Roddy Lumsden's Blog Archive
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Trawling Reviewed by Roddy Lumsden
Thursday 03 April 2008
Trawling is recommended not only to Aberdonians or those with an interest in the sea but to a more general reader, says Roddy Lumsden
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Roddy Lumsden Recommends Jen Hadfield
Monday 10 March 2008
Roddy Lumsden finds much to admire in Jen Hadfield's collections Almanac and Nigh-No-Place
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Review of Doh Ray Me, When Ah Wis Wee
Wednesday 20 February 2008
"An excellent addition to Scotland's social history library" Says Roddy Lumsden in his review of Doh Ray Me, When Ah Wis We
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Lemmings Don't Leap - Reviewed by Roddy Lumsden
Friday 01 February 2008
Roddy Lumsden enjoys Edwin Moore's debunking of modern myths. What you thought you knew probably isn't true, but Edwin Moore does know how to write an entertaining book
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HappenStance and StAnza
Friday 18 January 2008
Roddy Lumsden reviews Gergory Leadbetter's new poetry pamphlet from HappenStance, and previews the 2008 StAnza poetry festival
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Roddy's Christmas Review
Monday 10 December 2007
Roddy Lumsden looks back at his favourite Scottish books from 2007.
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Roddy Lumsden Interviews Kevin Williamson
Tuesday 04 December 2007
Roddy Lumsden interviews Kevin Williamson, founder of literary magazine Rebel, Inc, and poet and campaigner
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Brief Encounters - Reviewed by Roddy Lumsden
Tuesday 13 November 2007
Roddy Lumsden has his own too-brief encounter with Brief Encounters: Meetings between (mostly) remarkable people
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews Scottish Customs
Monday 29 October 2007
Roddy Lumsden reviews a new issue of Margaret Bennett's Scottish Customs: From Cradle to Grave
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Interview with Richard Price
Tuesday 23 October 2007
Roddy Lumsden interviews poet Richard Price about his collections Lucky Day and Greenfields
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women
Monday 01 October 2007
Roddy Lumsden finds the Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women too interesting to be tucked away on the reference shelf.
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews: Folk in Print
Thursday 30 August 2007
Folk in Print, a history of Scottish chapbooks, is "an excellent volume, very highly recommended" says Roddy Lumsden.
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The Essential Rock Discography - Spotting the Errors
Wednesday 08 August 2007
Roddy Lumsden hunts for errors in MC Strong's The Essential Rock Discography, and is pleased with the answers.
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Ronnie's Looking For Trouble: Roddy Lumsden Reviews
Thursday 02 August 2007
A quick, racy read, perhaps to be taken with a pinch of salt - so says Roddy Lumsden in his review of Ronnie's Looking for Trouble.
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Foyle's Philavery Reviewed by Roddy Lumsden
Friday 20 July 2007
Baldrick, alopecia, barton and amanuensis are all bethumbed by Roddy Lumsden as he dips into Foyles Philavery
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews: An A-Z of the Occult
Tuesday 10 July 2007
Roddy Lumsden considers the possible meaning of abracadabra, and other occult miscellany in this review of Simon Cox's An A to Z of the Occult
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Selected Poems of Robert Fergusson Review
Monday 18 June 2007
A new collection of Selected Poems from Robert Fergusson, one of 18th century Scotland's best poets.
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Roddy's Crossword Memories
Monday 04 June 2007
Images of a young Roddy Lumsden, Pot Noodle in one hand and pen in the other, in this review of the new Chamber's Everyman Crosswords
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Interviewing The Paris Review Interviews
Friday 11 May 2007
The biggest 'little magazine' in history, according to Time Magazine. Roddy Lumsden casts his eye over Canongate's collection from The Paris Review Interviews
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Quest for Robert Louis Stevenson
Tuesday 01 May 2007
Roddy Lumsden asks what to include and what to leave out of a biography while reviewing John Cairney's The Quest for Robert Louis Stevenson
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Anthology Review: Poems United
Thursday 12 April 2007
Roddy Lumsden emails us from the USA to review Poems United, a poetry anthology from all the countries of the Commonwealth
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Dae Ye Ken? Review
Tuesday 03 April 2007
Dae ye ken yer oxter fae yer bahookie? Roddy Lumsden discovers some new Scots words while reviewing Vicki Guasden's 'Dae Ye Ken?'
