I ordered eight books while I was still in Glasgow, yet it has taken until now–five months later–for me to post this report about them. The reason? I am still waiting for the eighth and final title to arrive. Since I am now in Saint-Denis on the island of Réunion and have just come back from shopping and got four new books, I figure I had better write about at least seven of the eight books about Scotland, and deal with the slowpoke eighth title on its own should it ever get here. I know I will be writing about the books I bought while cruising the Indian Ocean once I get home.
I had already bought so many books during the trip to Scotland last autumn that by the time I got to Edinburgh I knew that I would not be able to carry any more home, since my luggage was already busting the airline weight allowance. The first titles I declined to buy were these two I found at the Scottish Parliament gift shop. I kept quite calm under the circumstances, convincing myself that it was okay to let them go. I took down the titles and publisher and ordered them directly from Edinburgh University Press:
Language Revitalisation in Gaelic Scotland: Linguistic Practice and Ideology by Stuart Dunmore captivated me in the parliament gift shop. It is an assessment of the outcomes of Gaelic-medium education in Scotland and of the future prospects for Gaelic language maintenance.
Gaelic in Contemporary Scotland: The Revitalisation of an Endangered Language looks at the processes and patterns of Gaelic language acquisition. The book explores the ways in which the use of Gaelic is changing, especially in fragmented, networked communities. I was most intrigued by this statement on the back cover: “Through its analysis of the interconnections between, and differences within, Gaelic communities, this collection challenges old understandings of the Gaelic community as a single collective identity.”
When I ordered them from Edinburgh University Press I had a look at all the books they published on language and linguistics, as well as Scottish studies. I was interested in two others, which I also ordered, below:
Gaelic in Scotland: Policies, Movements, Ideologies by Wilson McLeod assesses the changing role of Gaelic in modern Scotland from 1872 to the present day. The author looks at the policies of government and the work of activists and campaigners who have sought to maintain and promote Gaelic. McLeod also scrutinizes the competing ideologies that have driven the decline, marginalization and subsequent revitalization of the language.
Northern and Insular Scots by Robert McColl Millar analyzes the Scots dialects of northern Scotland, Orkney and Shetland through their phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax and lexis, and looks at the Gaelic and Norse influences on the language.
St Kilda: The Last and Outmost Isle by Angela Gannon and George Geddes is by far the best and most attractive book on these islands I have ever seen. I first saw it at Topping & Company Booksellers in Edinburgh. It was so heavy I knew once I picked it up that I would be ordering it. As a large-format paperback it opened up into beautiful colour shots of the islands yet what really caught my interest was the enormous and detailed map that came with it that showed each island in the archipelago on one side, and the layout of Village Bay, complete with every dwelling and structure, on the other.
The Truth about St Kilda: An Islander’s Memoir by Rev. Donald John Gillies was based on the author’s own life spent on Hirta from his birth in 1901 to when he left in 1924. I take it that the choice of using the words “the truth about” in the title was in order to dispel the myths written about these islands, that only a native could attest to or refute.
An Orkney Tapestry by George Mackay Brown is a first edition from 1969. Brown wrote it as a celebration of his home of Orkney, wherein he devoted chapters to the islands and its people; the development and decline of one particular Orcadian community; three Vikings; island folklore; and two island poets.