St Andrews, Fife

I was in St Andrews at the weekend, it has to be one of the lovliest towns in Scotland, and visited J.G. Innes the independent book shop. Interesting selection of titles in a lovely old shop that made me feel quite nostalgic!

There are a number of really good charity shops selling books, in particular the Dr. Barnardo's where I picked up a couple of real bargains. Waterstones, was, well it was Waterstones. . .what can I say. There was also a book stall in Market Street on Saturday where I also got a couple of excellant buys.

Off to Mainstreet Trading in St. Boswell's tonight for the James Runcie event. . I'll report back...

BBC Scotland's Book Cafe 4 May

Next Monday Chris Dolan is presenting the Book Cafe on BBC Radio Scotland. He is talking to the legendary art loving nun Sister Wendy Becket and best-selling novelist Monica Ali will be on hand to talk about their latest publications. Book dealers Fergus Smith and John Sibbald from Lyon and Turnbull have advice for one listener in our Book Detectives Series. All that plus how would you fancy having a copy of an out of stock book printed out specially for you as you enjoyed a cup of coffee?

BBC Radio Scotland Book Cafe 20 April

Steve Vander Ark, author of The Lexicon -the first encyclopedia to the entire Harry Potter series - chats to The Book Cafe about having to change his book after JK Rowling took him to court for copyright infringement. She may have won the case, but a revised version of The Lexicon has recently been published. The show will also look at what do commuters read on the train between Edinburgh and Glasgow? And if they don’t read - what do people do?

American writer Wells Tower is putting the short story back on the map - his debut collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned has won him many adoring fans, and it's receiving rave reviews on both sides of the pond. There's also s piece about how writers cope with a deep involvement or emotional attachment to their subjects. Does writing a diary or going clubbing keep you sane when your subject matter becomes over powering? Finally Gillian Philip chats about her new compelling teen drama, Crossing the Line.

Mainstreet Trading and James Runcie

Mainstreet Trading in St Boswells have an author event on 30 April, we've already got our tickets! It's with James Runcie, whose fourth novel, East Fortune, is his first set in Scotland, where he has now returned to live. The son of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, James is an award-winning television documentary maker as well as an acclaimed novelist. His recent work for television includes J K Rowling: A Year in the Life, Anger (with Griff Rees Jones), The Joy of Motoring and Ten Days that Made the Queen.

Intense, humane, humorous and subtle, East Fortune is a moving story about lives at crossroads; about life and love, chance and hope - and how families survive. James will be interviewed by The Scotsman's Literary editor and author of In Cold Ink: On the Writers Tracks, David Robinson.

"This gripping novel has only one major flaw - it was far too short. I wanted at least another 200 pages with these people and their lives." Victoria Hislop, author of The Island

Tickets are £5 (includes a glass of wine), please email info@mainstreetbooks.co.uk or ask in-store.

Buy A Friend A Book Week

Thanks to Farm Lane Books I found this interesting idea. It's called Buy A Friend A Book Week. Having decided who you're to buy a book for all you have to decided to do is from which bookshop you will buy it!

The Book Detectives on The Book Cafe on BBC Radio Scotland

Next Monday the Book Cafe on BBC Scotland launches ‘The Book Detectives’ giving their listeners the chance to find out how to track down lost books. They’ve the heart warming tale of three generations of women who wanted to find the sequel to a children’s book and how they managed to find a copy in time for Mother’s Day. But just who was the author and why did he disappear without trace? Children’s writer Shirley Hughes will bethere to talk about her latest volume which is aimed at graphic novel loving adults and Jayne Ramage of the Watermill will be on hand to explain how she’s made children’s book groups such a success in Aberfeldy. You can e mail The Book Detectives with your queries - thebookcafe@bbc.co.uk

Not a Book Shop But a Blog. . .

Cornflower Books is a wonderful blog about books, it's well worth a visit; as is Becca & Bella.

We're off to St Andrews for the weekend so I'm looking forward to checking out the bookshops in the town. I shall be blogging about them next week.

Loch Croispol Bookshop, Restaurant and Gallery

Midlothian publisher Lang Syne and Durness based Loch Croispol Bookshop, Restaurant & Gallery are working together to ensure that Lang Syne products have a wider distribution in the Northern Highlands.