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Wild Scotland Review
Monday 19 March 2007
Plenty to amuse ramblers of the Scottish wilds in James McCarthy's recently revised "Wild Scotland"
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Kidnapped
Thursday 15 March 2007
Roddy Lumsden reports on the five different editions of Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel recently promoted by Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature.
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100 Favourite Scottish Poems... Or Are They?
Wednesday 21 February 2007
A tie-in between a Radio Scotland survey, publisher Luath Press, and editor Stewart Conn, 100 Favourite Scottish poems is a bit of a mixed bag.
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Bukowski's Crazy Life
Monday 12 February 2007
Canongate have recently published a new edition of Howard Soune's biography of Charles Bukowski, which Roddy Lumsden reviews for BooksfromScotland.com
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews: Fakers, Forgers & Phoneys
Monday 05 February 2007
A fine addition to the literature on notorious scams and hoaxes, says Roddy Lumsden in his review of the late Magnus Magnusson's Fakers, Forgers and Phoneys.
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Review: Stuart Kelly's The Book of Lost Books
Monday 22 January 2007
Stuart Kelly's The Book of Lost Books is just the sort of thing our resident blogger Roddy Lumsden enjoys.
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Big Noise Review
Friday 29 December 2006
Get hold of Big Noise, have a laugh, have a grouch and enjoy the rollercoaster ride, complete with interesting barstool reminiscences and some top rate shaggy dog stories.
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Glasgow Crime
Monday 18 December 2006
Roddy Lumsden reviews three recent Glasgow crime books - Blood on the Streets, Real Hard Cases, and Murder Capital
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Interview with Laura Hird
Friday 08 December 2006
Roddy Lumsden interviews Laura Hird about her latest collection of short stories, Hope, and her forthcoming memoir, Dear Laura.
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Roddy Lumsden's Review of 2006
Monday 13 November 2006
Roddy Lumsden revisits some of his favourite books of 2006, and picks out a few more that he never had time to review for BooksfromScotland.com
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews 'Villains'
Monday 30 October 2006
Another success for the writing team of Reg MacKay and Paul Ferris, says Roddy Lumsden in his review of 'Villains'.
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Billy Kay's The Scottish World
Thursday 26 October 2006
Billy Kay takes a fresh look at the Scottish diaspora in "The Scottish World", reviewed by Roddy Lumsden
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Andrew Greig: An Overview
Monday 09 October 2006
Roddy Lumsden looks back at the poetry and fiction of Andrew Greig, following the publication of his latest poetry collection, This Life, This Life.
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Review: Making Soup in a Storm
Thursday 28 September 2006
New Writing Scotland reaches its 24th edition, and Roddy Lumsden casts his eye over the prose and poetry from mostly unpublished writers.
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Roddy Lumsden Interviews Matthew Fitt
Friday 15 September 2006
Roddy Lumsden interviews our September Author of the Month, Matthew Fitt.
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews 'Bamboo'
Thursday 31 August 2006
In his review of William Boyd's "Bamboo", Roddy Lumsden finds "the virtuoso Boyd spreading his talents nimbly and widely".
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Review: The Thing That Mattered Most
Thursday 17 August 2006
A new collection of poetry for children, The Thing That Mattered Most, is reviewed by Roddy Lumsden
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The Drove Roads of Scotland: Review
Friday 28 July 2006
Roddy Lumsden explains the interest in the Drove Roads of Scotland, and ARB Haldane's book on the subject.
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Muriel Spark: All The Poems
Wednesday 12 July 2006
Muriel Spark's poetry collection All The Poems was rereleased earlier this year, and Roddy Lumsden traces the history of her poetry.
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An Interview with W.N. Herbert
Friday 07 July 2006
Roddy Lumsden interviews Dundee-born poet W.N. Herbert about his most recent collection, Bad Shaman Blues
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Roddy Revisits The Yellow on the Broom
Tuesday 04 July 2006
Roddy Lumsden revisits one of his favourite Scottish books, Betsy Whyte's The Yellow on the Broom.
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The Book of Lists: Football
Monday 19 June 2006
In time for the World Cup, Roddy Lumsden reviews Canongate's "The Book of Lists: Football".
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Roddy Lumsden Reviews "Last Chance To Eat"
Monday 05 June 2006
Last Chance To Eat, recently released in paperback, is full of food-related memories - Roddy Lumsden reviews and recommends.
