05.25 recap
scotland, scotland, and more scotland?
It’s already June, which means it’s time to recap the month of May!
I spent most of May in Scotland, which means most of the books I read were based in Scotland or about Scotland. To get the most out of the experience, I try to plan out my books to coincide with the place I’m visiting, usually one fiction and one nonfiction. It’s fun for me, and my husband gets a free tour guide. A win-win situation.
Books
Small Country by Gaël Faye
Historical fiction, war story
I still think about this book every single day. If I were president I would make it assigned reading.
Clear by Carys Davies
Historical fiction
Clear is another favourite of the year for me. Set in the Shetland Islands during the Highland Clearances of 1843, an out-of-work priest is hired to evict the last remaining inhabitant of a remote island. A heartwarming exploration of language and the perpetual search for human connection and understanding.
The Highland Clans by Alistair Moffatt
Nonfiction, overview
A short book about the Highland Clans, their origin stories and their place in Scottish history and beyond. Humorous and informative.
The Bookseller of Inverness by S.G Maclean
Historical fiction, murder mystery
The story of a former Jacobite-turned-bookseller still reeling from the events of the last Jacobite uprising that led to the Battle of Culloden. I read this as we travelled around Inverness, which added a layer of affinity to the story that made it all the more interesting.
Leakey's Bookshop, the largest second hand bookshop in Scotland and the site of inspiration for The Bookseller of Inverness. It used to be a Gaelic church, where Jacobites were rounded up and shot after the Battle of Culloden. The King Over the Water by Desmond Seward
Nonfiction, detailed
An in depth account of the entire Jacobite movement, from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 to the Battle of Culloden in 1745 that ended it forever and its brutal aftermath.
A concise history of Scotland by Sir Fitzroy Maclean
Nonfiction
Exactly what it sounds like! Too concise in my opinion.
The Gentleman from Peru by André Aciman
Fiction
This was a short and fun read that would be best enjoyed on a sunny terrace with some sort of refreshing spritz (I’m partial to a St. Germain myself). It’s an interesting mediation on the dynamics of soulmates and fate, draped in the sensuality typical of an Aciman novel.
Movies
One of Them Days dir Lawrence Lamont
Comedy
Very fun hijinks movie, Keke Palmer is so charming and funny I’ll watch anything she’s in.
Braveheart dir Mel Gibson
Action, history, drama, war
A good, historically inaccurate movie. I don’t get the hype of 5 Academy Awards but I’d also expect my husband to wage war on an empire on my behalf.
Books to read: The Wallace by Nigel Tranter, Blind Harry’s Wallace (the epic poem that the movie is loosely based on)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat dir. Johan Grimonprez
Documentary, political, music, history
This documentary is a master class in montage. Excerpts from My Country, Africa by Andrée Blouin; Congo Inc. by In Koli Jean Bofane; To Katanga and Back by Conor Cruise O'Brien; and audio memoirs by Nikita Khrushchev are intertwined with Black jazz ambassadors like Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, who unknowingly became smokescreens for CIA operations.
Books to read: The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination by Stuart A. Reid
Sinners dir Ryan Coogler
Thriller, horror
Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are an impressive duo. I don’t think they’ve turned in a bad project, ever. I loved listening to Ryan Coogler on the press tour since his passion for the movie and respect for the history make for fantastic interviews. As a fan of Delta blues and horror movies, this was right up my alley. We watched this movie in a cool movie theater in the East Village that had so much history and charm that it only added to the experience.
Village East by Angelika Books to read: Up Jumped the Devil by Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow, How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev, I Don’t Like the Blues by B. Brian Foster
This month I’ll be reading (and don’t hold me to it) Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga, The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S Durbin, La sed by Marina Yuszczuk, and Colony by Annika Norlin. If any of these interest you, let’s read together!
See you at the end of June for another recap!