A joyful, cheeky and big-hearted book set in the year 825 AD that is immediately relevant to now. Highly recommend this unconventional novel about the lives of Vikings and Irish settlers on a remote Scottish island.
Tag Archives: Scotland
Book Review: The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard
The Ghost Cat a curious little novel about a spectral cat haunting an Edinburgh townhouse over several generations — is sometimes enchanting, sometimes discombobulating. #Cats #Fiction #AlexHoward #BookReview #Edinburgh #Fantasy #Books #Book #Review #History
Book Review: The Way of the Hermit by Ken Smith
In The Way of the #Hermit, Ken Smith offers a profoundly #human portrait of #solitude—not the performative kind, but the hard-earned, bone-deep kind that comes from living off-grid in the #Scottish #Highlands for over 40 years. #BookReview #Books #introvert #introversion #nature #Scotland #Biography #Autobiography #Philosophy
10 Interesting Things I Found on the Internet #140
This week on #InterestingThings: Psychedelic cocktails in Ancient #Egypt, #jazz euphoria, ancient #Italian stairs, how to match #colours in your outfits, why #Vikings never left #Scotland, mesmerising #seashell art and much more #ContentCatnip
The far-flung pillars of imagination
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. When I was in my 20’s I became very ill and almost died. Luckily for me I overcame it. However, it involved a step-change in everything I held dear. Suddenly freedom to experience the world because I survived became the focus. So I traveledContinue reading “The far-flung pillars of imagination”
Book Review: Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg
This is a book about the raw majesty of St Kilda as a place, and about the spirit, community bonds and resilience of its people. But it’s also a tragic tale about the devastation of colonialism and 19th century morality.
Ancient Word of the Day: Stravaig
Stravaig derives from eighteenth-century Scots extravage, meaning ‘wander about; digress, ramble in speech’, in turn derived from Medieval Latin extravagari ‘wander, stray beyond limits’. Stravaig, in various forms, is found in a wide range of Scottish texts from the late eighteenth-century onwards. Read more
Here be the Viking Hoard: The Mystery of the Lewis Chessmen
The Lewis Chessmen are a treasure of Viking and Scottish history and have elicited awe and wonder since they were first discovered. They were likely to have been made in Trondheim in Norway from walrus ivory. This kind of bone was hard to come across at the time (1150-1200 A.D). The craftsmanship of these tinyContinue reading “Here be the Viking Hoard: The Mystery of the Lewis Chessmen”
Cycling along Edinburgh’s canal: Lochrin Basin to Almond Acqueduct
Come on a journey with me along one of my favourite scenic routes through the leafy, pastoral and mountainous outer suburbs of Edinburgh and East Lothian heading out into the countryside. This epic shared pedestrian and cycling path goes all the way from Edinburgh to Glasgow (56km one way) alongside the Forth and Clyde Canal.
Book Review: Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Publisher: Text publishing. Genre: Fiction, psychological thriller. Review in one word: Perky Scottish writer Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of one of the best Scottish crime novels ever written His Bloody Project, which I have reviewed on this blog before. Burnet’s new book is yet another step back in time and anotherContinue reading “Book Review: Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet”
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