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Robin Robertson's Swithering
Wednesday 24 May 2006
Robin Robertson has played a crucial role for Scottish writers over the past two decades. Following the publication of Robin's latest poetry collection, Swithering, Roddy Lumsden looks back on his life and work.
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Review: Scots Language Books
Monday 22 May 2006
Roddy Lumsden reviews two recent books on the history of the Scots language, Carl MacDougall's Scots: The Language of the People and Billy Kay's revised Scots: The Mither Tongue
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Chambers Fact Finder
Monday 08 May 2006
Eight out of ten for the new Chambers Fact Finder - and this is from Roddy Lumsden, a man who really knows his trivia.
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The Last Godfather: Arthur Thompson
Wednesday 19 April 2006
A dirty business, a modern tragedy even, but a fascinating read... Roddy Lumsden reviews the revised and updated edition of The Last Godfather
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HappenStance Pamphlet Poetry Press
Wednesday 12 April 2006
Small press poetry in Scotland is thriving, with the Scottish Pamphlet Poetry site listing over 30 presses. Roddy features one such press, HappenStance.
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Review of St Kilda: Island on the Edge of the World
Sunday 02 April 2006
Roddy Lumsden reviews Charles Maclean's classic book on the island of St Kilda
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Chambers Clichés and How to Avoid Them
Wednesday 22 March 2006
Without further ado, Roddy Lumsden rolls up his sleaves and refuses to judge Chambers Cliches and How To Avoid Them by its cover.
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The Book of St Andrews: An Anthology
Monday 13 March 2006
Roddy Lumsden features The Book of St Andrews, a literary anthology compiled by Robert Crawford.
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Islands Galore
Thursday 02 March 2006
Writer-in-residence Roddy Lumsden hunts for trivia amongst the pages of Islands Galore by Jim Dow.
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Blethertoun Braes and other Scots Children's Books
Monday 27 February 2006
Roddy Lumsden celebrates the publication of Blethertoun Braes, a new collection of Scots poetry for children.
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Seton Gordon's Scotland - An Anthology
Monday 13 February 2006
Roddy Lumsden reviews and highly recommends Hamish Brown's compilation 'Seton Gordon's Scotland - An Anthology'.
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Footie Shorts
Friday 03 February 2006
For fans of the beautiful game, Roddy Lumsden reviews 'Footie Shorts', a fine collection of anecdotes and shaggy dog stories from the world of football.
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Interview with Illustrious Exile author Andrew Lindsay
Tuesday 24 January 2006
On the publication of 'Illustrious Exile', a 'what if' novel on Robert Burns' life in the West Indies, Roddy Lumsden interviews author Andrew Lindsay about the challenges of writing believable speculative fiction.
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I Have Heard You Calling In The Night
Monday 23 January 2006
Roddy reviews Thomas Healy's surprising memoir of redemption, I Have Heard You Calling in the Night.
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The Law Killers: Dundee Crime
Monday 16 January 2006
Most of us like to read about crime; Roddy Lumsden prefers true crime, such as The Law Killers by Alexander McGregor.
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The Broons Annual
Tuesday 03 January 2006
'The Broons Annual' is a Scottish tradition. Roddy Lumsden checks out the latest edition, and finds a comforting mix of the old and the new.
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Interview with Stewart Conn, former Edinburgh City Makar
Thursday 22 December 2005
Roddy Lumsden interviews the former Makar of Edinburgh, Stewart Conn, about his new poetry collection.
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New Writing Scotland 23: Queen of the Sheep
Wednesday 14 December 2005
Roddy Lumsden highly recommends 'New Writing Scotland 23'
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Interview with Jackie Kay
Monday 05 December 2005
Jackie Kay is one of Scotland's most popular writers – playwright, poet, novelist and children's writer – and her new poetry book Life Mask was recently published.
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F Marian McNeill's The Scots Kitchen
Thursday 01 December 2005
Roddy Lumsden is inspired (and is sometimes worried by) F Marian McNeill's The Scots Kitchen
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TV Catchphrase Quiz
Thursday 01 December 2005
Here's a quiz: which television shows popularised these words or phrases?: "keep 'em peeled"; "marmalize"...
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James Robertson: Voyage of Intent
Monday 31 October 2005
Roddy Lumsden looks at the role of 'writer in residence', and is inspired by James Robertson's work at the Scottish Parliament.
Roddy Lumsden Archive
An archive of all of writer-in-residence Roddy Lumsden's previous blog articles. Most recent articles are at the top.

