Those of you on Instagram will have seen that we are now hosting a Scottish Gallery Book Club, as a literary companion to our monthly event programming.
We are delighted to announce that Golden Hare Books is now our bookshop partner, and each month they will select a book exploring themes or ideas complimentary to one of our exhibitions.
September Book Club
For September, Golden Hare Books have selected two titles to accompany The Scottish Gallery’s first exhibition of Oliver Cook’s sculptural works.
For adults, they have selected Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima, and for a younger audience, The Light Jar by Lisa Thompson. Follow the link here to purchase both books from Golden Hare.
Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima:
The powerful story of a young woman, living alone in Tokyo with her two-year-old daughter. The novel is full of light, sometimes comforting and sometimes dangerous: sunlight streaming through windows, dappled light in the park, distant fireworks, dazzling floodwater, de-saturated streetlamps and mysterious explosions. A novel obsessed with light, yet far from lightweight.
The Light Jar by Lisa Thompson:
A boy and his mother, on the run and desperate, hide away in a run down cottage in a dark forest. While his mother looks for provisions, Nate is left alone in the pitch black to stay safe – but when a mysterious girl arrives, he sets out on an adventure that brings light as his bravery grows. A heartful and beautiful book for children.
Please join us in reading the book, follow our hashtag #tsgreads, and share your feedback on Instagram, or in an email to bookclub@scottish-gallery.co.uk. Your responses will be featured on our social media!
August Book Club
For August, Golden Hare have selected two titles to accompany The Scottish Gallery’s major exhibition of Joan Eardley for the Edinburgh Art Festival.
For adults, they have selected Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, and for a younger audience, Auntie Robbo by Ann Scott Moncrieff. Follow the link here to purchase both books from Golden Hare.
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon:
Faced with a choice between a harsh farming life and the world of books and learning, Chris Guthrie chooses to remain in her rural community, bound by her intense love of the land. But everything changes with the arrival of the First World War, and Chris finds her land altered beyond recognition. One of the greatest and most heart-breaking love stories ever told, Sunset Song offers a powerful portrait of a land and people in turmoil.
Auntie Robbo by Ann Scott Moncrieff:
Originally refused publication in London because it was deemed critical of the English, this fabulous young adult novel tells the story of Hector, an 11-year-old boy living near Edinburgh with his great auntie Robbo who is in her eighties. A woman calling herself his step-mother arrives from England and Hector and Auntie Robbo realise that they have to run away. The chase leads all over the north of Scotland, narrowly escaping police and the authorities (while adopting three homeless children on the way). An anarchic Scottish classic!
Please join us in reading the book, follow our hashtag #tsgreads, and share your feedback on Instagram, or in an email to bookclub@scottish-gallery.co.uk. Your responses will be featured on our social media!
July Book Club
For our July Book Club, Golden Hare Books have selected two titles to accompany Alexander Goudie’s exhibiton An Artist’s Life – Act I.
Laidlaw by William McIlvanney:
When a young woman is found murdered in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, only one man stands a chance of finding her killer. Jack Laidlaw. He is a man of contrasts, ravaged by inner demons but driven by a deep compassion for the violent criminals in Glasgow’s underworld. But will Laidlaw’s unorthodox methods get him to the killer in time, when the victim’s father is baying for blood? Acclaimed for its corrosive wit, dark themes and original maverick detective, the Laidlaw trilogy has earned the status of classic crime fiction.
Divided City by Theresa Breslin:
It’s Glasgow. And its May – the marching season. The Orange Walks have begun. Graham doesn’t want to be involved. He just wants to play football with his new mate, Joe. But when he witnesses a shocking moment of violence, suddenly he and Joe are involved. With Catholics, and with Protestants. With a young Muslim asylum-seeker, and his girlfriend. With all the old rivalries – and fears. A fabulous book for children 9+, this never patronises its audience about some of the harsher realities of urban life – while never compromising on a truly compelling story.
Please join us in reading the book, follow our hashtag #tsgreads, and share your feedback on Instagram, or in an email to bookclub@scottish-gallery.co.uk. Your responses will be featured on our social media!
June Book Club
For the month of June, Golden Hare have selected two books to accompany Kate Downie‘s exhibition Between Seasons – The Overstory by Richard Powers and By Ash, Oak and Thorn by Melissa Harrison.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2019, The Overstory explores the relationship between humans and trees. Starting out with stories of individuals and the trees that hold significance for them, culminating in a whole which mirrors the structure of the tree itself. Concentric circles and intertwining branches of plot and character work together to produce an impassioned cry for humanity to work together with nature.
On Melissa Harrison’s By Ash, Oak and Thorn:
Celebrated novelist and nature writer, Melissa Harrison has drawn upon her childhood experience of connecting with nature through stories in the creation of this magical work, inspired by the 1942 classic The Little Grey Men by BB. Children and adults alike will be enchanted by the adventures of the Hidden Folk, as they travel from their woodland home, through the depths of the countryside, and eventually to the heart of the city, searching for a way to help their kind survive in a changing world.
Please join us in reading the book, follow our hashtag #tsgreads, and share your feedback on Instagram, or in an email to bookclub@scottish-gallery.co.uk. Your responses will be featured on our social media!
May Book Club
In May, to accompany Victoria Crowe’s Another Time, Another Place exhibition, Golden Hare Books have selected Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.
A nameless woman endures enforced confinement, remaining isolated in a mansion in the middle of nowhere. Her only salvation? Her writing. Craving love, intellectual stimulation and understanding, she is instead subjected to the unbroken sight of the yellowed paper that lines the four walls around her. Not the most cheerful read but it explores the route out of isolation through artistic expression.
April’s book was Ted Hughes’ Birthday Letters, chosen by Christine McArthur to accompany her exhibition, Notes to Self:
Christine McArthurThis group of poems largely talks about Sylvia Plath, her poetry and Ted Hughes' relationship with his wife. I think it is brave, very brave, because I don't think Ted Hughes tended to consult his own feelings very often. At least that is how I see it.
Please join us in reading the book, follow our hashtag #tsgreads, and share your feedback on Instagram, or in an email to bookclub@scottish-gallery.co.uk. Your responses will be featured on our social media!
