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The 39 Steps • Alfred Hitchcock 1935 • DVD One of Hitchcock's "wrong man" spy sagas, this classic film follows a Canadian tourist in London (Robert Donat) who becomes entangled in an underground epsionage plot that leads him to a remote mountain town in Scotland. Part of the Criterion Collection. (GBR493, $39.95)
AAA Spiral Guide Scotland • Hugh Taylor GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 208 PAGES A lively, handy guide to the highlights of Scotland, with a convenient easy-read binding, color photos and maps. Also includes insightful articles and on the history and culture of the country. (SCT126, $17.95)
Art of the Celts • Lloyd Robert Laing • Jennifer Laing ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1992 • PAPER • 216 PAGES A volume in the acclaimed "World of Art" series, this is a broad introduction to Celtic art, from the 5th century B.C. to 1200 A.D. (CLT02, $19.95)
Aunt Dimity And the Deep Blue Sea • Nancy Atherton MYSTERY • 2007 • PAPER • 304 PAGES The newest addition to the Aunt Dimity series is sure to delight devoted fans and newcomers alike. A most cheerful and eccentric mystery set on a remote island off the shore of Scotland, where Lori Shepard gets drawn into a perilous whodunit, calling again on the supernatural counsel of Aunt Dimity. (SCT117, $7.99)
Beside the Ocean of Time • George M. Brown LITERATURE • 1994 • PAPER • 217 PAGES • COMING IN A gentle coming-of-age tale by the Bard of Orkney George Mackay Brown. His short novel invokes the prehistoric ruins, Norse history and long traditions of rural Orkney in graceful prose with lovely attention to detail and rich insight into place. Shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1994, Beside the Ocean of Time is told from the point of the young daydreamer Thorfinn Ragnarson, the son of a crofter. (SCT14, $19.95)
Bradt Guide Eccentric Britain • Benedict le Vay GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 384 PAGES From Longleat's Marquess of Bath and his 'set' of 62 'wifelets' to Biddeford's four acre Gnome Reserve, home to over a thousand of the little red-capped critters, and Chipping Campden's World Shin-kicking Championships, le Vay's book is an engaging and amusing read as well as being a practical travel guide. Lost for ideas? A calendar to the Eccentric Year is at hand - it's May so it must be the Randwick Wap religious cheese rolling festival. If you can wait a while August sees Tatton Park host the English Open Chainsaw Competition. Elsewhere, the guide details the Falkirk Wheel's triumph of eccentric engineering, which raises up to six boats at a time 155 feet from a canal to an aqueduct. However, if all this weirdness leaves you feeling a little jaded a trip to Salcombe, Devon and an encounter with Overbeck's Rejuvenator, just one of the items on display at the Electric Shock Museum, may ginger things up a bit... (GBR586, $24.99)
Braveheart • Mel Gibson HISTORY • 2002 • DVD The legend of William Wallace is brought to life in this Academy Award winning film starring Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau. 177 minutes. (SCT91, $19.99)
Brigadoon • Vincente Minnelli CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2005 • DVD In this 1954 Cinescope musical, Gene Kelly and Van Johnson play two Americans who stumble upon an enchanted Scottish village where each night passes as though it were a hundred years. Cyd Charisse plays the lovely lass who steals Gene Kelly's heart. 108 minutes. In color. (SCT88, $19.97)
British Isles Map, Great Britain and Ireland • Michelin Travel Publications 2008 • MAP This colorful and accurate, regularly updated map shows both Great Britain and Ireland at a scale of 1:1,000,000. Featuring excellent road data. One Side. 40x50 inches. (GBR07, $11.95)
The British Isles, A History of Four Nations • Hugh Kearney HISTORY • 2006 • PAPER • 324 PAGES A survey of 2000 years of British history from the Celts to the Romans, the Normans, to the rise (and fall) of the empire. With a welcome focus on the interaction of the Celts, Normans and other cultures that have made their home in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England. Highly recommended. (GBR88, $39.99)
Britons: Forging the Nations, 1707-1837 • Linda Colley HISTORY • 2009 • PAPER • 442 PAGES Winner of the 1992 Wolfson History Prize given in London for the best history accessible to general readers, this very interesting study of the formation of a national British identity recounts the joining of England, Scotland and Wales. This political, military and social history records how the ruling elite withstood threats from within and without from the Jacobites to the French, the path from Protestantism to profits via trade, war and empire, the making of the British ruling class, the women's sphere, and parliamentary reforms from the act of Union to the beginning of the Victorian Age. (GBR81, $22.00)
Cadogan Guide Scotland's Highlands & Islands • Richenda Miers GUIDEBOOK • 2006 • PAPER • 344 PAGES A comprehensive and intelligent guidebook to the Scottish Highlands and islands, featuring color photographs, maps and well-written practical information. (SCT107, $18.95)
The Careful Use of Compliments • Alexander McCall Smith LITERATURE • 2007 • PAPER • 288 PAGES The fourth installment of the author's popular Isabel Dalhousie mystery series. (SCT125, $14.00)
Cathedrals and Castles, The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages • Alain Erlande-Brandenburg ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2010 • PAPER • 175 PAGES This pocket-size encyclopedia of the art, architecture and culture of the Middle Ages features hundreds of drawings, color illustrations and a brief chronology. Take it along to gain a better appreciation of the Middle Ages and its legacy in Europe. (MED07, $15.95)
