Books
The Good Books, Mike Billett: ‘As a child I loved reading books about animals’
Whisky connoisseur, Mike Billett on reading at The National Library of Scotland, growing up on Winnie The Pooh and why Moby-Dick is a book that has ‘everything’. The first book I remember reading: As a child I loved reading books about animals, and surely the first was Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne. A chilled-out bear…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Sara Sheridan: ‘The trick is finding books that engage your brain. A good book is a brain workout’
Sara Sheridan on being inspired by Alasdair Gray, reading Wuthering Heights at just ten-years-old and why Lord Byron wasn’t a ‘romantic’. The first book I remember reading: I have little memory of my early childhood. I know I learned to read using the Janet and John books but I can’t remember the experience. However,…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Andrew O’Hagan: ‘When I was eight I discovered Peter Pan – and was thunderstruck’
The Booker Prize nominated author on becoming engrossed in the King James Bible as a child, why he always recommends The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and his perfect seafront spot in Largs for reading. The first book I remember reading: When I was very small I used to read…
Read MoreGlencairn Glass: Read the runner up in this year’s crime short story competition
Elisabeth Ingram Wallace is the runner-up in this year’s Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition with The Strange Sheep of Greshornish. It’s a sinister tale of a disillusioned tourist guide on the Isle of Skye who sends badly behaved tourists to suffer the same fate as the mad sheep in Greshornish. The Strange Sheep…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Douglas Skelton: ‘Mystic River is masterful, I wish I could write like Dennis Lehane’
The Glasgow author on returning to the books he read as a youngster and the influence of Ed McBain on his writing. The first book I remember reading: It has to be Two Doggie Tales. It’s the only book by Enid Blyton I ever read – the Famous Five and Secret Seven seemed to…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Pauline Tait: ‘Nancy Drew got me hooked on mysteries and the love of them has stayed with me’
Author Pauline Tait on the influence of American writer Nora Roberts in helping her believe she could write in two very different genres. The first book I remember reading: As a young child, I remember reading The Princess and the Frog. It was often my bedtime read, and I still have my slightly tattered…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Jenny Colgan: ‘When I was six my parents found me reading a Dr Spock baby book’
The best selling rom-com author on reading parenting books as a child, why she recommends people read Middlemarch and her favourite books of the year. The first book I remember reading: Topsy and Tim. I wasn’t reading them, but apparently I’d learned them off by heart. My mum used to show off and pretend…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Neil Lancaster: ‘Ian Rankin is the master of Scottish fiction’
The retired Met police officer turned author on being inspired by Ian Rankin, John Niven’s heartbreaking memoir and Tony Kent as the British David Baldacci. The first book I remember reading: When I was about ten, my sister was doing her English O’Levels, and one of the books she was being forced to read…
Read MoreBoswell Book Festival: Rose Reilly, Jackie Kay, John Niven and Aasmah Mir all set to feature
Boswell Book Festival is back this year and features stories from two living legends of WW2, a Tik Tok sensation from the Hebrides and Ayrshire’s own world cup winner. Football legend Rose Reilly, who became the only Scottish person to have won a football world cup while playing for Italy in 1983, kicks off the…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Les Wilson: ‘I grew up reading Winnie-the-Pooh, I do a good Eeyore voice’
The former political journalist on being inspired by historian Jan Morris and shrinking time on CalMac ferries to Islay by reading. The first book I remember reading: The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne. My mother read it to me (using all sorts of wonderful character voices) and I watched her finger move…
Read More