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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FeaturesMurder at the Golden Lion: Bloody Scotland returns
In anticipation of Bloody Scotland in Stirling this September, crime author Russel D McLean takes a look at The Murder at the Golden Lion: A Case for the Great Detective (apologies to Agatha Christie – and all Golden Age crime writers) Read more »| 31 Aug 2016 -
Book ReviewsDear Mr M by Herman Koch
Mr M is a writer, and he’s being stalked by his neighbour. The stalker, our narrator, really doesn’t like Mr M. He watches the writer with contem... Read more »| 26 Aug 2016 -
Book ReviewsThe Glue Ponys: Short Stories by Chris Wilson
Of all the elements of a book which might kindle our interest, the positioning of an author’s biography rarely so much as prompts a raised eyebrow. But... Read more »| 26 Aug 2016 -
Features
Ron Rash: “In America we’re in such a dark place"
With his outstanding new work Above the Waterfall, the highly acclaimed US author Ron Rash tries to draw the 'wonder' from a snarling modern America. He talks about the novel here, and why while a proud Southern writer, don't precede that with 'just a' Read more »| 19 Aug 2016 -
Festivals
Agnes Török & Chimwemwe Undi: Speaking with Feeling
The best and worst problem for a reviewer to have is this: the best kind of event will not let itself be neatly described in 300 words. Some things you canno... Read more »| 18 Aug 2016 -
Festivals
Laura Bates: A Manifesto for Empowered Women
Did you know that more men are sitting in Westminster right now than there have been female MPs in the entirety of British history? And that in our country, ... Read more »| 18 Aug 2016
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Events
Edinburgh Book Festival: Helen Mort & Claire Askew
'You’re imagining her life… but you’re miles off.' Playful, self-referencing and blunt: these lines from Claire Askew’s poem Picker ... Read more »| 16 Aug 2016 -
Features
Walking the Lights: Glasgow's Feminist Withnail & I
Deborah Andrews' highly recommeded debut novel Walking the Lights offers an authentic portrayal of 90s Glasgow slackerdom. Here we present an exclusive extra... Read more »| 15 Aug 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock
The revisionist treatment of the American West has gathered pace over decades, with John Wayne’s pristine duds and decency decomposing into Deadwood's ... Read more »| 06 Aug 2016 -
FeaturesPoetry News – Scotland, August 2016
It’s festival season again in Auld Reekie – this one’s going to be a good 'un, with plenty of must-see poetry events to add to your list Read more »| 05 Aug 2016 -
Book Reviews
Pepita by Vita Sackville-West
It was recently announced that Virginia Woolf's scandalous love affair with Vita Sackville-West will soon be immortalised in celluloid. Despite having since ... Read more »| 05 Aug 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss
'If I had dared, I would have reached out to put my arm around my sad, cold daughter.' At the core of Moss’s fifth novel is a parent-child relationship... Read more »| 04 Aug 2016 -
Book Reviews
Beast by Paul Kingsnorth
A man alone in a barn on a moor. Outside is whiteness and emptiness and heat then rain. The man isn’t sleeping much. He’s come out here to escape... Read more »| 03 Aug 2016 -
Festivals
Edinburgh International Book Festival: A guide
Our Books Editor struggles to work logically through a recommended list for Edinburgh International Book Festival – such is the volume and quality of events on offer. Finally, through the power of cheap and ambiguous links, there forms a path Read more »| 29 Jul 2016 -
Book Reviews
The GFG: The BFG in Scots Translatit by Susan Rennie
Getting up to look out of the window one eerily silent night, a wee girl called Sophy spots an extraordinary figure across the street.Something with twa bric... Read more »| 22 Jul 2016