A Celtic Miscellany • Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson ANTHOLOGY • 1975 • PAPER • 352 PAGES A survey of Celtic literature through the ages from bardic elegies to heroic sagas. (IRE93, $16.00)
Celtic Prayers and Incantations • Alexander Carmichael LITERATURE • 2007 • PAPER • 142 PAGES A brief edition of early Christian oral traditions, poems and blessings, largely from the Hebrides, collected by folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832 - 1912) over 40 years.when Gaelic was still widely spoken in the Skye, Uist, Oban and other islands in the mid 19th century. Carmichael transcribed oral literature from the recital of men and women throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, from Arran to Caithness, from Perth to St Kilda, much of it presented in the multi-volume Carmina Gadelicta, published in 1900. (CLT4, $7.95)
Celtic Prayers from Iona • J. Philip Newell RELIGION • 1997 • HARD COVER • 96 PAGES Inspired by the Gaelic prayers and poems of the 19th-century Scotsman Alexander Carmichael, Philip Newell and his wife developed this handsome hard cover book while wardens on the island. (SCT21, $14.95)
The Celts: A Very Short Introduction • Barry W Cunliffe HISTORY • 2003 • PAPER • 161 PAGES A concise, revealing social history of the Celts, by a reigning authority and popular writer. (CLT03, $11.95)
Charles Rennie Mackintosh • Alan Crawford ART & ARCHITECTURE • 1995 • PAPER • 216 PAGES A heavily illustrated, compact survey of the work of Scottish Art Nouveau designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. An architect, decorator and painter, Mackintosh helped revolutionize art and design in 20th century Europe. This book in the acclaimed "World of Art" series examines his progress from the turn of the century through the 1920s. (SCT24, $19.95)
Checkmate • Dorothy Dunnett LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 608 PAGES The sixth and final volume in the Lymond Chronicles finds Francis Crawford of Lymond in France, leading an army in battle against the English and trying to escape his past. (SCT94, $16.95)
Clara's Grand Tour, Travels With a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-century Europe • Glynis Ridley HISTORY • 2006 • PAPER • 240 PAGES The entertaining history of a most unusual eighteenth-century European celebrity. Clara the Indian rhinoceros was brought to Europe in 1741 by the Dutch sea captain Douwemout Van der Meer, and toured for seventeen years, to the delight of heads of state such as Louis XV and Frederick the Great. A marvelous and unique look at the introduction of Eastern wildlife into the Western world. (FRN536, $12.00)
Collins Complete Guide to British Wildlife • P. Sterry FIELD GUIDE • 2008 • PAPER • 384 PAGES A one-volume photographic guide to British wildlife, covering everything from fungi to mammals, including plants, insects, birds and fish. (GBR93, $34.95)
Companion Guide Edinburgh and the Borders Country • A.J. Youngson GUIDEBOOK • 2001 • PAPER • 420 PAGES An introduction to the history, culture and architecture of this grand city and its outlying areas. Youngson covers in rich, personable detail the Old Town, 18th-century New Town and the gardens, castles and abbeys of the border country. (SCT19, $34.95)
Culture Smart! Britain, A Quick Guide to Customs And Etiquette • Paul Norbury GUIDEBOOK • 2006 • PAPER • 168 PAGES A concise, no-nonsense guide to local customs, etiquette and culture with a short overview of the land and people along with practical travel advice. (GBR736, $9.95)
Curious Scotland, Tales From a Hidden History • George Rosie HISTORY • 2006 • HARD COVER • 244 PAGES A journalist, playwright and raconteur, Rosie spins half-forgotten and neglected Scottish stories in this entertaining and unconventional history. (SCT116, $23.95)
The Disorderly Knights • Dorothy Dunnett LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 528 PAGES The third volume in the Lymond Chronicles follows Francis Crawford of Lymond to Malta, where he has been sent to help the Knights of Hospitallers defend their island against the invading Turks. He soon finds, however, that the greatest danger to the Knights comes from within their own order. (SCT95, $17.00)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde • Robert Louis Stevenson LITERATURE • 2003 • PAPER • 144 PAGES Stevenson's gothic classic set in Edinburgh -- a great horror story and allegory for the dual nature of man. (SCT74, $3.95)
Dragonfly in Amber • Diana Gabaldon MYSTERY • 1993 • PAPER • 960 PAGES The second in a series of time-travel mysteries set in 18th century Scotland. (SCT102, $8.99)
Drums of Autumn • Diana Gabaldon MYSTERY • 1997 • PAPER • 1088 PAGES The fourth in a series of time-travel mysteries set in 18th century Scotland and South Carolina on the eve of the American Revolution. (SCT104, $8.99)
The Edge of the World • Michael Powell CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1937 • DVD This early film by the great British director, shot entirely on the wild, windswept island of Foula in the Shetlands, follows with almost ethnographic detail a conflict between two families on the island. It's an achingly beautiful tribute to a soon to be gone way of life. This lovingly produced DVD includes Powell's Return to the Edge of the World, a WWII short and commentary by film historian Ian Christian. Daniel Day-Lewis reads from Powell's book on the making of the film. (SCT79, $29.95)
Eyewitness Guide Great Britain • Eyewitness Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 720 PAGES With its 1,400 photos, maps and excellent introductory chapters, this guide is both a general introduction to Great Britain and a region-by-region look at its attractions. Handsome, convenient and up-to-date, this is the guide to carry. (GBR01, $30.00)
