I managed 31 Scottish books this year by ten women and fifteen men, though in total 11 were by women and 20 by men. Four were SF or Fantasy. Two were non-fiction and one a graphic novel.

The ones in bold were on the Herald’s “100” best Scottish Fiction Books. Those in italic are in the 100 best Scottish Books. If asterisked they were in Scotland’s favourite books.

The Secret Knowledge by Andrew Crumey
The Holy City by Meg Henderson
Asterix and the Pechts by Jean-Yves Ferri & Didier Conrad
Cold in the Earth by Aline Templeton
Clara by Janice Galloway
A Twelvemonth and a Day by Christopher Rush
Fergus Lamont by Robin Jenkins
The Gracekeepers by Kirstie Logan
In Another Light by Andrew Greig
The Quarry Wood by Nan Shepherd
A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll and Hyde by Kevin MacNeil
The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst
The Scottish Tradition in Literature by Kurt Wittig
Murder at the Loch by Eric Brown
Black and Blue by Ian Rankin
How to be Both by Ali Smith
Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
The Heart of Mid-Lothian by Walter Scott
The Antiquary by Walter Scott
Public library and other stories by Ali Smith
The Highway Men by Ken MacLeod
Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie
The Princess and the Goblin by George McDonald
The Corporation Wars: Dissidence by Ken MacLeod
Body Politic by Paul Johnston
Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson
The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh*
Young Art and Old Hector by Neil M Gunn
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell*
The Brilliant and Forever by Kevin MacNeil
The Corporation Wars: Insurgence by Ken MacLeod

A suitable post for St Andrew’s Day.

You may have noticed on my sidebar that I am reading Neil M Gunn’s Young Art and Old Hector.

This is one of The Herald’s “100” best Scottish Fiction Books.

Of the thirty books that were actually listed on that now defunct web page this means I will now have read twenty-nine (having made that my Scottish reading project for the year.)

The only one from that Herald list I have so far missed is Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, which has appeared on all four lists I’ve been working from* – a distinction it shares only with the otherwise incomparable Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

For some reason I have a reluctance to tackle Welsh’s book. I have seen the film that was made from it and wasn’t overly enthused. I’ll get round to it sometime.

*Those four lists:-
100 best Scottish Books;
The Herald’s “100” best Scottish Fiction Books;
Scotland’s favourite books;
and The Scotsman’s 20 Scottish Books Everyone Should Read (from 2005.)
This last is the one I shall be working from next year. I’ll post the list in the new year.

It looks like I may have photographed the Botanic Gardens Garage in Glasgow’s Vinicombe Street at the right time.

Someone got to this blog by searching for “scotlands art deco heritage” (sic) and following it back to the Google search page I found the link to the Herald article from February about the demolition plans for the garage.

I’d be sorry to see it go.

Okay they say they’re going to keep the facade but that doesn’t mean they necessarily will.

Though I suppose housing is never a bad use for a building the area has a multitude of restaurants already; it surely doesn’t need two more.