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 ReviewsWould You Eat Your Cat? by Jeremy Stangroom
This book presents us with several ethical conundrums to get us to think about moral philosophy and how we see the world. The somewhat twee world of ... Read more »| 30 Apr 2010 -
Book ReviewsThe Diary of Miss Idilia
The Diary of Miss Idilia is classified as a ‘Memoir’ and certainly the facts are there and provide the basis for a terrific story, but the superf... Read more »| 21 Apr 2010 -
Book Reviews
Googled: The End of the World As We Know It
Few companies or products gain such a strong public prominence in the world that their name becomes a verb. Those that do have invariably pushed thro... Read more »| 21 Apr 2010 -
Book ReviewsThe Pacific by Hugh Ambrose
It's a horrible irony that the OED defines “pacific” as “characterized or tending to peace; tranquil”; between 1941 and 1945,... Read more »| 19 Apr 2010 -
Features
Tell Me a Story...
Stories and tales, poems and ceilidhs, Music and dancing and opera for babies! There's a lot going on at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.... Read more »| 02 Apr 2010 -
Book ReviewsThe Two Kinds of Decay
While still at college, Sarah Manguso caught what she thought was a head cold. A member of a choir with a solo in an upcoming concert, she fought it ... Read more »| 31 Mar 2010
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Book Reviews
The Lilac Thief by Young Dawkins
The Lilac Thief is a collection of Young Dawkins’ spoken word beat poetry. Normally that description would indicate two strikes against –... Read more »| 25 Mar 2010 -
Book ReviewsThe Nigger Factory by Gil Scott-Heron
It’s an incendiary title, but that’s just because it’s making an angry political point about the state of education for black Ameri... Read more »| 25 Mar 2010 -
Book Reviews
J.D. Salinger: A Life Raised High by Kenneth Slawenski
When J.D. Salinger died earlier this year, a glut of rushed, cash-in biographies could have been expected. However, A Life Raised High is much better... Read more »| 24 Mar 2010 -
Book Reviews
The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis
The Pregnant Widow, Martin Amis's best book since his memoir Experience (2000), presents itself as a disquisition on the victories and defeats of the... Read more »| 23 Mar 2010 -
Book Reviews
Sunday Daffodil and Other Happy Endings by Paul Robert Smith
The optimistic title of this book is not only deceptive as a title, but also masks the true depth of Smith’s literary genius. The title is symbolic of ... Read more »| 01 Mar 2010 -
Book Reviews
Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
Never mind that Maile Meloy's last novel was on the Orange shortlist, or that Richard and Judy liked it, whichever way that nugget of information mig... Read more »| 24 Feb 2010 -
Book Reviews
Never After, by Dan Elconin
Since his first appearance back in 1902, many people (including Steven Spielberg) have attempted to produce a follow-up to J. M. Barrie’s iconi... Read more »| 24 Feb 2010 -
Book Reviews
A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates
Katya Spivak is a young nanny working for the summer amongst the privileged splendour of Bay Harbor. Approached by the elderly Marcus Kidder, she allows hers... Read more »| 24 Feb 2010 -
Features
All's Right at Aye Write!
The Aye Write! festival is back, with as strong a lineup as ever. Read more »| 23 Feb 2010