by Shaun Bythell. Shaun Bythell recounts – in the form of diary entries – his life as owner of The [secondhand] Bookshop in Wigtown, and I say “life” because and it’s so much more than a mere job). His observations of customers, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Scotland
The Shetland Bus
by David Howarth. David Howarth’s The Shetland Bus tells of a dangerous and tenuous sea-link forged between Shetland and Norway during the war. Initially based in Lunna (later Scalloway) in the UK’s most northerly island-group, a discreet fleet of “fishing vessels” was … Continue reading
Glencoe: The Infamous Massacre 1692
by John Sadler. As promised, John Sadler’s account of Glencoe is packed full of information. It covers some history of the clan system in general, a recount of the civil war, and the more detailed events surrounding the massacre itself. … Continue reading
Moonwalker: Adventures of a Midnight Mountaineer
by Alan Rowan. I was always going to like this book – 238 pages about night-hiking in the Scottish mountains. This book chronicles the author’s round of the Munros, the 287 Scottish mountains higher than 3,000′. As such it could have … Continue reading
At the Loch of the Green Corrie
by Andrew Greig. The most astonishingly thought-provoking narrative, which weaves together a biography of the poet Norman MacCaig, fishing, whisky, wild camping in the north west Highlands of Scotland, geology, and that link between the soul and what it means … Continue reading
Isolation Shepherd
Iain R. Thomson A true insight into a real life. From the moment Iain Thomson, together with his wife, toddler daughter, and days-old son, arrived in a boat in a storm at the far end of Strathfarrar – one of … Continue reading
The Hydro Boys: Pioneers of Renewable Energy
by Emma Wood. Don’t read this expecting a balanced account. I don’t mind disagreeing with Wood’s political views and devotion to the hydro projects, it’s just that she goes on and on about it. Despite having trained in mechanical engineering, … Continue reading