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 ReviewsBlack Widow by Chris Brookmyre
In Black Widow, Chris Brookmyre's latest installment in his Jack Parlabane series, the investigative journalist is tasked with unearthing the mysteries behin... Read more »| 08 Jan 2016 -
FeaturesProjecting pages: When books become films
Taking books to the screen has long made up much of the film industry's output. We look at the creative issues involved in the process, and then on to some of the most interesting recent and upcoming literary adaptations. Read more »| 06 Jan 2016 -
Events
Northwest Book Highlights – January 2016
The New Year brings literary events worth bracing the weather for, from Yorkshire’s emerging star poet Helen Mort to music writing giant Jon Savage Read more »| 06 Jan 2016 -
FeaturesThe Essential 2016 Literary Calendar
A new year brings new literary promise: new novels, more festivals and debates, new adaptations, spoken word, poetry and graphic novels. As The Skinny discovers, 2016 has everything to offer the discerning bibliophile... Read more »| 06 Jan 2016 -
FeaturesPoetry News – Scotland, January 2016
An unsullied new year is the perfect opportunity for new poets to pick up a pen or punch a keyboard. Here's some key advice for those in pursuit of their literary intent, and how and where in Scotland to take things forward. Read more »| 06 Jan 2016 -
Book Reviews
Nicotine by Gregor Hens
Nicotine. A highly appropriate work to review this time of year, when self-imposed abstinence casts its cloud over the chaste post-Christmas period. Gregor ... Read more »| 05 Jan 2016
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Book Reviews
Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs by Lina Wolff
‘We’re going to call this little pup Dante. Let’s call the mangy old cur over there Chaucer.’ This is Alba Cambo, standing in front o... Read more »| 04 Jan 2016 -
Book Reviews
Paulina & Fran by Rachel B. Glaser
Paulina and Fran are struggling with art school. Paulina pretends to be an artist, to her everything is art – maintaining her hair, trying on dead peop... Read more »| 01 Jan 2016 -
Book Reviews
Golden Years by Ali Eskandarian
Singer, songwriter and novelist Ali Eskandarian's Golden Years is exactly what the literary scene needs. Claimed by Eskandarian himself as an 'Iranian-Americ... Read more »| 29 Dec 2015 -
Book Reviews
Demanding Democracy by Christopher Silver
The central argument of Christopher Silver’s excellent book Demanding Democracy: The Case for a Scottish Media is twofold: every nation is held togethe... Read more »| 29 Dec 2015 -
Features
Scottish Books: On our Radar for 2016
Taking a loose and healthy approach to nationhood, we look forward to the Scottish books being served up in the coming months. New novels from big hitters Irvine Welsh and James Kelman, challenging sophomore works, award-winning debuts and hidden gems. Read more »| 22 Dec 2015 -
Features
The School of Sophisticated Drinking: Interview
In the lead up to the season of indulgence, we travel to Berlin to take in new book The School of Sophisticated Drinking, a cultural and historical backgroun... Read more »| 17 Dec 2015 -
Book ReviewsSinclair ZX Spectrum: A Visual Compendium
Although it's been bubbling for some time, 2015 could be seen as a renaissance year for the ZX Spectrum. Read more »| 15 Dec 2015 -
Book Reviews
Beatlebone by Kevin Barry
Kevin Barry's second novel, Beatlebone – adding to the author's collection of awards with the Goldsmiths Prize this year – marks a cont... Read more »| 10 Dec 2015 -
Book Reviews
Points of Origin by Diao Dou
'There are those who would say that tales of the fantastic can come only from the times of Apuleius or Kafka,' suggests Diao Dou in his newly translated coll... Read more »| 09 Dec 2015