Scotsman.com - Features Feed

Alexander McCall Smith: ‘Scottish fiction too grim’

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:05:15 GMT

Novelist Alexander McCall Smith has spoken out against the dark depiction of Scotland by his fellow Scottish writers.

Iain Banks: I may reject chemotherapy

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:31:45 GMT

AUTHOR Iain Banks has revealed he could undergo chemotherapy within weeks in an effort to prolong his life – but said he will stop the treatment if its side-effects are too debilitating.

Harry Potter first edition a notable read

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:17:59 GMT

Only 500 copies of the first edition of the first Harry Potter book were published, and a very special one is up for auction, crammed with notes and drawings by JK Rowling, writes Martyn McLaughlin

Jenni Fagan on James Tait Black prize shortlist

Sun, 19 May 2013 22:40:20 GMT

DEBUT author Jenni Fagan has been shortlisted alongside Salman Rushdie and Alan Warner for the UK’s oldest book awards, further propelling the Scottish writer towards her position as the nation’s brightest young literary star.

Book review: Inferno by Dan Brown

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:47:54 GMT

ONE of the first characters to appear in Inferno is a spiky-haired, malevolent biker chick dressed in black leather.

Book review: All That Is by James Salter

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:45:02 GMT

IF AN aged, once-eminent author, close to the end, ekes out one almost-certainly-last novel, and it’s of an indifferent standard, or worse, should it be published out of respect for his or her more glorious past?

Book review: The Devonshires by Roy Hattersley

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:43:10 GMT

A PUNCH cartoon, two dukes at a party, one whispering into the other’s ear: “Don’t you think it must be just terrible being an earl?”

Book review: Grace And Mary by Melvyn Bragg

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:41:35 GMT

OVER the years, Melvyn Bragg’s writing has attracted a degree of (jealous?) teasing, but the dissenting voices compete with a louder chorus of praise in which he is favourably compared with DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy.

Stephen McGinty: Going to town on Positano

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:18:09 GMT

The Italian ‘dream place’ and its famous hotel popularised by John Steinbeck 60 years ago still casts its spell over celebrity and  non-celebrity guests alike, writes Stephen McGinty

Poem of the week: Chrissy Williams – ‘The Burning of Houses’

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:33:05 GMT

If there was a prize for poem titles, Chrissy Williams’ collection Flying Into the Bear (HappenStance, £4) would surely win it.

Interview: Jay Griffiths on children and the natural world

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:33:04 GMT

Jay Griffiths’ last book was called Wild. It was an extraordinary, freewheeling, and ecstatic roam across the planet in search of wilderness and the people and creatures that inhabit it.

Book review: Perilous Question by Antonia Fraser

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:33:04 GMT

Eighteen thirty-two used to be a well-known date in British history. It was the year of the Great Reform Bill, when an outdated political system gave way to a wider franchise allowing a number of middle-class men to vote for the first time. Antonia Fraser’s latest book is a spirited attempt to bring the controversy and passion of the era to a new audience.

PAPERBACKS William Leith

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:33:03 GMT

SILA’S FORTUNE

Book reviews: The Fragile Empire| Sweet tooth| The Faithful Executioner

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:33:02 GMT

A roundup of the latest book releases

Book review: Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:37 GMT

Quickly described, Clever Girl, the new novel from Tessa Hadley, is the story of a woman’s life, from childhood to middle age. Like that John Lewis advert of a few years ago, it moves briskly through 50 years, touching down on experiences that will be very familiar to white, first-world women born during the second half of the 20th century.

William McIlvanney: The father of tartan noir

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:34 GMT

As Canongate set about reprinting his classics, William McIlvanney tells Susan Mansfield that we may not have heard the last of DI Laidlaw

Book review: Between Friends by Amos Oz

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:33 GMT

In 1954, aged 14, Amos Klausner changed his name to Amos Oz, leaving behind him his home and father, exchanging city life for the relative privations of the desert, cutting his teeth (and his new identity) on life in an Israeli kibbutz.

Book review: The Lion Rampant by Robert Low

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:32 GMT

With The Lion Rampant and its vivid, imaginative and blood-curdling account of Bannockburn, Robert Low, one assumes, has concluded in splendid bravura style, his sequence of novels on the Wars of Independence.

Bookworm: UIlapool Book Festival

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:31 GMT

Next year’s UIlapool Book Festival will be the tenth, and so clearly all the stops will have to be pulled out to make it the best one yet. All of which must be a bit of a headache for the organisers, given that the ninth, which ended on Sunday, was such a resounding success.

Book review: Dial H: Volume 1, Into You by China Miéville

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:32:30 GMT

To my mind, China Miéville is one of the most interesting literary writers currently working in Britain, an accolade undiminished, though perhaps sometimes obscured, by his wholehearted commitment to genre.