Top Ten Scottish non-fiction books of the 00’s…

As I’m putting together my top ten novels list I realise that some of my favourite books of the decade were non-fiction (not many mind). So here’s a quick list of those books which made things better in the last ten years. There’s some poetry, biography, a little history, philosophy, and a smattering of literary and film criticism. Hopefully something for everyone, starting with one of Scotland’s best contemporary poets:

1) Don Patterson Book of Shadows. 2) Janice Galloway This is Not About Me. 3) Edwin Morgan Cathures. 4) Rodge Glass Alasdair Gray: A Secretaries Biography. 5) Robert Crawford Scotland’s Books: The Penguin History of Scottish Literature. 6) A.L. Kennedy On Bullfighting. 7) Grace Maxwell Falling and Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins. 8) Duncan Petrie Screening Scotland. 9) Arthur Herman The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scot’s Invention of the Modern World. 10) Richard Holloway Between the Monster and the Saint.

All are worth checking out, but if pushed for a top three I would say go for Grace Maxwell’s moving book about husband Edwyn Collins’ recovery from life threatening illness, Robert Crawford’s exhaustive history of Scot Lit and Edwin Morgan’s beautiful poems.