22 May 2019 Today is the 160th birth anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but not everybody knows that the father of Sherlock Holmes was born in Edinburgh. A beautiful bronze statue of the detective stands in Picardy Place at the top of Edinburgh’s Leith Walk just opposite the birthplace (demolished c. 1970) of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is a literary … Continue reading →
“Heap on more wood! The wind is chill ; But let it whistle as it will, We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.” (Sir Walter Scott – “Christmas in the Olden Time” from Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, 1808) With hardly one month left until Christmas, it’s high time for us to look for little treasures to put under the … Continue reading →
“One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.” (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) Did you notice, on this lovely picture, the emblems of Glasgow ? This is the tree that never grew. This is the bird … Continue reading →
On my desk is Alex Nye’s book For My Sins, a fascinating historical novel I’ve just finished reading. I recommend it to all people interested in Mary Stuart’s life. There are many books devoted to Mary Queen of Scots but this one is particularly moving since the narrator is Mary herself. In my last selection of books for Christmas … Continue reading →
Hugh Miller was born in 1802, in Cromarty. It is a lovely little town, a former royal burgh, situated at the end of the so-called “Black Isle” which, contrary to what the name suggests and also, on a quite different register, contrary to Herge’s description of the place in his volume of Tintin entitled The Black Isle, is not an … Continue reading →
Dear readers, I’m very happy to be back on the keyboard to share with you new pictures, new stories, new books about our beloved Scotland. Time flies. January is already ending though, in the south west of France, we’re still waiting for the arrival of winter. The skye is as blue today as in a summer day and I … Continue reading →
Many thanks and a big bear hug to Nathalie & Jean for their lovely interpretation of Jingle Bells !!! Jean, my grandson, who just turned 9 last month, started to learn English at his primary school in Toulouse. Hear him sing Jingle Bells accompanied by his mother Nathalie on her metallophone and helped by Fabien his father and Ronan … Continue reading →
Dear readers, I’d better hurry if I want to give you one or two more ideas of books to offer at Christmas for we can already hear the merry sound of the jingle bells of Santa Claus’s sleigh. We are leaving tomorrow for our holiday in the family, a round trip of more than 2000 km and I’ve still … Continue reading →
Dear readers, The book I’ve chosen today for our Christmas selection is Scotland, A History from Earliest Times by Alistair Moffat. It is the author’s last published book and a very good choice for people who love Scotland and more especially the history of Scotland. I had already downloaded the book on my kindle but the beautiful hardback edition … Continue reading →
Gather the bairns and the grown folk and set sail for a fine collection of Scottish tales retold by a master storyteller! Williamson was celebrated for a lifetime of traveling the byways of Scotland, collecting and telling tales. In these 18 stories, broonies, fairies and, of course, a unicorn cross paths with common folk on a regular basis. There’s a … Continue reading →
‘A mind amongst books, like fire in the heather’ Books ! Books ! Books ! Wigtown, the famous Scottish book town situated in Dumfries & Galloway, is certainly one of our favourite places in Scotland ! Dear readers, You know how fond we are of books on Scotiana. Janice finds it harder and harder to cope with her … Continue reading →
Dear readers, Christmas time is quickly approaching now, so I’d better hurry to add a couple of books to Scotiana’s selection for Christmas. My problem is to choose among so many interesting books published in Scotland recently;-) A Drop in the Ocean, which I introduced in my last post, is a book which can certainly please all lovers of Scotland. … Continue reading →
“A watercolour painting hangs above my bed. A treasured possession, it depicts a Hebridean shoreline: turquoise, black, grey and moody, a surging sea with foaming waves leads the eye to the distinct shapes of Rum’s forbidding peaks. In the foreground there is another island. Muck, a place that has punctuated my thoughts since I was a child growing up … Continue reading →
Its no secret about how we all, here at Scotiana.com, feel about Ian Rankin’s books featuring John Rebus adventures on the crime scenes of Edinburgh, but for those who may not know it…we LOVE Rebus! To discover his complex character is simply fascinating and now, with his announced retirement and transitionning into a consultant detective makes it even more challenging. … Continue reading →
Dear readers, In a very few days it will be Christmas! Hectic times again. 🙂 Many of us are busy preparing the coming festivities, some of us haunting frozen paths in the woods to find and cut green holy branches with little red berries on them, other ones decorating the Christmas tree with glittering colourful tinsel and bells, candles and … Continue reading →
