Scottish Book Tour Part 4

Already into August with a bump and I started work at the school with the kids last week and it was rough as though I have the same kids, the same room, the same role, we've moved up to middle school, so I know nothing. I don't feel part of the team yet, and no one knows what to do with me, so I'm drifting until we get settled in. It's great being back with the students, but school is much easier when it's just teachers. 

No poetry collections so far for the Sealey Challenge. I'm beginning to doubt I'll manage much. I read fiction before bed. It's my wind-down activity before sleep. I can't read poetry then or not a whole collection as I can't focus well enough. Fiction keeps me engaged just enough to last a half hour until the melatonin kicks in. I think I'll maybe read a poem a night from a new/old collection I'm excited about. 

I'm still reading through my Scottish book haul pile. I just finished The Second Cut by Louise Welsh. I read and enjoyed her first novel The Cutting Room back when it first came out and actually read a chapter as I was in a writing group with Louise for a brief time before it was published. Even in draft, you could see that the book was going to be a success, rich details of character and place, an intriguing mystery plot. 

The Second Cut is a follow-on with the same main character Rilke, an art and antiques auctioneer in Glasgow after a 20-year break. The post-Covid world is different in many ways, but greed and crime are the same and Rilke becomes involved in mysterious events through his job and his social life when a friend mysteriously dies. Welsh captures a different side of Glasgow, Grindr hookups intermeshed with the antiques world while delving into its criminal side that hits both. As with many novels in the crime/mystery genre, the who done it isn't as important as the character's development and journey. I found myself caught up with Rilke as he unravelled the plot, his friendships and loyalties and those he could not bring himself to trust. I know authors often hate to get boxed in with a character in a series, but I wouldn't mind reading more with Rilke. A great piece of Tartan Noir writing. 

I also read Hex by Jenni Fagan this week. It's a short book, but I rattled through it in a few sessions as I was so caught up in the character of Gellis Duncan, a young girl tortured, examined, tried and executed as a witch in Scotland in 1591. The novel is part of Polygon's Darkland series which looks at events in Scottish history with a new eye. In Hex, Geillis is visited in her cell on the night before her death by a modern witch Iris who crosses the ether to find her. She brings Geillis small comforts, but also tells her women are still hurt and killed for their beliefs and for just being a woman in our time. It is a touching and beautifully written book that screams and cries for women throughout history. Scotland has apologised for the witch trials recently but has yet to pardon the women. Hopefully, books like this will raise awareness of this dark side of Scottish history. 

Scottish Book Tour Part 1

One of the issues living in a non-English speaking country as an avid reader is getting the books I want to read. I can order books, especially from the big evil online bookseller which I desperately try to avoid, but sometimes getting specific books from smaller presses is difficult. And I miss the kid in a candy store moment of having a whole shop of English books to choose from. 

So when I started organising my trip to Scotland last month, one of the first things I did was check out the possibilities of finding English language bookshops near my route. As I was going to the far north, there were only two small shops, no big chains, so I thought I'd better order in what I wanted in advance. 

The Ullapool Bookshop was nice enough to find almost all the books on my list, though some weren't available in time for my trip. I was going to pick them up on the way home but forgot to pack the book I was reading before I left, so I stopped in before I caught the ferry to Lewis. So I got the pleasure of dipping into the hoard during my trip. 

One of my goals was to write short reviews here of the books as I read them. My selection mostly includes Scottish writers with some poets. 

The first book I dived into on the trip was William McIlvanney's The Papers of Tony Vetch - all his books mentioned are available here. Author Ian Rankin's collaboration to finish McIlvanney's last Laidlaw novel was released last year and it took me a while to get a copy. I read The Dark Remains and was intrigued to find out how much was Rankin and how much was McIlvanney, how much of Rebus was inspired by Laidlaw. 

I bought Laidlaw earlier in the year and was blown away, especially by the character's take on Glasgow, a city where I lived for over a decade. I have to admit I'm hooked. The detective stories are just vehicles for the character's musings on the world, for the rich prose, but they carry them well while keeping the reader engaged with the plot. All three of McIlvanney's books are amazing for playing with language and imagery, but the last one, Strange Loyalties, the only story told in first person from the point of view of the disheartened detective is raw and powerful. I actually dragged it out, so I could enjoy it for longer. I cannot praise these books enough and Canongate have rereleased his other books, so I have a few tucked in my Christmas wish list. 

I studied Scottish Literature back in the day and one of my interests was literature in the Scots language. I can read Scots, but I cannot speak it and sound natural. My own accent always overpowers. Emma Grae is a promoter of the language on Twitter and this was how I came across her novel in Scots novel Be guid tae yer Mammy. 

Reading the novel is like having my friends and family and especially my mother-in-law Jeanie talking in my head. Grae captures the language and the place, a west-Scotland small town, so well. The plot of the novel was unexpected, a family drama that was neither twee, saccharine nostalgia nor dour Scottish misery. It felt balanced with characters that I cared about and a realistic ending. 

The Scots flowed well and I was quickly caught up in it and the story. It wasn't just used for dialogue which is often how Scots authors balance using the language with allowing non-Scots to read it, but gave the book part of its personality. I don't think non-Scots speakers would take long to find their way into the novel, as it wasn't forcing old words into new mouths, but reflecting how it's used every day. As an advocate of Scottish literature and Scots, I'm overjoyed to see the language making its way into more and more books. Emma Grae is already set to bring out her second book in Scots in the near future, so something to look forward to. 

I've started my next book, so will hopefully be able to review it soon. Photos from my stay in Ravenspoint Hostel in Kershader, Isle of Lewis.