Eyewitness Guide Scotland • Eyewitness Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 224 PAGES A compact illustrated travel guide featuring bright color photography, dozens of excellent maps, and a region-by-region synopsis of Scotland's attractions. With a 50-page section on where to stay and eat. (SCT40, $25.00)
A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe • Guy Mountfort FIELD GUIDE • 2001 • PAPER • 212 PAGES Every birder has their favorite field guide, but you can't go wrong with this classic in the Peterson series: compact, illustrated and convenient, covering 698 species. With range maps. (EUR15, $25.00)
The Fiery Cross • Diana Gabaldon MYSTERY • 2005 • PAPER • 1456 PAGES The fifth in a series of time-travel mysteries set in 18th century Scotland. (SCT100, $8.99)
Final Rounds, A Father, a Son, the Golf Journey of a Lifetime • James Dodson TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1997 • PAPER • 272 PAGES Golf magazine columnist Dodson tells the heartfelt story of a trip with his father, during his father's final months, to the great courses of Scotland and England. With plenty of golf lore and legend, and the wise conclusion that golf is mostly about who you choose to play with. (GOL02, $16.00)
Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf • Ben Hogan SPORT • 1985 • PAPER • 127 PAGES A master of golf provides instruction on improving your game in this 1957 classic. (GOL11, $13.00)
Fodor's London's 25 Best • Fodor's GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • PAPER • 128 PAGES This slim guide to London includes a separate map of the city's center and a 96-page pocket book with essential information on its highlights, including restaurant recommendations and sightseeing. (GBR08, $11.95)
Fodor's Scotland • Linda Cabasin GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 496 PAGES A practical guide in the popular series, saturated with valuable information on accommodation, shopping, sights, and dining. (SCT129, $21.99)
Fodor's See It Scotland • Fodors GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 376 PAGES An inaugural volume in this new line of guides by Fodor's this book is notable for its especially vibrant presentation of the country. Each page displays full-color photos accompanied by much useful information on how to eat, sleep, shop, and sightsee in Scotland. (SCT80, $22.99)
Footprint Scotland Highlands and Islands Handbook • Alan Murphy GUIDEBOOK • 2009 • HARD COVER • 495 PAGES A well organized comprehensive guide in the British series with helpful sketch maps throughout. (SCT62, $24.95)
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate • Alexander McCall Smith MYSTERY • 2006 • PAPER • 272 PAGES From the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes detective Isabel Dalhousie, the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and host of the Sunday Philosophy Club at her home in Edinburgh. In book two of the series, Isabel looks after her niece's delicatessen, meets an eclectic cast of characters, and ponders the mysteries of chocolate. (SCT113, $14.00)
The Game of Kings • Dorothy Dunnett LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 560 PAGES The first volume in the sweeping Lymond Chronicles by a master of historical romance. Set in the 1500's in Edinborough, Scotland, Dunnett's story follows Francis Crawford of Lymand and his band of outlaws as they fight the English for the country they love. (SCT93, $17.00)
The Ghost with Trembling Wings • Scott Weidensaul NATURAL HISTORY • 2003 • PAPER • 352 PAGES The search for lost species, not as quixotic as it seems, absorbs Scott Weidensaul (Living on the Wind) in this unexpected series of encounters on the trail of beasts as varied as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, coelacanth, Cone-billed Tanager and the Loch Ness monster. Weidensaul presents his triumphs and diappointments with wit and considerable insight into evolution and ecology. (CON24, $16.00)
Glasgow Map • A-Z MAP A convenient, folded and detailed city map of Glasgow at a scale of 1:19,000 in the excellent series by the Geographers' A-Z Map Company in Britain. One Side. 36x46 inches. (SCT99, $15.95)
The Gothic Enterprise, A Guide to Understanding the Medieval Cathedral • Robert A. Scott ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2005 • PAPER • 294 PAGES Scott, whose interest in the history of cathedrals began when he first saw the magnificent Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Salisbury, England, takes his reader on a historical, architectural and sociological tour of the magnificent spires and stained-glass windows that dot the landscape of Europe. It's an accessible, personable overview. (EUR190, $21.95)
The Grand Scuttle, The Sinking of the German Fleet at Scapa Flow in 1919 • Dan Van Der Vat HISTORY • 2007 • PAPER • 240 PAGES Drawing on archives and previously unpublished documents, Van Der Vat explores the hows and whys of the 1919 sinking of the German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow by its own officers and men. (SCT130, $14.99)
Great Britain and Ireland Map • HEMA Maps MAP A nicely detailed map showing both Great Britain and Ireland at a scale of 1:750,000. Two Sides. 56x39 inches. (GBR31, $10.95)
Great Britain and Ireland Map • HEMA Maps MAP A nicely detailed map showing both Great Britain and Ireland at a scale of 1:750,000. Two Sides. 56x39 inches. (GBR31, $10.95)
Great Britain Map • Ordnance Survey MAP The Brits are famously in love with geography, and this is their homegrown, excellent map of Great Britain, at a scale of 1:625,000. Two Sides. 38x50 inches. (GBR06, $14.95)
A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany • Aubrey Burl GUIDEBOOK • 2006 • PAPER • 276 PAGES An excellent guide to finding -- and understanding -- all the major sites, plus a few not-so-well known ones. It includes maps, black-and-white photographs, site diagrams, and a bibliography. (GBR102, $37.00)
