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Just finished Tom Allan's "Scotland's Last Viking", a fictional version of the life of Swein Asleifsson. Told in dialect, it reads like a cross between The Orkneyinga Saga and Irvine Welsh. Not bad at all.
Just started a biography, "Enver Hoxha - The Iron Fist of Albania", which looks to be a lot less entertaining.
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I have started to revisit books by the late humorous author Tom Sharpe (some of who's work was adapted for film and teleision in the 1980s).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Sharpe
I find the books to be hilarious light reading (ideal for my long bus journey to and from work). I borrow them from the local library. Sadly many of their stock of his work is in paperback form and copies have been withdrawn and not replaced (I would imagine that they would spend their budget on more recent authors). But recently, I have enjoyed the following:
Vintage Stuff:
https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Stuff...8827435&sr=1-5
The Midden:
https://www.amazon.com/Midden-Tom-Sh...2%3AB000AP5ID4
Hopefully I will enjoy some more of his work while the library still has copies.
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Just finished reading...The Lovely Bones...by Alice Sebold.....rather strange book but makes one think of the afterlife..and how the deceaseds spirits surround us.....even entering our thoughts........knowing what we are thinking......weird.....
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Recently read the newly published book......The Colliers Daughter...by John Little.....
Very interesting family saga book with lots of historical information ....made me want to visit the areas named.....
The author John Little's primary education was in Thurso.....
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I have just finished reading "Fault Lines" by Scottish author Doug Johnstone which is an enjoyable thriller mainly set in Edinburgh and an island in the Firth of Forth. It gets a good review here:
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/boo...doug-johnstone
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Just been reading folk-singer Jean Redpath's autobiography, Giving Voice. It's largely transcribed from recordings and is very readable. I still have an LP she autographed when she played Thurso Folk Club (the Barn at Viewfirth) about 1974. Something that gets a mention is that her manager for a time was Hetty Munro,who used to run The Ship's Wheel antique shop with her brother Alastair. I knew they were great friends, but had clean forgotten that bit. How Hetty managed to organise tours in Britain and Europe is beyond me, but she was a character in her own right.