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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FeaturesA Bookish Christmas Gift Guide
Stuck for something to buy a friend for Christmas? Info-packed, entertaining, and easy to get hold of, you can hardly go wrong with a book. Here are some possible choices, all fresh and on the shelves of your local vendor now! Read more »| 02 Dec 2009 -
Book ReviewsDavid Eagleman in Conversation
The minutiae of life can be boxed down to a list of statistics; 30 years tucked up in bed, 200 days in the shower, five months reading dog-eared magazines on... Read more »| 15 Nov 2009 -
Book ReviewsHeads on Pillows by Joan Campbell
Given their significant role in Scotland’s hospitality sector – they were ‘traditional’ well before anyone realised just how ... Read more »| 08 Nov 2009 -
Book Reviews
The Country Diaries, edited by Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor’s earlier anthology (with Irene Taylor) The Assassin’s Cloak was a wide ranging anthology of great diary writing, with the en... Read more »| 02 Nov 2009 -
Book Reviews
Rock and Roll Tourist by Graham Forbes
The entertainment pedigree of booking a train ticket online can hardly compete with a stadium gig by U2. It's lucky, then, that the great strength of this se... Read more »| 30 Oct 2009 -
Features
Please Praise Gray's Plays...
The Skinny is helping to launch an Alasdair Gray Book - want to come? Read more »| 28 Oct 2009
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Book Reviews
Warrior Daughter by Janet Paisley
If you had to categorise Warrior Daughter, it would definitely fall into the historical/fantasy/porno genre. Paisley’s latest novel is set in a... Read more »| 26 Oct 2009 -
Features
Cargo Publishing: A Young Upstart
Mark Buckland set up Cargo Publishing this August with the goal of "putting a firework up the arse of Scottish literature". No small feat for a 22 year old. How did he do it? Read on. Read more »| 26 Oct 2009 -
Book ReviewsMagazine: The Biography by Helen Chase
“Magazine were always a connoisseur's choice”, claims guitarist John McGeoch in this vigorous account of their short bittersweet career. As the l... Read more »| 20 Oct 2009 -
Book ReviewsGrandville by Bryan Talbot
Bryan Talbot’s last graphic novel (if it should be called that) was the phenomenal Alice in Sunderland, a multi-layered exploration of the history of S... Read more »| 12 Oct 2009 -
Book Reviews
Simon's Cat by Simon Tofield
Simon’s Cat started off life as an internet animation that developed a cult following. The short films featuring a hungry cat on Youtube gained enough ... Read more »| 29 Sep 2009 -
Features
Gutter Press
The newly launched Gutter magazine already looks like being a promising step for Scottish writing as a whole. Here's why. Read more »| 28 Sep 2009 -
Book Reviews
Transition By Iain Banks
Iain Banks’ new book is of a sort that Iain M Banks could have put his name to – because this book, though it has a (sort of) contemporary settin... Read more »| 25 Sep 2009 -
Book Reviews
Alasdair Gray: A Secretary's Biography by Rodge Glass
Reviews written for the paperback edition of this entertaining biography are pre-empted by the fact that Gray himself has written his own review of the book ... Read more »| 24 Sep 2009 -
Book Reviews
The Death of Bunny Munro, by Nick Cave
Yes, that Nick Cave, musician extraordinaire. This isn’t his first foray into fiction – he scripted a well-received film, the Australian Western ... Read more »| 25 Aug 2009