious one, that of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, suffered by ex-soldiers. Read more »| 29 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
The Long Glasgow Kiss
“If there’s one thing I can say about your veiled threats, Superintendent, it’s that they’re all threat and no veil.” T... Read more »| 23 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
Puffin by Design by Phil Baines
Penguin and Puffin books have been celebrating their 80th anniversary this year, and this lovely little book is a tribute to the design of the Puffin... Read more »| 22 Sep 2010
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Book ReviewsNovgorod the Great by Andrew Drummond
Andrew Drummond’s Novgorod the Great is an intriguing historical novel set primarily in Russia, but ambitiously broad in scope. In 1833, two tr... Read more »| 22 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
I Love You, Goodbye by Cynthia Rogerson
Cynthia Rogerson examines the complexities of love in her third novel. In the village of Evanton in the Scottish Highlands, Rose and Harry are having... Read more »| 21 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
A Life in Pictures by Alasdair Gray
A Life in Pictures is just that, and a treat it is too. The book is a beautifully produced selection of Gray’s art over 300 pages, with extensi... Read more »| 21 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
The Hockey Stick Illusion by A.W Montford
The Hockey Stick Illusion is a term used by climate change sceptics to describe the graph that shows global temperatures have risen higher in recent ... Read more »| 15 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Heaven and Hell is set in Iceland around the start of the 20th Century, and it concerns a boy named Bardur, and a boy who goes unnamed. Both are taken as pas... Read more »| 06 Sep 2010 -
Festivals
David Crystal @ EIBF
David Crystal has written Begat about the King James Bible’s influence on English language as a birthday present to it, for its 400th year in p... Read more »| 04 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
What the Hell Are You Doing? by David Shrigley
The artist David Shrigley is from Macclesfield originally, but is now a Glasgow resident, and if you’re struggling to place the name, you’ll prob... Read more »| 02 Sep 2010 -
Features
A Sideways Ride Through Jekyll and Hyde
Kevin MacNeil is a writer from Lewis whose previous work has included poetry, plays, and a debut novel The Stornoway Way - which Rodge Glass named as his choice for ‘Best Scottish book of the 21st Century’ in our Unbound pullout. His latest book, A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll and Hyde, is out on 1 September Read more »| 02 Sep 2010 -
Book Reviews
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
Life of Pi deserved all the praise it got, but Yann Martel’s highly awaited follow-up Beatrice and Virgil isn’t as impressive. The ... Read more »| 01 Sep 2010