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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FeaturesOn the Rocks: Writing on Addiction
This collection of writing looks across the spectrum of addiction: highs and lows, revelry and regret. Acceptance, treatment and recovery. The Skinny introduces abridged extracts, plotting points on the life of a rock'n'roll poet crashing into the cliffs Read more »| 10 May 2016 -
Book ReviewsLunatics, Lovers and Poets ed. by Hahn & Valencia
This collection gracefully exhibits 12 previously unpublished pieces inspired by two literary giants: Cervantes and Shakespeare. With six English language au... Read more »| 10 May 2016 -
Book ReviewsThe Bones of Grace by Tahmima Anam
Tahmima Anam first declared herself with the award-winning 2007 novel A Golden Age, soon followed by its equally acclaimed sequel The Good Muslim. These... Read more »| 10 May 2016 -
Book ReviewsTram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila
You can forget about the empty savannah, the deep jungle and the native peoples mystically in touch with nature and a purer, simpler past. This is a book abo... Read more »| 09 May 2016 -
Book Reviews
Zero K by Don DeLillo
“What’s the point of living if we don’t die at the end if it?” observes a nameless monk in Don DeLillo’s seventeenth novel. It&... Read more »| 09 May 2016 -
Features
Joe Hill on new novel The Fireman
Joe Hill – aka Joseph Hillstrom King – has followed up his hit novels Horns and NOS 4R2 with the post-apocalyptic tale The Fireman. Ahead of its ... Read more »| 06 May 2016
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Events
Northwest Book Highlights – May 2016
This month we mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and the Northwest plays host to a whole load of festivals, including Manchester After Hours,... Read more »| 04 May 2016 -
Tech
Indie Games: The Complete Introduction to Indie Gaming
Given the fledgling status of what’s considered the modern ‘indie game’, it’s perhaps little surprise that there’s hardly been ... Read more »| 12 Apr 2016 -
Book Reviews
All That Man Is by David Szalay
Or: all that man isn't. Male readers beware – Szalay is in no mood to gloss over the shortcomings of his gender as he exposes with clear-sighted precis... Read more »| 05 Apr 2016 -
Features
The Weird and Wonderful World of Fan Fiction
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Tyrion Lannister crossed over into the world of The Lord of the Rings? Don’t worry; someone has already written it for you. We take a look at the growing – and sometimes bizarre – world of fan fiction Read more »| 05 Apr 2016 -
Events
George Monbiot at Aye Write!
"It’s as if the people of the Soviet Union had never heard of communism," says George Monbiot in his Aye Write! event How Did We Get Into This Mes... Read more »| 05 Apr 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Bricks that Built the Houses by Kate Tempest
Kate Tempest’s debut novel The Bricks that Built the Houses begins with a quote from William Blake, and the shadow of this great London poet lingers ov... Read more »| 05 Apr 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Cauliflower® by Nicola Barker
Who is Sri Ramakrishna? 'Is he man or child? Leader or follower? Idiot or genius? A god, a god-man, or just too, too human?' In a world where spirituality se... Read more »| 04 Apr 2016 -
Events
Northwest Book Highlights – April 2016
Kate Tempest returns to the Northwest this month with her first novel in hand, while crime fiction, Shakespeare and uncertainty are also up for discussion Read more »| 01 Apr 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Wolf Trial by Neil Mackay
The premise is intriguing: in a small town in 16th century Germany, a serial killer is captured and tried as a werewolf. There are moments of gory, shocking ... Read more »| 31 Mar 2016