The Scottish Books Long Weekend Author Recommendations
By Scottish Books Long Weekend
By Scottish Books Long Weekend
We asked some of the authors taking part in The Scottish Books Long Weekend for their book recommendations. Here you will find even more Scottish crime fiction, coming-of-age tales and books with unreliable narrators.
A Rising Man: 'An exceptional historical crime novel' C.J. Sansom
Abir Mukherjee
£8.99 £8.54Leela Soma recommends: 'Let's start with Abir Mukerjee's Wyndham and Bannerjee series. Start with Book 1 The Rising Man and work your way through the four books, the latest is 'Death in the East'. Be transported to Calcutta under the British Raj. We get the gripping scenes of the history of the dying days of the Raj. Sam Wyndham and his underling the young Indian Surendernath( Surrender -not) Bannerjee, are a perfect foil for each other in this colonial caper. Well written characters and interesting plot keeps the reader turning the pages.'
Death in the East: 'The perfect combination of mystery and history' Sunday Express
Abir Mukherjee
£9.99 £9.49
The Papers of Tony Veitch
William McIlvanney
£8.99Robbie Morrison recommends: 'Every Scottish crime writer owes a debt to the late, great William McIlvanney, a writer capable of achieving greater insight in a single sentence than most of us could in an entire novel. A pioneer of Scottish fiction in general and crime fiction in particular, to the extent that he inspired a whole new ‘school’ of writing – Tartan Noir. My personal favourite is The Papers of Tony Veitch, with the title of my own debut crime novel Edge Of The Grave inspired by the following line: “It was as if Glasgow couldn’t shut the wryness of its mouth even at the edge of the grave.”'
The Innocent Dead
Lin Anderson
£8.99 £8.54Leela Soma recommends: '" The 'Bloody Scotland' founders, Alex Gray, Lin Anderson. This duo of crime writers has inspired me no end. DCI Lorimer now Chief Superintendent and Rhona Macleod have intrigued me with their crime fiction, set in parts of Scotland I'm still to see. Whether it is cosy crime or psychological thrillers the books by these two writers of 'Tartan Noir' make me want to buy their latest books. Pick up 'The Innocent Dead' by Lin Anderson and 'Before the Storm' the eighteenth in DSI Lorimer. Both books are a delight to indulge in.'
Before the Storm: The thrilling new instalment of the Sunday Times bestselling series
Alex Gray
£14.99 £14.24
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
£7.99 £7.59Robbie Morrison recommends: 'Arguably, the first classic Scottish crime novel – a Gothic, horror-tinged examination of good and evil that has almost taken on a life of its own through a multitude of adaptations in a variety of other mediums. Okay, it’s set in London, but we all know it’s Edinburgh, really!'
March Violets
Philip Kerr
£8.99 £8.54Robbie Morrison recommends: 'When discussing Scottish crime writers, I sometimes feel that the late Philip Kerr – although no stranger to critical acclaim and commercial success – is overlooked, perhaps because he set most of his books outside of Scotland. The Bernie Gunther novels, focusing on a private detective during the rise and aftermath of Nazism in Berlin are both historical fiction and crime writing of the highest order. All the books are terrific, but I’d recommend starting with the first, March Violets.'
Gorky Park
Martin Cruz Smith
£8.99 £8.54Robbie Morrison recommends: 'A crime thriller set in Moscow, written by an American? Now, you’re just chancing it, I hear you say, but: Russia’s freezing cold and Scotland’s freezing cold; Russia has vodka and Scotland has whisky; Russia loves Robert Burns, Scotland gave the world Robert Burns; the great Rikki Fulton’s in the film adaptation; and, apart from all that, it’s one of my favourite crime novels.'
Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb
£9.99 £9.49Ely Percy recommends: 'Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy is a coming-of-age fantasy series about Fitz-Chivalry Farseer, royal assassin and illegitimate son of a prince. I have read these books several times now and they always make me laugh out loud and bawl my eyes out as well as sighing with exasperation at the parts where Fitz makes really stupid decisions. There’s also a nonbinary character which is rare for books that were written in the 90s - and I think this trilogy would really resonate with lgbt adults as well as older teens because the narrator experiences feelings of isolation, guilt and shame as he struggles to keep his ‘wit’ (a magic despised by his society) a secret.'
Jasper Jones
Craig Silvey
£9.99 £9.49Kirkland Ciccone recommends: 'A story about a boy named Charlie and the town outcast Jasper, both of whom decide to conduct a murder investigation after they discover a girl’s corpse. Jasper Jones is a quiet cult classic of Australian Gothic.'
Maggie & Me
Damian Barr
£10.99 £10.44Kirkland Ciccone recommends: 'This is the story of Damian, a boy growing up gay in Thatcher’s Britain. Sometimes grim, mostly very funny but - ultimately - a life-affirming book about what it takes to make a survivor. Oh, and lots of Madonna. The best thing about this book? It’s all true.'
Blood and Guts in High School
Kathy Acker
£9.99 £9.49Kirkland Ciccone recommends: 'A book so aggressively disturbing that I couldn’t finish reading it until nearly a decade later. Non-linear and sometimes nonsensical, this is a profane statement of intent. Jean Genet’s appearance is the least strange moment in this novel.'
Rumble Fish
S. E. Hinton
£8.99 £8.54Kirkland Ciccone recommends: 'Everyone loves The Outsiders but Rumble Fish felt like life itself when I first read it. The emotions, the feeling of being trapped in a rundown town, lost in the shadow of an older brother who looms large over everything… Yes, it’s Rumble Fish for me.'
Notes on a Scandal
Zoe Heller
£8.99 £8.54Graeme Macrae Burnet recommends: 'The slow dawning that Barbara Covett might not be telling the whole truth is one of the most thrilling aspects of Heller’s gripping novel.'
A Case of Hysteria: (Dora)
Sigmund Freud
£7.99 £7.59Graeme Macrae Burnet recommends: 'An unusual choice perhaps, but to what extent are we to believe the psychoanalyst’s accounts of his encounters with his patients – or his interpretations of what they tell him?'
Molloy
Samuel Beckett
£9.99 £9.49Graeme Macrae Burnet recommendations: 'The vagaries of memory has become an over-used trope of memoir writing, but in Molloy’s account of his existence we are never quite sure what he remembers or what he is making up.'
Shooting an Elephant
George Orwell
£2.00 £1.86Graeme Macrae Burnet recommends: 'Orwell’s essay is a written with his customary precision and insight, but did it really happen as he describes it? And does it matter?'
For more information on Scottish books visit the BooksfromScotland website.