Here Is Where We Meet • John Berger LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 256 PAGES This novel weaves a portrait of several European countries through encounters with the dead, from the narrator's mother, whom he discovers on a park bench in Lisbon, to a childhood friend wandering a market in Krakow. "The dead don't stay where they are buried," the protagonist's mother tells him, and this becomes the mantra for this most unusual journey through Europe's history and people. (EUR189, $15.00)
A History of Scotland • J.D. Mackie HISTORY • 1978 • PAPER • 380 PAGES Mackie reveals how the Scots long pursued an independent line -- i-n religion, law, culture and foreign policy -- that helped them keep at bay the Romans, the French and the English in concise history, covering the nation from the Mesolithic to modern times, vividly written and fair. This second edition carries the national story forward to the 1970s. (SCT16, $18.00)
How the Scots Invented the Modern World • Arthur Herman HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 472 PAGES The emigration of Scottish peoples and ideas is the subject of this bestselling history. Herman argues (convincingly) that many of the greatest political, intellectual and technological innovations of the 18th and 19th centuries came from the Scots. (SCT65, $16.00)
In Search of England • H.V. Morton • James Morris TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2002 • PAPER • 274 PAGES The much-beloved, enduring account of Morton's ramblings through the English countryside in the early days of the motorcar. As in all of his many travel books, Morton charmingly mixes a deep appreciation of the art, culture, and especially, the history of a place with his own keen observations. First published in 1927 and now returned to print in a handsome paper edition with an introduction by Jan Morris. (GBR368, $16.00)
An Innocent in Scotland, More Curious Rambles and Singular Encounters • David W. McFadden TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1999 • PAPER • 346 PAGES A sequel to his rambles in Ireland, McFadden again taps local lore, personality and history in this most entertaining journey through Scotland. As more of an excuse to travel than a formula, the book is loosely modeled after Morton's 1920s "In Search of Scotland." (SCT28, $18.95)
Insight Compact Guide Scottish Highlands • Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK • 1998 • PAPER • 79 PAGES A brief introduction to the Scottish Highlands with color photos, maps and suggested routes. (SCT32, $7.95)
Insight Guide Scotland • Josephine Buchanan GUIDEBOOK • 2007 • PAPER • 346 PAGES A thoroughly illustrated guide combining hundreds of photographs, excellent color maps and brief essays on the culture, history and nature of Scotland. (SCT64, $23.95)
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides • Samuel Johnson • James Boswell TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1984 • PAPER • 429 PAGES Written when Johnson was 63 and Boswell 32 in 1773 (when they had been friends for ten years), these travel journals were the result of a three-month trip to Scotland. Johnson observed Scotland, and Boswell observed Johnson. Witty and entertaining, these travel classics complement each other as Johnson describes the customs, education, religion, agriculture, and trade of the Scots, and Boswell records Johnson's behavior and conversation. (SCT07, $18.00)
Kidnapped • Robert Louis Stevenson LITERATURE • 2007 • PAPER • 240 PAGES Set in 18th-century Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion, this is a story of attempted murder, shipwreck, and kidnapping as told by a young Whig who has been deceived by his missing uncle. With great feeling for the Scottish landscape, history, and the local atmosphere, this classic tale of the conflict between Lowlanders and Highlanders mirrors the split sympathies of the author himself. (SCT02, $9.00)
Knopf Mapguide Edinburgh • Knopf Guides GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • PAPER • 48 PAGES A handy set of full color, ingeniously folded maps, each indicating favorite sites, shops, restaurants and attractions. (SCT105, $9.95)
The Last of the Celts • Marcus Tanner HISTORY • 2006 • PAPER • 398 PAGES Welsh journalist Tanner mixes anecdote, interview and research in this lively account of encounters with far-flung Celts from Scotland, Wales and Belfast to Brittany, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and Trelew. (GBR527, $25.00)
Life of St. Columba • Adomnan of Iona • Richard Sharpe BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1995 • PAPER • 395 PAGES An early account of the life of St. Columba (521-97), the 6th-century abbot who established the monastery on Iona. Written by Adomnan of Iona at the turn of the 8th century, it introduces the profoundly spiritual man as well as his famous abbey. A Penguin Classic. (IRE103, $17.00)
The Life of Walter Scott, A Critical Biography • John Sutherland BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1998 • PAPER • 386 PAGES Sutherland's discerning biography digs beneath the myth to illuminate the life of Sir Walter Scott as not only a literary figure but also a social critic, and Scot. (SCT92, $47.95)
Local Hero • Bill Forsyth CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2004 • DVD 111 minutes. (SCT90, $9.97)
Loch Assynt, Lochinver and Kylesku Map • Ordnance Survey MAP A detailed (1:50,000) regional map in the Landranger series by the British Ordnance Survey. It covers an area, including Loch Assynt, of 25 miles by 25 miles. One Side. 35x40 inches. (SCT86, $19.95)
