so I love London but every now and then I do miss Scotland
just a little bit
and with St. Andrews day right around the corner I couldn't help but think of home
and even though I'm miles away luckily for me literature can bring anything to life
so I thought since it was that time of the year why not recommend you
some Scottish literature
so we can all have a very Scottish time together
each of the books I have to show you is either by a Scottish other or set in Scotland itself
and hopefully something for everybody from the classics
to literary fiction, poetry and even a bit of crime
but to stop me from sitting her haivering on at you let's have a look at the books
so for me when I think of Scottish literature I always think of poetry
we're pretty well known for our poetry given that we have an entire night of the year dedicated to Rabbie Burns
one of Scotland's most venerated poets
but for someone a little more recent I have Carol Ann Duffy
poet laureate for the United Kingdom and loves across the world
not to mention taught at pretty much every Scottish secondary school as far as I'm aware
the edition I'm holding up here is her entire collected works bound up in a
beautiful book but if you haven't tried Carol Ann Duffy before you may not want to commit
to her entire works so one collection I would recommend in particular is The World's Wife
as the tagline goes behind every famous man there is a great woman
and in this collection of poetry Carol Ann Duffy brings to life some real and fictional women
from the wife of Charles Darwin to that of the devil himself
but to turn back the clock a little to a classic, one venerated classic and children's author
who did indeed come from Scotland was J. M. Barrie
best known for his Peter Pan stories
which I have here - even if you didn't get around to reading this one as a child it's something you may want
to tick of your list now that you're an adult because it appeals to all ages
who does not want to take a little trip to Neverland and pay Peter Pan and Tinkerbell a visit
as fun as the disney movie is there's nothing quite like the original
but like I said I do have some crime for you and there's something about Scotland
that seems to just offer a prime location for kind of unnerving, unsettling mysteries
so I couldn't narrow it down to just one first I have
Every Night I Dream of Hell by Malcolm Mackay
Malcolm Mackay is an award winning crime novelist and this book follows the
members of an organised crime group in Glasgow as hierarchies are shifting and a new
group begins to encroach on their city, this book is particularly dark and thrilling
but I also have Raven Black by Ann Cleeves
this is the first in her Shetlands series, which are murder mysteries all set on the Shetland Islands
in Scotland the perfect rural and quite setting for a crime series
Anne Cleeves is another award winning crime novelist and this series has in fact even
been adapted into a television show - the story begins when
Fran discovers her teenage neighbour dead on the ground on her walk home
and whilst everyone suspects the local loner the mainland police decide to come and get involved
if you like your crime mystery thrillers then there is plenty to get your teeth in in this one
but lastly for this video I have Trumpet by Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay most recently became Makar for Scotland
which is the equivalent of the poet laureate but this is one of her one of her novels
and it centres around the jazz trumpeter Joss Moody
who after having recently passed away has had a major secret about his life exposed
which turns the world of his family upside down, this book is tender
and moving and of course beautifully written but most of all incredibly important
and I don't want to say too much more about it here but I would highly recommend you all give it a shot
naturally I could only scuff the surface in this video but hopefully I've given you
a few recommendations to go away with that you're excited about
if you have any favourite books that are written by Scottish authors or set in Scotland
then do share them with me in the comments down below in the meantime
don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you liked this and go and have some haggis for me