Read Scotland 2018 discussion

I barely made my 2017 goal so I'm moving down a level this year (less pressure!) Looking forward to reading more by authors I discovered last year including mysteries by Mark Douglas-Home and Lin Anderson. I also read Sunset Song last year and I hope to read the other two in the Scots Quair trilogy.

I am planning to visit the Outer Hebrides again this summer and I want to read Johnson and Boswell's respective accounts of their journey there in 1773 before I go.

Others on my list (and already on my Kindle) include The Wasp Factory, Laidlaw, and Waverley. But I am going to start the year with Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.

I had no idea Eleanor Oliphant was a Scottish read! I've heard some excellent reviews about it - let us know if it lives up to expectations :) (And enjoy your Outer Hebrides trip, jealous!)

Book 1 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This book has had great reviews that describe it as a funny and hopeful story about a quirky woman, but a few chapters in I was finding it painful to read. The writing was good, but I couldn't laugh at Eleanor - she was too damaged, and the people around her were cruel. Once she began to heal and started to laugh, I could start to appreciate the humor too. It's a remarkable book by a first-time author: Gail Honeyman was born in Stirling and now lives in Glasgow, which is where she has set Eleanor's story.

I didn't know that was a Scottish read either! Thanks for sharing.

Lorna wrote: "Book 1 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This book has had great reviews that describe it as a funny and hopeful story about a quirky woman, but a few chapters..."

Lorna, I keep blowing hot and cold on whether to buy this - and it sounds like your experience of reading it was also mixed. Overall, would you recommend it?

John wrote: "Lorna wrote: "Book 1 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This book has had great reviews that describe it as a funny and hopeful story about a quirky woman, but ..." After I got through those first few chapters I liked it very much, and finished it in one day when I was home with the flu. I gave it 4 stars out of 5. In some ways it's perhaps a little derivative, similar to A Man Called Ove, but the character of Eleanor is unique and oddly endearing. I do recommend it.

Lorna wrote: "Book 1 - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. This book has had great reviews that describe it as a funny and hopeful story about a quirky woman, but a few chapters..."

Interesting take on it, not read it, but I would find it hard to laugh at that kind of thing too.

I thought I would begin at this level since the authors I follow don't write short books. 450-600 pages takes me a while, but I love every page

Lorna wrote: "I barely made my 2017 goal so I've moving down a level this year (less pressure!) Looking forward to reading more by authors I discovered last year including mysteries by [author:Mark Douglas-Home|..."

I need to re-read Bowell and Johnson's journey. Thanks for the reminder! Read it back in the 1980s, but think I would appreciate it more this time around.

Book 2 - Torch by Lin Anderson. I read the first book in this Glasgow mystery series last year and had mixed feelings about it. People have said that the series gets better as it goes, but I had the same meh reaction to this one. It is short and fast-paced, but so much so that it started to feel implausible. There are also a few factual errors and numerous copyediting mistakes that probably bother me more than they should, but ought to have been caught. Still, I will read the third installment next time I'm on a plane.

Lorna wrote: "Book 2 - Torch by Lin Anderson. I read the first book in this Glasgow mystery series last year and had mixed feelings about it. People have said that there series gets better as it g..."

I know what you mean Lorna. I read two of the series as part of last year's challenge, and while they were OK I don't think I'd go out of my way to read any more.

Book 3 - The Stornoway Way by Kevin MacNeil. This book was a surprise to me, in a good way. I bought it based on the title (I would buy any book with Stornoway in the title) but didn't know anything else about it. It's the story of a sometime musician/artist who has unhappily returned to his home island of Lewis. The book provides substantial balance to the Hebrides of holiday brochures; island life as portrayed here is mostly bleak, small-minded, and alcohol-soaked. The best part is the writing. Kevin MacNeil has an original way with words and I will look for more of his books.

I really liked The Stornoway Way, wasn't so keen on The Brilliant & Forever (also set in Stornoway), and loved his poetry collection Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides.

