Read Scotland 2015 discussion

Here's the place to start a conversation, share a book, an author or anything on your mind.

You choose a picture of St Kilda. ♥

I am happy for you that you will go to Scotland in May. Where will you go to?

Nicole wrote: "You choose a picture of St Kilda. ♥

I am happy for you that you will go to Scotland in May. Where will you go to?"

I am staying with friends in Markinch, Glenrothes and we will be doing a pretty comprehensive tour of Scotland while I am there. They have very ambitious plans for me to get a really good flavor of the country. I will also be staying a couple days on the west coast with another friend. We'll be spending a few days up in the Aberdeen/Inverness area too. Leakey's Book Shop in Inverness is a must! No travels to the islands this year though or St. Kilda:( Logistics just too difficult. Saving for another trip!

I will take my parents next year. We want to show them the places we loved best. I had two routes planned (Edinburgh - St Andrew's - Inverness - Oban - Edinburgh and Oban - Skye - Harris/Lewis - Skye - Edinburgh) and they decided on the second one.
Where will you stay on the west coast?

Nicole wrote: "I will take my parents next year. We want to show them the places we loved best. I had two routes planned (Edinburgh - St Andrew's - Inverness - Oban - Edinburgh and Oban - Skye - Harris/Lewis - Sk..."

Oban and Girvan. We will do day trips to Glasgow but I don't think I'll be staying over there. A friend lives in Girvan and I will be there one night and then Oban to sail and stay a night or two. I doubt I will want to come home!

I am sure you will enjoy your time there.

We booked the ferry now. First time on an overnight ferry and my first time on a ferry to Scotland. We could be there in 2 hours from Munich airport but my parents can not fly so we go by car this year.

Nicole wrote: "I am sure you will enjoy your time there.

We booked the ferry now. First time on an overnight ferry and my first time on a ferry to Scotland. We could be there in 2 hours from Munich airport but ..."

Overnight Ferry sounds like a grand adventure! Your lucky you are so much closer to Scotland than I am. The airfare is quite expensive from here! Thank goodness my husband is not going, two plane tickets would eat up the whole budget!

I am really lucky with living so close and I am very grateful for this.
I am so happy for you that you can go next year and I hope for you that you have a wonderful time.

Then I was 13 I was on a language school trip to London and I stayed with a family in North London. The mother was Scottish and I remember thinking that I would have left Scotland immediately given the chance to live in London. Who wants to live in Scotland? I could not imagine to ever go there.
And then I grew up and met a man and he loved Scotland. So slowly my mind was changed.

A challenger from my blog challenge gave me this great resource for books too! The 50 best Scottish books of the last 50 years! http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/read...

James Loftus did an interview for Celtic Life International. Here it is if you want to read it!
http://www.celticlifeintl.com/celtic-...

If you like historical books non-fiction you might want to check out Nigel Tranter Thanks James, for mentioning him!

A giveaway:
http://www.bbcamerica.com/bbc-america...

Val McDermid (@valmcdermid) tweeted at 8:51 AM on Tue, Jan 20, 2015:
Exciting new talent - winners of the @scottishbktrust New Writers Awards. Good luck to all of them. http://t.co/7aYnQqLDyL
(https://twitter.com/valmcdermid/statu...)

Thanks to this site, I read the following book last year. I don't agree with the conclusion but enjoyed it.

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

Kirk wrote: "Thanks to this site, I read the following book last year. I don't agree with the conclusion but enjoyed it.

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-t......"

Interesting article, Kirk. I didn't know that part about the woman having the 'feeling' when she walked over the parking lot being the catalyst to get it dug up. I have Daughter of Time but have yet to read it.

Was thinking how poorly I'd done on reading any of the top 50 books but then I got to number 50. Just finished reading 'Buddha Da' as wanted to see whether possibility for teaching pupils.

Susan wrote: "Was thinking how poorly I'd done on reading any of the top 50 books but then I got to number 50. Just finished reading 'Buddha Da' as wanted to see whether possibility for teaching pupils."

A lad from my blog group just read Buddha Da too.

Took me a wee while to get into as, at times, quite broad Glaswegian dialect. Think might read 'The Magic Flute' next.

About a 10 minute radio interview with Alexander McCall Smith about his version of Emma as part of the Modern Jane Austen Project.

http://wamc.org/post/emma-modern-rete...

Just a heads up, we're running a Goodreads giveaway for Fishnet by Kirstin Innes. Follow the link below to enter - we're offering five copies.



Twenty year old Rona Leonard walks out of her sister Fiona’s flat and disappears.

Six years on, worn down by a tedious job, child care and the aching absence in her life, Fiona’s mundane existence is blown apart by the revelation that, before she disappeared, Rona had been working as a prostitute. Driven to discover the truth, Fiona embarks on an obsessive quest to investigate the sex industry. As she is drawn into a complex world, Fiona makes shocking discoveries that challenge everything she believed, and will ultimately change her life forever.

Fiona discovers her missing sister had been working as a prostitute.
'Fishnet, a passionate and politically-charged book about family ties set against the backdrop of the Scottish sex industry, is easily the best thing I have read so far this year.' Last Year's Girl Blog

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Freight wrote: "Just a heads up, we're running a Goodreads giveaway for Fishnet by Kirstin Innes. Follow the link below to enter - we're offering five copies.



Twenty year old Rona Leonard walks out of her sis..."

Thanks for the heads up!

Freight is doing a book giveaway for folks who review their books on Goodreads (or Amazon, or your own blog). Just Tweet #FreightReview, deadline 31 May. You can win three Freight books! Gonna go back and see what Freight title's I've read... https://twitter.com/FreightBooks

I mostly read Scottish books, maybe I'm biased, being half scot and half Irish. But honestly, there are some pretty good books coming out of the country now.