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 ReviewsKilled At The Whim Of A Hat
Looking for a mystery featuring a murdered monk, a camp-as-Christmas cop and a canine kleptomaniac? You may be in luck. Killed at the Whim of a Hat brings to... Read more »| 28 Mar 2011 -
Book ReviewsConvictions: My Life With A Good Communist
A re-release of a book first published in 1979, Convictions details Jo Langer’s incredible story of survival in 1950s Communist Czechoslovakia.... Read more »| 28 Mar 2011 -
Features
New Books by the Cargo Crate
New publishing ‘label’ Cargo Crate describes itself as Scotland’s first eBook/print-on-demand publisher, and it has big ambitions for the future of ‘the book’ Read more »| 25 Mar 2011 -
FestivalsSome Standouts at StAnza
Want to learn more about poetry in one fell swoop? Fancy a trip to St Andrews? Read on... Read more »| 04 Mar 2011 -
Features
Doug Johnstone: Whisky Galore, And A Wee Bit More
Doug Johnstone's third novel, Smokeheads, is a thriller set on the island of Islay, whisky's spiritual home Read more »| 03 Mar 2011 -
Book ReviewsGlasgow Fairytale
See, it aw started when this guy wrote a book aboot Glesga. Except it wisnae aw aboot the Armadillo and Lulu, and that. Naw, whit it wis, he put aw t... Read more »| 25 Feb 2011
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Book Reviews
The Blackhouse
Detective Fin McLeod returns to his childhood home, the Isle of Lewis, for the first time in 17 years to investigate a brutal murder. Rediscovering the islan... Read more »| 25 Feb 2011 -
Book Reviews
The Shard Box by Liz Niven
In a new collection of poems about her experiences in China, Liz Niven seems the perfect traveller. She’s adventurous in confronting the cultur... Read more »| 24 Feb 2011 -
Book Reviews
The Celestial Cafe by Stuart Murdoch
The Celestial Café is the first book by Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch. Written in diary-form it gives the reader an insight into the min... Read more »| 23 Feb 2011 -
Book Reviews
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
The whistle stop nature of this simple adventure story is a bit deceiving. Jaf's account of growing up in London, mid-nineteenth century, combines br... Read more »| 22 Feb 2011 -
Book Reviews
Twenty-One Locks
There are 21 locks in a canal running through a standard-issue north Lancashire town, the nondescript anonymity of the village perfectly befitting Je... Read more »| 22 Feb 2011 -
Features
Mills & Boon: 'I Read These, So You Don't Have To'
Valentine's Day is coming up, so why don't you read one of Mills and Boon's romance novels? Because of everything that follows, that's why not Read more »| 01 Feb 2011 -
Book ReviewsProust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
Jonah Lehrer’s exploration into that old Science vs. Art debate throws up some refreshing and thought-provoking messages. Lehrer takes his mode... Read more »| 28 Jan 2011 -
Book Reviews
The Liberation of Celia Kahn by J. David Simons
Set against the background of rent strikes, anti-war sentiment and a revolution brewing in Russia, a young Jewish woman from the Gorbals gains her first tast... Read more »| 27 Jan 2011 -
Book Reviews
Wartime Notebooks by Marguerite Duras
The posthumous publication of a writer’s early notebooks and drafts can often feel like a cynical opportunity, or a desk-clearing exercise of little in... Read more »| 26 Jan 2011