Lonely Planet Scotland • Tom Smallman • Graeme Cornwallis GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 496 PAGES In its hallmark style, this practical guide to Scotland by Lonely Planet features maps, a good overview of culture, history and nature and much nuts-and-bolts information on excursions, accommodations and sightseeing. With a section of color photos and 50 maps. (SCT37, $22.99)
Lorna Doone • R.D. Blackmore LITERATURE • 2009 • PAPER • 680 PAGES A classic originally published in 1869, this historical novel is set at the time of the Monmouth Rebellion in the 17th century during the reign of Charles II. A yeoman farmer living in Exmoor plans to rescue and marry a young aristocrat whose family killed his father. (GBR83, $13.95)
Lost Balls: Great Holes, Tough Shots and Bad Lies • Charles Lindsay • John Updike SPORT • 2005 • HARD COVER • 128 PAGES A lighthearted collection of photographs of the world's great golf courses and many ways one can lose a ball. With a forward by John Updike. (GOL04, $29.99)
Macbeth • William Shakespeare LITERATURE • 2008 • PAPER • 249 PAGES This edition of the Bard's tragedy is heavily footnoted, providing lots of commentary on the immortal text. Set in Scotland. (SCT75, $10.95)
Mammals of Europe • Priscilla Barrett • David W. MacDonald FIELD GUIDE • 2002 • PAPER • 320 PAGES Published by Princeton, this is a field guide to land and marine mammals throughout Europe, both endemic and introduced. With more than 600 color illustrations of over 200 mammals, it's a comprehensive handbook, with detailed descriptions, range maps and commentary on behavior. (FG61, $38.50)
Mary Queen of Scots • Antonia Fraser BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1993 • PAPER • 613 PAGES Claimant to the thrones of two nations by her royal birth, Mary lost her head by scandalizing her world with a foolish passion. Betrayed by those she trusted, she lost the power game to her cousin Elizabeth I. This richly readable biography, the story of a legend who was loved even en route to her death, illuminates Mary's age as well as the figure herself. (SCT01, $20.00)
Michelin Green Guide Scotland • Michelin Travel Publications GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 384 PAGES With the same focus on driving tours, detailed maps and the Michelin star system, the venerable Green Guides are even better -- organized regionally, in color and with an overview of history, art and culture. (SCT36, $21.99)
The Mother Tongue, English and How it Got That Way • Bill Bryson CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1996 • PAPER • 270 PAGES An indispensable guide to the language that divides us, this book is a humorous and informative history of the English language that showcases Bryson's wry wit. He traces the development of the English language and its oddities from the Neolithic to present. Excellent. (GBR15, $14.99)
Natives And Exotics • Jane Alison LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 256 PAGES Transplanted halfway around the globe in 1970, nine-year-old Alice, the child of diplomats, is ravished by the beauty of Ecuador, a country her parents are helping to despoil. Forty years earlier, Alice's newlywed grandmother Violet confronts troubling traces of her country's past as she makes a home in the wilds of Australia. And before that, in early nineteenth-century Scotland, Violet's great-great-grandfather George flees the violence of the Clearances for the Portuguese Azores, unaware that he will have a hand in destroying the earthly paradise there. (PGL52, $16.95)
No Laughing Matter • Peter Guttridge MYSTERY • 2004 • PAPER • 277 PAGES The first book in the popular Nick Madrid series. A naked woman falls -- or is pushed -- from atop a hotel during the gentle journalist's trip to the Montreal Just For Laughs festival. To solve the mystery, Madrid, a self-deprecating, yoga-loving British journalist, must search the streets of Edinburgh and the secrets of Hollywood. (CND256, $13.00)
Notes from a Small Island • Bill Bryson CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 1997 • PAPER • 324 PAGES This is a farewell walking tour of England by an American expatriate who has decided to return home after two decades. It is full of rich conversations, humorous anecdotes and amusing interactions with the natives who often astonish him (and the reader) with their observations and attitudes. A good-natured tour de force through the country's foibles as well as its charms, this is a congenial companion for any trip to the sceptered isle. (GBR16, $14.99)
The Observations • Jane Harris LITERATURE • 2007 • PAPER • 416 PAGES This marvelously atmospheric novel, solidly set in Victorian-era Edinburgh, follows the adventures of a savvy chambermaid, who lands a job at the castle. (SCT124, $14.00)
Off in a Boat, Hebridean Voyage • Neil Miller Gunn TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 1990 • PAPER • 348 PAGES A classic tale of a 1930s voyage through the Hebrides by the well regarded Scottish novelist, (who quit his dull job with the civil service, sold his house, bought a useless boat, and tooled around the Inner Hebrides. Gunn captures the romance and exhilaration of a small boat voy age, interweaving his own adventures with Norse and Celtic tales. (GBR66, $18.95)
Orkneyinga Saga, The History of the Earls of Orkney • Hermann Palssom • Paul Edwards LITERATURE • 1981 • PAPER • 253 PAGES A fusion of myth and legend, circa A.D. 1200, by an unnamed Icelandic author. This medieval chronicle, with its center of action among the Orkney Islands, is a rich source of knowledge on the northern isles. Describing the conquest of the islands by Norwegian kings during the Viking expansion of the ninth century, it's an account of war and the struggle for supremacy by Sigurd the Powerful, St. Magnus the Martyr, and Hralf, the conqueror of Norway. This modern translation is very readable. (VIK07, $16.00)
