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Get The Party Started
The festive season will soon be upon us, and we are here to get you ahead of the game for gifting recommendations. Whether a foodie, a muso, a nature lover, a fiction fan, or a connoisseur of real life stories, you'll find the perfect present for every kind of bibliophile. Let's get celebrating!
Photo credit: Svetozar Cenisev, Unsplash
Indulge in the culinary magic of the festive season with this recipe for Aran na Nollaig, shared from The Hebridean Baker At Home by Coinneach Macleod. With easy-to-follow steps and a touch of festive flair, this recipe embodies the joy of holiday baking!
Recipe taken from The Hebridean Baker At Home By Coinneach Macleod Published by Black and White Publishing
Aran na Nollaig
Not only does this festive table centrepiece look stunning, but it also tastes absolutely great. This sweet Christmas bread, shaped like a festive wreath, has a delicious golden crust topped with delightful decorations; it’s a feast for the eyes and a delight for the taste buds. While I recommend enjoying it on the day it’s made, don’t fret if there are leftovers. The next day, simply toast it under the grill and spread with lots of butter or jam. Yum!
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In Scotland’s Christmas, popular culture researcher Dr Tom Christie and archaeologist Dr Murray Cook take a look at how Christmas and other winter festivals have been celebrated, banned, and reborn throughout Scotland’s long history. In this Q&A, they provide insights into the book’s fascinating content.
Scotland’s Christmas By Thomas Christie and Murray Cook Published by Extremis Publishing
Can you tell readers a little about what they can expect from Scotland’s Christmas?
Tom: Writing this book was a real labour of love for both Murray and myself. We’d both tackled the subject a few times in the past, including in a podcast and later a live presentation, and we eventually realised that nobody else had ever written a full-length account of Christmas in Scotland. Murray and I have been fri...
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Rambling Man: My Life on the Road
‘As I climbed into my tent that night, I recited my usual bedtime ditty to myself: Goodnight my dear and sweet repose. Lie on your back and you won’t squash your nose. I just added my own ending: And …
Already, Too Late: A Boyhood Memoir
‘I ran past the janitor in his brown linen coat, out the gates and along Rumdewan, past the warehouses and Kettle Holm, under the bridge and past the station, down Bankton Park and into the house wher …
The 44 Scotland Street Cookbook
‘On one occasion Bertie and his father, Stuart, embark on a long-awaited fishing trip in the Pentland Hills but become lost in the haar and seek shelter in a farmhouse. There lives Wee Andy, a real boy …
The Book… According to S. G. MacLean
‘My earliest memory of books and reading is of the bedroom I shared with two of my siblings, and the book cupboard with sliding doors that was set beneath the window. In the cupboard was a large, beau …
Peat and Whisky: A Q&A with Mike Billett
‘As a peatland scientist who has worked in peatlands across the northern hemisphere and someone with a passion for whisky, I take the reader on a journey to the places and landscapes that gave birth t …
David Robinson Reviews: Columba’s Bones
‘With books by Denise Mina, Alan Warner and Jenni Fagan already published, Polygon’s Darkland Tales series is already enjoying a reputation for excellence that Columba’s Bones will only enhance.’
‘It is time now to draw one year to its close and attune ourselves to the natural energies returning to the earth and the prevailing, almost tangible power of the darkness.’
My Lady Parts: A Life Fighting Stereotypes
‘I found myself on the first day at Kilrymont School, on the outskirts of St Andrews, crushed by a thousand children outside the closed doors where, to my deep embarrassment, my mother had driven me i …
The Lost Flock: A Q&A with Jane Cooper
‘I hope readers could be inspired to consider that there can be different ways of doing things, that thinking outside the box and taking a risk in terms of quality of life for many rather than just ch …
Shake It Up, Baby! Top Beatle Moments of 1963
The Beatles broke up more than half a century ago, yet millions around the globe are still drawn to the legacy of four lads from Liverpool. In Shake It Up, Baby! we go back to the start – to 1963, whe …
Wild Hope: Healing Words to Find Hope in Dark Days
‘you may not consider poetry important / but if you had seen / a poem breathe life / into empty lungs / like I have / you would look anew.’
Nothing But a Set of Eyes For Stars
‘On this crisp dark autumnal night in the Riverside area of Stirling, officially-a-city-but-really-it’s-a-town, in the middle of Scotland, two strangers have tacitly agreed to solve a small mystery.’
‘This is the story Jen told me of that dark night. I’ve tried to write it down just as I remember it. She spoke quickly, as if she wanted the telling over and done with.’
‘There was one terrible day when I became curious about one of the cupboards in the hall and opened it. Inside was a tiny old man sitting in a tiny striped armchair. He held a small porcelain lidded p …
‘Why do we dream? And what do our dreams mean? These questions have always intrigued us. Although many theories have been proposed, no one knows for sure, not least because our dreams are so personal. …
‘He can’t take his mother in the suitcase, / the smell of khoresht in the air, her spice box / too tall to fit. Nor will it close when he folds / her sajadah into its corners. He can’t bring / the way …
A Greenhorn Naturalist in Borneo
‘The Beat poet Allen Ginsberg advised, “Follow your inner moonlight. Don’t hide the madness.” The seed for my personal brand of moonlit madness sown by my first pitcher plant had germinated, and now i …
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Pink Camouflage by Gemma Morgan
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The Hollow Tree by Philip Miller
‘The man turned around. His hands were dark with blood.
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David Robinson Reviews: All Before Me by Esther Rutter
‘This then is a book about recovery, about regaining self-confidence and rediscovering joy.’
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QuickFire, Slow Burning by Janette Ayachi
‘Things are shed when people listen to poetry.’
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‘But best of all it is dead silent: no sound of greetin’ weans, no shouting staff, no screaming- dru …
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‘If readers enjoy what you’ve written, they’ll keep on coming back for more.’
FEATURED AUTHOR:
Anders Frang
Anders Frang is a freelance illustrator from Denmark. He studied at the Danish Design School in Copenhagen as well as Edinburgh College of Art. He is currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
FEATURED PUBLISHER:
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has been an active publisher of Scotland’s history and archaeology since 1792. We publish beautifully illustrated volumes covering the entire range of Scotland’s past, helping to bring it to life for future genera …