John wrote: "I really liked The Stornoway Way, wasn't so keen on The Brilliant & Forever (also set in Stornoway), and loved his poetry collection [book:Love and Zen in the Outer He..." Good to know. I don't really like reading poetry on my Kindle, so this will give me a reason to visit the book store when I go to Lewis in July (haha, as if I needed another reason).

I'm currently reading Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves. A VERA novel. The amount of pressure and stress (for the main character) in the James Oswald & Stuart MacBride books is noticeably absent in this book and in the other VERA novels I've read. Also the social life is quite a change. Enjoying the change of pace.

Book 4 - Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. I enjoyed the writing, and the setting. I didn't love the ending of this story (I don't think it was set up well enough) but I'm looking forward to the second book.

This book review of The Dark Stuff: Stories from the Peatlands by Donald S. Murray just showed up in my news feed. Looks like a good one!
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/cu...

Update: I was happy to find it for Kindle!

Book 5 - Dalmore - Tales of a Lewis Village by Donald John Maclennan. It took a while for me to get into this book - months, actually, because I found the opening chapters so dry that I set it aside for a long time. The book comes alive when the historical background section ends and it becomes a memoir. The author was born in a blackhouse in Dalmore, on the west coast of the island near Gearannan, in the 1940s. He spent every childhood summer in the village after his parents moved to Glasgow. He is an excellent storyteller who paints vivid pictures of long-departed loved ones and a vanished way of life.

Lorna wrote: "Book 5 - Dalmore - Tales of a Lewis Village by Donald John Maclennan. It took a while for me to get into this book - months, actually, because I found the opening chapters so dry th..."

Well done with persevering, I might not have picked it up again! I haven’t read many memoirs but would be interesting to read about the history of the islands and how people lived.

Book 6 - The Faerie Hills by Susan MacDuffie. I really wanted to like this book. It's a mystery, and it's set in the Hebrides (Islay, Jura, Colonsay), so I thought it would be a sure thing. While I enjoyed the local color and details, the characters were flat and the mystery far too transparent. Also, the main character, who has been tasked with solving the murder, accomplishes very little toward that end. Not very satisfying.

I just realized I didn't log the last three books I read for this challenge. Will do so now, as separate messages.

Book 7 - White Nights by Ann Cleeves. I liked this one as well as I liked Raven Black, maybe even a bit better because the setting (midsummer in Shetland, where it doesn't get dark) is so intriguing. Still I'm not sure I'm completely sold on this series. Perhaps I will try a Vera novel next.

Book 8 - At the Water's Edge by Sarah Gruen. It's maybe a good thing that I didn't comment on this book right away because I think my view of it has changed a bit. I almost gave up on it because the three main characters were so unpleasant. Eventually one of them starts to grow up a little and things get more interesting. But the story is quite over the top, with an improbable beginning, then veering off in the direction of steamy romance before taking a turn toward YA monster tale. But the writing is vivid and the characters well drawn, and now a few months later I do find myself thinking about it occasionally. The Scotland part is pretty good.

Book 9 - The Death of Lucy Kyte by Nicola Upson. It might be a little bit of a stretch to count this book as a Scottish read. The author is English, and most of the story takes place in Suffolk. But the main character is a fictionalized version of the Scottish author Josephine Tey, and some of the story is set in Tey's home city of Edinburgh, so I am counting it. The plot is slow, and I expended too much energy being annoyed that it was looking more like a supernatural horror story than a mystery. But the writing was good and I liked the blending of fiction with historical fact.

Just noticed you’ve hit your reading goal, Lorna, well done :) It’s interesting you said your opinion changed over a little while, this happens to me too, I’m glad I’m not the only one as I feel a little daft writing a review then changing my mind a bit!

I think Shetland gets ‘whiter’ nights than Orkney, though I remember how bizarre the first few years felt. Now I sleep right through the bright nights, and struggle more this time of year where it will soon get dark by 3ish making it hard to stay awake! ;) I haven’t read Vera but hear it’s good and love the TV series...