Lang Syne, owned and run for 30 years by Ken Laird, produces a series of popular clan and family histories which include most of the more famous Scottish and some Irish names, as well as an extensive range of inexpensive Scottish non-fiction. Its list includes collections of folk tales and oral history from different parts of Scotland, histories and biographies and reprints of classic works such as Alexander Mackenzie’s “Highland Clearances”, John Buchan’s “Massacre of Glencoe” and “Prophecies of The Brahan Seer”. Lang Syne also produces an extensive range of DVDs and quality Scottish-themed gifts, including fine art clan prints, watches, boxed mugs, crest coasters, teddy bears and a wide range of popular souvenirs.

Kevin Crowe of Loch Croispol said: “In the ten years we have been in business in Durness, we have gradually expanded. Five years ago we were founder members of an on-line co-operative of independent booksellers, called World Book Market, a co-operative that now has over 50 members in ten countries and four continents, and the internet is now a major part of our business, with us mailing books every day to all corners of the world. Two years ago, we moved to new and larger premises, enabling us to stock more books, serve more customers in the restaurant and have a small art gallery. We have always sold Lang Syne books, and know how popular they are, so this is a natural extension of our business.”


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Brown Mouse by Frank Jennens

To say I've been delinquent in posting would be an understatement. All I can offer in my defence is the fact that I've been busy trying to write books to fill the bookshops we love so much. I'm prompted into action by BBC Scotland's Radio Cafe who have a new feature starting on April 6 which I think we can all relate to.

It's called the Book Detectives and it's going to be a search for books that people have read and now cannot find. The first is a book by Frank Jennens, a children's book illustrator and author in the 1920s and 30s who wrote 'Brown Mouse'. A friend of the show's producer even thinks there may have been a sequel. She thought she had tracked down a copy to a bookshop in Australia but it subsequently turned out that they didn't have it.

So does anyone out there know where to find a copy of Brown Mouse by Frank Jennens? If you do get in touch or leave a comment.

The Strathmore Fish Restaurant (Angus)

The Strathmore Fish Restaurant in Forfar is not only a splendid fish and chip shop but they sell second hand books in aid of the Rachel House Children's Hospice in Kinross. So there's two reasons to make a visit to Forfar! You'll find them at 90 Dundee Road, click on the map for directions. It was featured on Radio Scotland's Book Cafe on Monday and you can hear all about it HERE


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Great New Scottish Ancestry Book

Did you know that about 28 million people worldwide can claim Scots ancestry? It means if they all turned up during the year of homecoming we'd be in deep trouble! I know this fact because I've just heard about a fascinating new book to be published next month called Scottish Genealogy by Bruce Durie. Check it out next time you're at your local book shop

Did you also know that Scotland has possibly the most complete and best-kept set of records and other documents on the planet? Given the extraordinary worldwide Scottish diaspora, there's clearly a need for a thorough guide to Scottish genealogy; Bruce Durie’s book brings authority to the subject and is firmly based on established genealogical practice. Bruce disabuses the reader of the many canards which have accompanied the recent upsurge in interest in family history, notably that it’s ‘all on the internet,’ that there is such a thing as a ‘family coat of arms’ and that everything written down must be true (just check out the blogosphere!).

Bruce is the Course Director in Genealogical Studies at the University of Strathclyde and was formerly a biochemist, pharmacologist and neuroscientist; he is also Archivist and Historian to the Chief of the Durie Family and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

Radio Scotland's Book Cafe (26 January)

On this week's Book Café, we find out if traditional fairytales are just too scary, sad and un-PC for little children - or do they in fact stimulate emotional intelligence? And why has Russia taken our national poet to their hearts - two Scottish teens compare their Burns experience to two teenagers in Russia. Also, as the Kolkata Book Fair approaches, we find out why they've put Scotland in such a pivotal position. Kathleen Kent travels back 9 generations telling Clare why the witch hunts of Salem had such personal resonance…and we take a look at Mexican writer Roberto Bolano who has found literary acclaim with the epic 2666 after his death.