Outlander • Diana Gabaldon MYSTERY • 1996 • PAPER • 896 PAGES Clare Randall is sent back in time from 1945 to 1743 in Scotland, where she falls in love with Scottish warrior James Fraser. (SCT101, $8.99)
The Oxford Companion to Scottish History • Michael Lynch HISTORY • 2007 • PAPER • 768 PAGES An illustrated, authoritative reference to Scotland from ancient times to today, organized as an encyclopedia and featuring contributions from a large panel of experts. (SCT128, $23.95)
Pawn in Frankincense • Dorothy Dunnett LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 512 PAGES In the fourth volume of the Chronicles of Lymond, the exiled Scottish nobleman Francis Crawford, under the guise of a mission for the Sultan, searches for his son in the Ottoman Empire. (SCT97, $17.00)
Pax Britannica, The Climax of Empire • James Morris HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 527 PAGES The centerpiece of the trilogy "Pax Britannica," this entertaining history concentrates on the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, celebrated as a festival of imperial power and splendor. This is a historical travel book, focusing on how the empire looked and felt at the end of the 19th century, its structure and laws, imperial architecture, parks, gardens, arts, railroads, shipping, roads, the Royal Navy, mapping, and irrigation from India to Canada and Rhodesia. (GBR10, $37.95)
Polly, The True Story Behind Whiskey Galore • Roger Hutchinson HISTORY • 1998 • PAPER • 155 PAGES A history of the famous wreck of the S.S. Politician in the outer Hebrides in 1941. The ship was full of whiskey, the locals seized it, and the subsequent wrangling pitted the Hebrideans against the ship's owners. It's the event that is the basis for the novel and film Whisky Galore. (GBR65, $18.00)
Portrait of Scotland • Colin Baxter CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2000 • PAPER • 96 PAGES An excellent short introduction to the beauty and mystery of the Scottish highlands and islands, featuring stunning color photographs by Colin Baxter. (SCT87, $16.95)
Queens' Play • Dorothy Dunnett LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 448 PAGES In the second volume of the Lymond Chronicles, Francis Crawford of Lymond is chosen to escort the young Mary Queen of Scots from their native country to the courts of France. To protect the little girl at the center of so much political intrigue, Crawford must use all his skill and cunning. (SCT98, $16.95)
Right Attitude To Rain, An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery • Alexander McCall Smith MYSTERY • 2007 • PAPER • 320 PAGES From the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes detective Isabel Dalhousie, the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and host of the Sunday Philosophy Club at her home in Edinburgh. In this third installment in the series, the mystery unfolds when suspicious Texan visitors arrive in Scotland. (SCT112, $21.95)
The Ringed Castle • Dorothy Dunnett LITERATURE • 1997 • PAPER • 544 PAGES In the fifth volume of the Lymond Chronicles, Francis Crawford of Lymond becomes an advisor to the tsar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible. As Francis struggles to modernize the court at Muscovy, there are those in England making their own plans for him. (SCT96, $18.95)
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire • Lawrence James HISTORY • 1996 • PAPER • 704 PAGES An epic history of the empire's achievements from 1600 to the present, Lawrence spices the book with quotes from private letters and diaries -- and good writing. He captures the mission and destiny that drove adventurers and explorers to travel the world in the name of God and king. From the imperial adventures of Drake to Lawrence of Arabia, the impact of the empire on natives, colonials, and the British at home, the lure of wealth tempered by moral misgivings, British sea power, the American War of Independence. (GBR72, $24.99)
Rob Roy • Michael Caton-Jones HISTORY • 2002 • DVD In 1713 Scotland, Highlander Rob Roy is forced to borrow money from a local aristocrat to help his clan. When the money is stolen, he must use all his courage and cunning to survive. 139 minutes. (SCT89, $14.94)
Rob Roy • Sir Walter Scott LITERATURE • 1995 • PAPER • 501 PAGES Adventure in the highlands of 18th-century Scotland starring the dashing outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor. Part of the "Penguin Classics" series, this book contains explanatory notes and an introduction that sets it in its historical context. (SCT20, $11.00)
Rough Guide Scotland • Rough Guide GUIDEBOOK • 2008 • PAPER • 888 PAGES A comprehensive, authoritative guide focusing on where to go and what to do from Dumphries and Edinburgh to Stornoway, Kirkwall and Lerwick. (SCT60, $23.99)
Rough Guide Scottish Highlands and Islands • Rob Humphreys GUIDEBOOK • 2011 • PAPER • 616 PAGES A comprehensive guide in the hip, literate and very informative Rough Guide style. It's divided cleanly between practical information and illuminating background on culture and history. (SCT132, $19.99)
A Rum Affair, A True Story of Botanical Fraud • Karl Sabbagh SCIENCE • 2001 • PAPER • 296 PAGES One might be put off by a book sold as " A True Story of Botanical Fraud," but nevertheless, this intriguing tale of bogus scientific claims and fierce debates is captivating. The plot centers around whether some mysterious plants, said to be found on the Scottish Isle of Rum, even exist. (SCT57, $15.00)
Rum, Nature's Island • Magnus Magnusson GUIDEBOOK • 2000 • PAPER • 160 PAGES A general overview of the Scottish Isle of Rum, covering history, culture, geography, nature and practical travel information. Focusing primarily on the ecology of the island, it was published in cooperation with Scottish Natural Heritage. (SCT56, $14.95)
