Anna Nicholson's Scottish Bookshelf
This month, I thought I’d come up with some ideas of what would constitute the quintessential Scottish bookshelf. Confining it to twenty titles is tough as so many books clamour to be in, across all the genres, so what follows is necessarily a very personal choice.
We’d like to hear from you as to what would be on your shelf (and remember, it’s a single shelf, not a bookcase!). Send in your Top 20 Top 10 and we’ll enter you into our Summer Prize Draw to win two comprehensive books on Scottish history.. All entries will be published on the site. Deadline is August 29th 2008.
In no particular order:
Scotland’s Music : John Purser
Scotland: The Autobiography : Rosemary Goring
Scottish Art : Murdo Macdonald
The Democratic Intellect : George Davie
An Enquiry Surrounding Human Understanding : David Hume
The Scottish Novels: Kidnapped, Catriona, Master of Ballantrae and The Weir of Hermiston: R L Stevenson
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Add to BasketBeside The Ocean Of Time - Paperback -
£6.99
Shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize, 'Beside the Ocean of Time' mixes myth and reality in an Orkney setting. -
Add to BasketButcher's Broom - Paperback -
£8.99
Butcher's Broom with the poignant background of the early nineteenth-century Highland clearances is one of the jewels in Gunn's crown. It is to be cross-promoted with other Neil Gunn titles in the series: Morning Tide, Young Art and Old Hector. -
Add to BasketCain's Book - Paperback -
£8.99
'Cain's Book', written in the 1960s, concerns drug addiction and the hazards and excitements of an junkie's life. When the author left Glasgow University, he moved to Paris, where he founded a literary magazine, wrote novels, experimented with heroin and became hooked. -
Add to BasketDàin Do Eimhir - Paperback -
£9.99
Written mostly during the 1930s, this collection contains 48 love poems addressing a universal 'eimhir', or woman. At the heart of the poems is a sense of lamentation for lost love and opportunity yet they are also sharply political. -
Add to BasketThe Democratic Intellect: Scotland And Her Universities In The Nineteenth Century - Paperback -
£24.99
Scotland's generalist approach to higher education characterised the country's intellectual life, even into the 19th century, when economic, social and political pressures enforced an increasing conformity to English models. This is an account of the history of these movements. -
Add to BasketAn Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Paperback -
£8.99
David Hume (1711-1776) is thought to be one of the greatest philosophers. In this text, Hume gives an accessible presentation of strikingly original and challenging views concerning human understanding. -
Add to BasketKidnapped - Paperback -
£5.99
'Kidnapped' is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure novel. David Balfour sets off to find his last remaining relatives, but is tricked into boarding a ship, and finds himself bound for slavery in Carolina. -
Add to BasketLanark: A Life In Four Books - Paperback -
£9.99
This novel is a work of extraordinary imagination and wide range. Its playful narrative techniques convey a profound message, both personal and political, about humankind's inability to love and yet our compulsion to go on trying. -
Add to BasketA Lie About My Father - Paperback -
£8.99
This book presents a story about forgiving but not forgetting, about examining the way men are made & how they fall apart, about understanding that in order to have a good son you must have a good father. The author's honesty, thinking & images of beauty & fracture combine to create a moving memoir of two lost men: a father & his child. -
Add to BasketThe People's Act Of Love - Paperback -
£7.99
Siberia, 1919. In the outer reaches of a country recently torn apart by civil war live a small Christian sect and, stationed nearby, a regiment of Czech soldiers. Into this isolated community trudges Samarin, an escapee from Russia's northernmost prison. -
Add to BasketThe Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie - Paperback -
£7.99
Miss Brodie is a teacher who exerts a powerful influence over the group of 'special girls' at the Marcia Blaine Academy. Each is famous for something & are initiated into a world of adult games & extra-curricular activities they will never forget. -
Add to BasketThe Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Sinner: With 'Marion's Jock' And 'John Gray O' Middleholm' - Paperback -
£8.99
The story of a young man who uses the Calvinist doctrine of predestination to rationalize and acquiesce in the devil's promptings to murder his worldly brother. The strength of the book lies in the latter part - a re-telling of the story by the villain himself. -
Add to BasketScotland's Music: A History Of The Traditional And Classical Music Of Scotland From Early Times To The Present Day - Hardback -
£30.00
'Scotland's Music' is an all-embracing account of the history of music and musicians in Scotland, from the Stone Age to the present day. It emcompasses traditional, classical and popular music and places them in their historical contexts, adding vital information to the history of Scotland itself. -
Add to BasketScotland: The Autobiography - Hardback
£25.00
The story of Scotland, of her history and culture in the words of the people who lived it, from the first century to the present day. Contributors range from Tacitus, Mary Queen of Scots and Oliver Cromwell to Adam Smith, David Livingstone, Billy Connolly and William Boyd. -
Add to BasketThe Scots Kitchen: Its Traditions And Lore With Old-Time Recipes - Paperback -
£9.99
F. Marian McNeill was a journalist and writer with a deep love and knowledge of Scots language, lore and traditions. This text represents her account of eating and drinking in Scotland through the ages, including a selection of traditional recipes. -
Add to BasketScottish Art - Paperback -
£7.95
What makes Scottish art Scottish? What are the threads that bind it into a single tradition? Murdo Macdonald analyses features of style as well as aspects of the themes, ideas, landscapes and history to which Scottish artists continually return. -
Add to BasketSong Of Sula - Paperback -
£4.99
Snow is not the only surprise in store for Magnus on his return to the island of Sula, after his friend the Duke's triumph in London with his Sula symphony. As well as a dangerous blizzard, Magnus has to contend with his terrible jealousy - for the Duke has a new friend, Lionel. -
Add to BasketSunset Song - Paperback -
£5.99
Divided between her love of the land and the harshness of farming life, Chris Guthrie finally chooses to stay in the rural community of her childhood. But the First World War and the subsequent economic changes have a deep impact on her life. 'Sunset Song' was voted the Best Scottish Book of All Time. -
Add to BasketTrainspotting - Paperback -
£7.99
The story of Edinburgh heroin addicts which changed the face of British fiction. -
Add to BasketWaverley - Paperback -
£9.99
Set against the backdrop of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, 'Waverley' tells the story of Edward Waverley, an idealistic daydreamer whose loyalty to his regiment is threatened when they are sent to the Scottish Highlands where he is drawn to Fergus Mac-Ivor and his beautiful sister, both loyal to Charles Stuart.
