E.L. Doctorow observed that “[t]he three most important documents a free society gives are a birth certificate, a passport, and a library card.” I used the Edinburgh Library constantly while I lived in Scotland. I received my library card during the first week that I arrived here, and I checked out numerous books concerning music, fiction, and non-fiction over the course of five years. I borrowed dozens and dozens of CDs and DVDs from library branches all over town. My stay would no doubt have been less rich had it not been for the Edinburgh Library.
Of all the books that I read in Scotland, the two that had the biggest influence on me were James Boswell’s “Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Kidnapped.” I strongly recommend both to anyone who wants to understand more about Scottish literature and history.
Scottish Fiction and Non-Fiction
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, James Boswell
Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, Samuel Johnson
Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson
Catriona, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Master of Ballantrae, Robert Louis Stevenson
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Amateur Emigrant, Robert Louis Stevenson
Virginbus Puerisque, Robert Louis Stevenson
And the Land Lay Dying, John Robertson
The Testament of Gideon Mack, John Robertson
Joseph Knight, John Robertson
Harry Potter books (JK Rowling):
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Literary Allusions in Harry Potter,
Beatrice Groves
Ian Rankin Books :
Knotts & Crosses, Black & Blue, Dead Souls, The Naming of the Dead
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Murial Sparks
The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Sparks
Lilies of the Field, Ian Crichton Smith
The Silver Darlings, Neill M. Gunn
Highland River, Neill M. Gunn
The Serpent, Neill M. Gunn
Magnus Merriman, Eric Linklater
Other Fiction
A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway
Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
Non-Fiction
How the Scots Invented the Modern World, Arthur
Herman
Scotland’s Future, Alex Salmond
The Road to Referendum, Iain Macwhirter
We in Scotland: Thatcherism in a Cold Climate, David Torrance
Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari
The Autobiography of Robert Louis Stevenson, Claire Harman
Books About Music
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop, Bob Stanley
Eminent Hipsters, Donald Fagen
Some People Are Crazy: The John Martyn Story, John Neill Munro
Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life, Graham Nash
My Cross to Bear, Gregg Allman
Peppermint Twist: The Mob, the Music, and the Most Famous Dance Club of the 1960s, John Johnson
Here Comes the Judge: Rock in Court, Brian Southall
Nick Drake: Dreaming England, Nathan Wiseman-Trouse
Songs in the Key of Fife: The Intertwining Stories of the
Beta Band, King Creosote, KT Tunstall, James Yorkston, and the Fence Collective, Vic Galloway
Testimony, Robbie Robertson
Music publishing: A Songwriter’s Guide, Randy Poe
The Songwriter’s Idea Book: 40 Strategies to Excite your Imagination, Sheila Davis
The Craft and Business of Writing, Johnf Braheny
Writing Together: The Songwriter’s Guide to Collaboration, Walter Carter
Books on Matters Theological
Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels: Richard Hays
E.P. Sanders, Pocket Book about Paul
Arguing with Scripture: The Rhetoric of Quotations in the letters of Paul, Richard Stanley
The Bible in Literature, Alison Jack
When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible, Timothy Michael Law