Scotland's Golf Courses • Robert Price GUIDEBOOK • 2003 • PAPER • 240 PAGES A guide to more than 500 golf courses in Scotland -- the birthplace of the sport and still a favorite destination for dedicated duffers. (SCT72, $25.00)
Scotland, A Short History • Christopher Harvie HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 200 PAGES A brief history, through the formation of the recent Scottish Parliament, by a leading Scottish scholar and writer. (SCT77, $19.99)
Scottish Art • Murdo MacDonald ART & ARCHITECTURE • 2000 • PAPER • 224 PAGES A generously illustrated volume in the "World of Art" Series introducing the individuals and themes that have distinguished Scottish art through the ages. With 183 illustrations, 55 in color. (SCT48, $14.95)
The Scottish Empire • Michael Fry HISTORY • 2003 • PAPER • 608 PAGES A provocative history of Scottish dabbling in imperial adventures. The author, a Glaswegian journalist, scholar and politician, tackles (with glee) contradictory impulses and dramatic events in the history of this nation in the making. In tracing Scots derring-do from prehistory to modern times, Fry doesn't shy away from barbarian episodes -- or the humdrum reality of life back home. (SCT67, $29.95)
Scottish Literature • Douglas Gifford • Sarah Dunnigan • Allan Macgillivray LITERATURE • 2002 • PAPER • 1040 PAGES An overview Scotland's literature, organized chronologically in six sections, from medieval times to today. Not exactly an anthology, this volume is a comprehensive critical history and analysis of Scottish literature compiled by a group of experts. (SCT71, $52.00)
The Scottish Nation: A History, 1700-2007 • T. M. Devine HISTORY • 2008 • PAPER • 768 PAGES • COMING IN A well received history by a respected historian. Devine focuses on Scotland's relationship with England, its status as a colonized country and its sense of autonomy and pride. It's more or less bookended by the Act of Union of 1707 and the first meeting of the new Scottish parliament in 1999. Devine is University Research Professor and Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies at the University of Aberdeen. (SCT43, $20.00)
Sea Room, An Island Life in the Hebrides • Adam Nicolson BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2007 • PAPER • 391 PAGES Nicolson explores the nature, history and magic of three remote islands, a few miles east of the Isle of Lewis, deeded to him by his father on his 21st birthday. Tiny islands surrounded by serious tides, the Shiants nonetheless make their mark with 500-foot basalt cliffs, seabird and seal colonies, and a long history. Nicolson, who is a wonderful writer, is head-over-heels in love with the place. He combines interviews, diligent research, anecdote, history and observation in this lyrical portrait and celebration. (GBR369, $14.95)
Seamanship, A Voyage along the Wild Coasts of the British Isles • Adam Nicolson TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2007 • PAPER • 192 PAGES A stylish writer with a romantic streak, Nicolson offers a direct, engrossing account of a coastal voyage from Cornwall, along the western coast of Ireland, out to the Faeroes and to Orkney in this brief hymn to the sea. He recruits his sailor-friend George; buys a nice, squat wooden boat (the Auk) for the six-month voyage; and drags along a television crew to pay for the trip. Nicolson is the author of the superb Sea Room, Life in the Hebrides. (GBR561, $13.95)
Seasons on Harris, A Year in Scotland's Outer Hebrides • David Yeadon TRAVEL NARRATIVE • 2007 • PAPER Yeardon and wife Anne settled into a cottage in Ardhasaig on the west coast of Harris for a year, taking the time to get to know the landscape, people, culture and tradition of the island, long a place of crofts and weavers. In this fine account, peppered with the author's drawings, Yeardon writes with lively sympathy and appreciation of the place and its people -- and even of the weather. (SCT133, $15.99)
Selected Poems • Robert Burns LITERATURE • 1998 • PAPER • 192 PAGES Poetry from 18th century Scottish writer Robert Burns, a pioneer of the Romantic movement and widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. (SCT123, $13.75)
September • Rosamunde Pilcher LITERATURE • 1991 • PAPER • 613 PAGES This novel about relationships and secrets within families and between neighbors reads like a literary soap opera. (SCT110, $8.99)
The Shetland Bus, A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival and Adventure • David Howarth HISTORY • 2008 • PAPER • 236 PAGES David Howarth, author of "We Die Alone," tells another little-known story of courage and survival during World War II. This time he writes of the "Shetland Bus," a fleet of fishing boats that made regular journeys across treacherous waters from the Shetland Islands to Norway, in order to bring relief and fortifications to Norwegians weathering Nazi attacks. Howarth, who was second in command at the Shetland base, knows the story first-hand, and brings out the ferocity of the storms and battles endured by a few hundred brave men. (NOR26, $16.95)
Sir James Wordie, Polar Crusader: Exploring the Arctic and Antarctic • Michael Smith BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 2004 • HARD COVER • 371 PAGES The first biography of Sir James Wordie, whose many polar adventures took him from the Heroic Age of Shackleton and Scott to the modern era. Chief Scientist on Shackleton's Endurance expedition, in later life he was instrumental in planning the first climbing of Mount Everest in 1953 and played a key role in Vivian Fuchs's ground-breaking first crossing of the Antarctic continent between 1955 and 1958. (SCT109, $35.00)
Southern Scotland & Northumberland Map • Ordnance Survey MAP A fine locally grown map of southern Scotland, including Oban, Dundee, Stranraer, Carlisle and Edinburgh, at a scale 1:250,000. One Side. 37x50 inches. (SCT34, $14.95)
