The last novel standing of 2017’s “must read/review” pile is M.J. Nicholls’ The House Of Writers, and it proves to be apt as it meant the...

This year is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the writer Muriel Spark. You may have noticed – you MUST have noticed – but if you...

For the first podcast of 2018 Ali went to Edinburgh to talk to Heather McDaid and Laura Jones who are behind the innovative and acclaimed...

Now, I love books, and I love whisky, but I haven’t come across many great whisky related books over the years. Iain Banks’ Raw Spirit:...

Against all expectations, the Christmas/ New Year period allowed for the reading of some of the books which have been sitting on SWH!’s...

Once again Montgomery Scott raises a glass to see out the old year and ring in the new and that means it’s time for Scots Whay Hae!’s...

Clark takes the two years that the poet W.H. Auden spent teaching in Helensburgh at Larchfield Academy as the basis for her book. There...

This year we are recording three separate Best Of 2017 podcasts, one each for film and music, (which you can still hear), and this, Part...

These are the books which stood out against stiff competition in 2017. The list could easily have been longer but we like to stick to a...

There is an argument which you may have heard, possibly on these pages, that while James Kelman is one of the finest novelists around...

It’s a novel full of surprises, and which takes you in unexpected directions. After a few chapters I had it pegged as an urban fantasy...

One of the most eagerly anticipated books of 2017, at least round our way, is Stuart Cosgrove’s Memphis 68: The Tragedy Of Southern Soul....

It certainly doesn’t pull its punches when detailing what humans are capable of. Mostly set in Edinburgh, 1989-92, it opens with a short...

Graeme Macrae Burnet. The primary reason was to discuss his latest novel, The Accident On The A35, but the conversation turns to the work...

If you believe the supermarkets, it’s already time to be thinking about Christmas. While this is clearly nonsense there is no harm in...

How do you follow a cultural touchstone – something which captures a moment, stands aside from what’s around it, and which moves from the...

For those whose reading habits include philosophy as well as literature this novel is a joy from start to finish as Butlin name checks,...

On the latest podcast, Ali spoke to journalist Peter Ross about the follow-up to his 2014 book, Daunderlust: Dispatches From Unreported...

I’ve been reading and reviewing a lot of crime fiction lately most of which is written using short, punchy prose which drives events...

What a difference three years makes. Peter Ross’s previous book, Daundlerust: Dispatches From Unreported Scotland was published in the...