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.
-
FeaturesGraphic novels and the Middle East
Why are so many authors who write about the Middle East turning to comics to tell their stories? Read more »| 07 Jun 2016 -
NewsPoetry News – Scotland, June 2016
This month we speak to Jenny Lindsay about the end of Skinny favourite Rally & Broad, and the projects to rise from its ashes, before looking at the work of comedy-poet-libertine Mark Waddell Read more »| 03 Jun 2016 -
FestivalsXpoNorth: LG Thomson on Northern Noir
Crime thriller author Lorraine (L.G.) Thomson will make time in her hectic schudule to be at Xpo North this year. She tells us about the importance of creative communities in the Highlands and Islands, and why she went down the self-publishing route Read more »| 02 Jun 2016 -
Book Reviews
The Girls by Emma Cline
Emma Cline's much-anticipated debut shows its hand immediately: 'They herd everyone into the living room. The moment the frightened people understand th... Read more »| 31 May 2016 -
Features
Immersed in Danger: Reporters Risking Death
Two journalists who walked into the lion’s den: Wolfgang Bauer went undercover to share the journey of Syrian refugees fleeing the terror of war, while Jürgen Todenhöfer confronted that terror, spending ten days as a guest of the Islamic State Read more »| 31 May 2016 -
Book ReviewsYoung Soul Rebels by Stuart Cosgrove
A familiar voice for many, Stuart Cosgrove looks into the enigmatic Northern Soul music scene in his latest book. From the musicians who echoed over the spea... Read more »| 31 May 2016
-
Book Reviews
#UntitledTwo by Neu! Reekie!
Neu! Reekie! – well, they’ve done it again. The sumptuous gold cover of #UntitledTwo is a gorgeous, shimmering temptation. Pause to admire the co... Read more »| 30 May 2016 -
Book Reviews
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
It’s a skilful, masterful memoir: tracing one man’s obsession with surfing that takes him from teenage years in Hawaii to adulthood spent on far-... Read more »| 27 May 2016 -
Book ReviewsNoon In Paris, Eight In Chicago by Douglas Cowie
Love: the greatest adventure; a high-stakes, perilous undertaking; a long-odds gamble, for the greatest reward. Its possibilities so often flail un... Read more »| 13 May 2016 -
Features
On 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 Reviews
Lunatics, 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 Reviews
The 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 Reviews
Tram 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