The Story of Britain • Roy Strong HISTORY • 2002 • PAPER • 596 PAGES A beautifully illustrated and rousing history of Britain from prehistory until the 1990s -- a balanced, well written overview of a huge subject. (GBR71, $49.95)
The Story of Scotland • Nigel Tranter HISTORY • 2000 • PAPER • 266 PAGES Tranter, a beloved novelist and storyteller, deftly weaves Scots history with anecdote, myth, folklore, personality and incident in this lively tale. (SCT76, $16.95)
The Sunday Philosophy Club • Alexander McCall Smith MYSTERY • 2005 • PAPER • 256 PAGES The first book in McCall-Smith's Sunday Philosophy Club series, set in Edinburgh and starring detective Isabel Dalhousie, the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. It all starts when a man falls to his death outside a concert hall. (SCT114, $14.00)
Tales of the Seal People, Scottish Folk Tales • Chad McCail • Duncan Williamson LITERATURE • 1992 • HARD COVER • 160 PAGES A collection of Scottish folk tales featuring Silkies -- the seal people who can take human shape. (SCT18, $24.95)
The Thirty-Nine Steps • John Buchan LITERATURE • 2008 • PAPER • 160 PAGES Buchan introduces his hero Richard Hannay in this 1915 novel of action and political intrigue. A war hero, Hannay returns to England only to become the suspect for a murder--though innocent, he must flee to Scotland. We also carry the classic Hitchcock film based on the novel. (EUR304, $11.00)
Time Out Edinburgh • Will Fulford-Jones GUIDEBOOK • 2010 • PAPER • 320 PAGES An up-to-date guide on what to do and where to go by the people who publish Time Out Magazine. (SCT118, $19.95)
Tir a'Mhurain, The Outer Hebrides of Scotland • Paul Strand • Catherine Duncan • Basil Davidson CULTURAL PORTRAIT • 2002 • HARD COVER • 128 PAGES • COMING IN The great American photographer Paul Strand spent three months in the Hebrides (on the isle of Uist) in 1954, capturing the region's striking landscapes and residents on film. This exhibition catalog, published by Aperture, handsomely reproduces 105 of Strand's duotone images. Basil Davidson provides the atmospheric, elegiac commentary. (SCT58, $40.00)
To the Lighthouse • Virginia Woolf LITERATURE • 1989 • PAPER • 209 PAGES Childhood, distilled. Woolf drew on memories of family holidays in Cornwall to write this wonderful, clear-sighted novel, in which the Ramsay family goes on holiday in the Hebrides. First published in 1927 -- and full of light and air, comings and goings, fulfillment and unfulfillment -- it's a modernist classic which is also, quite simply, a pleasure. (SCT41, $13.95)
Trainspotting • Irvine Welsh LITERATURE • 1996 • PAPER • 344 PAGES You may have seen the movie, but Irvine Welsh's novel is a far darker, albeit moving, tale of junkies set in a bleak version of Edinburgh. It has a fine sense of place, plenty of dirty words, and loads of black humor, all delivered in a thick Scottish accent. It also has glossary of slang terms for the uninitiated, just in case you didn't know what "nondy" means. (SCT85, $14.95)
The Translator • Leila Aboulela LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 208 PAGES Sammar, a young Sudanese widow and devout Muslim working as a translator at a Scottish university, falls in love with her Scottish superviser. In lyrical yet understated prose, Aboulela deftly explores faith and bridging cultural gaps. (MDE112, $12.00)
A Traveller's Companion to Edinburgh • David Daiches ANTHOLOGY • 2004 • PAPER • 229 PAGES A splendid introduction to the city. (SCT108, $16.95)
A Traveller's History of Scotland • Andrew Fisher HISTORY • 2009 • PAPER • 256 PAGES This brief history of Scotland through the 1990s is wide-ranging, accessible and necessarily condensed. With a useful chronology, a list of monarchs and a historical gazetteer, this book marches confidently through the centuries. Fisher, a proud Scotsman himself, focuses on the vitality and resilience of the nation. (GBR40, $14.95)
Vikings, The North Atlantic Saga • William Fitzhugh • Elisabeth Ward HISTORY • 2000 • PAPER • 432 PAGES Published in conjunction with a Smithsonian exhibit, this excellent book explores the culture and history of the Vikings, and especially their well documented voyages to North America. Featuring 400 color photographs, the book also includes lively essays on Viking art, religion, daily life and colonies. It's especially good on Viking expansion and settlements in North America. (VIK11, $34.95)
Voyager • Diana Gabaldon MYSTERY • 1994 • PAPER • 1072 PAGES The third in a series of time-travel mysteries set in 18th century Scotland. (SCT103, $8.99)
Wild Mountain Thyme • Rosamunde Pilcher LITERATURE • 1996 • PAPER • 294 PAGES When a former lover shows up on her doorstep with his two year old son in hand, Victoria Bradshaw's life is changed completely. The unlikely trio travel to Scotland together. (SCT111, $7.99)
William Wallace, Brave Heart • James MacKay BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • 1996 • PAPER • 288 PAGES MacKay separates myth from legend in this rich account of one of Scotland's greatest heroes. He delves into medieval Scotland, setting the life of William Wallace in its historical context. (SCT30, $16.99)
Wine Country Europe, Touring, Tasting, And Buying At European Regional Wineries • Ornella D'Alessio • Marco Santini FOOD • 2005 • HARD COVER • 324 PAGES Part how-to, part guidebook, part picture book, this charming coffee table treat covers sprawling French vineyards as well as lesser-known hidden treasures in Austria and Hungary. The authors, both Italian journalists and wine connoisseurs, provide helpful tips alongside the hundreds of magnificent color photographs. (EUR191, $35.00)
Winter Tales • George MacKay Brown LITERATURE • 2006 • PAPER • 240 PAGES These twelve short stories capture the characters and atmosphere of George Mackay Brown's native Orkney. (SCT115, $11.95)

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