Download or read book The Guga Hunters written by Donald S. Murray and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2018-05-10 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every year, ten men from Ness, at the northern tip of the Isle of Lewis, sail north-east for some forty miles to a remote rock called Sulasgeir. Their mission is to catch and harvest the guga; the almost fully grown gannet chicks nesting on the two hundred foot high cliffs that circle the tiny island, which is barely half a mile long. After spending a fortnight in the arduous conditions that often prevail there, they return home with around two thousand of the birds, pickled and salted and ready for the tables of Nessmen and women both at home and abroad. The Guga Hunters tells the story of the men who voyage to Sulasgeir each year and the district they hail from, bringing out the full colour of their lives, the humour and drama of their exploits. They speak of the laughter that seasons their time together on Sulasgeir, of the risks and dangers they have faced. It also provides a fascinating insight into the social history of Ness, the culture and way-of-life that lies behind the world of the Guga Hunters, the timeless nature of the hunt, and reveals the hunt's connections to the traditions of other North Atlantic countries. Told in his district's poetry and prose, English and - occasionally - Gaelic, Donald S. Murray shows how the spirit of a community is preserved in this most unique of exploits.
Download or read book The Guga Stone written by Donald S Murray and published by Luath Press Ltd. This book was released on 2013-08-20 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1930, the last inhabitants of the isle of St Kilda were evacuated to the mainland. Shortly afterwards, following several acts of vandalism by local fishermen, Calum MacKinnon was sent back to the island to guard against further damage. Alone on the deserted island, he begins to re-imagine the conversations and stories from his years in the island port of Village Bay. He also recalls some of the experiences of its people in exile on the mainland, showing their difficulties in adjusting to a new way of life, and a diet no longer based mainly on seabirds. The vivid prose is interspersed with poetry and illustratios, creating a colourful and insightful ficionalisation of life on remote St Kilda. BACK COVER Acrobats, airmen, cormorants, cragsmen and angels leap, climb, shimmer and swoop through these pages as the story of how Calum Mackinnon was sent to guard the houses in Village Bay, St Kilda shortly after its evacuation in 1930 unfolds. While there, Calum conjures up conversations with the island's former residents, providing, through both prose and verse, fresh and often surreal insights into life on Scotland's western edge. Humorous and moving, surprising and enchanting, The Guga Stone celebrates the miracles and wonders of an existence eked out on cliff and crag, sea-rock and skerry, the exile of its people, too, far from their native shores. Enlightening as fulmar oil, exquisite as the flavour of the guga itself, The Guga Stone reveals the small and great truths of the human imagination as it recreates that island's tales and legends for our time.
Download or read book Passions for Birds written by Sean Nixon and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2022-05-15 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether as sources of joy and pleasure to be fed, counted, and watched, as objects of sport to be hunted and killed, or as food to be harvested, wild birds evoke strong feelings. Sean Nixon traces the transformation of these human passions for wild birds from the early twentieth century through the 1970s, detailing humans’ close encounters with wild birds in Britain and the wider North Atlantic world. Drawing on a rich range of written sources, Passions for Birds reveals how emotional, subjective, and material attachments to wild birds were forged through a period of pronounced social and cultural change. Nixon demonstrates how, for all their differences, new traditions in birdwatching and conservation, field sports, and bird harvesting mobilized remarkably similar feelings towards birds. Striking similarities also emerged in the material forms that each of these practices used to bring birds closer to people – hides and traps, nets and ropes, and binoculars. Wide ranging in scope, Passions for Birds sheds new light on the ways in which wild birds helped shape humans throughout the twentieth century, as well as how birds themselves became burdened with multiple cultural meanings and social anxieties over time.
Download or read book The Blackhouse written by Peter May and published by Quercus Books. This book was released on 2011 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Isle of Lewis is the most remote, harshly beautiful place in Scotland, where the difficulty of existence seems outweighed only by people's fear of God. But older, pagan values lurk beneath the veneer of faith, the primal yearning for blood and revenge. When a brutal murder on the island bears the hallmarks of a similar slaying in Edinburgh, police detective Fin Macleod is dispatched north to investigate. But since he himself was raised on Lewis, the investigation also represents a journey home and into his past. Each year the island's men perform the hunting of the gugas, a savage custom no longer necessary for survival, but which they cling to even more fiercely in the face of the demands of modern morality. For Fin the hunt recalls a horrific tragedy, which after all this time may have begun to demand another sacrifice. The Blackhouse is a crime novel of rare power and vision. Peter May has crafted a page-turning murder mystery that explores the darkness in our souls, and just how difficult it is to escape the past.
Download or read book Outer Hebrides written by Mark Rowe and published by Bradt Travel Guides. This book was released on 2017-04-10 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: adt's new guide to the Outer Hebrides: The Western Isles of Scotland, from Lewis to Barra, by experienced writer and journalist Mark Rowe is the only full-size guide to focus solely on the islands of Lewis, Harris, St Kilda, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay. Masses of background information is included, from geography and geology to art and architecture, with significant coverage of wildlife, too, as well as all the practical details you could need: when to visit, suggested itineraries, public holidays and festivals, local culture, plus accommodation and where to eat and drink. Walkers, bird-watchers, wildlife photographers, beach lovers and genealogists are all catered for, and this is an ideal guide for those who travel simply with curious minds to discover far-flung places of great cultural, historical and wildlife interest. The Outer Hebrides is an archipelago of 15 inhabited islands and more than 50 others that are free of human footprint. Huge variations in landscape are found across the islands, from Lewisian gneiss, which dates back almost three billion years, to rugged Harris with its magnificent sands running down its western flanks and the windswept, undulating flatness and jagged sea lochs of the Uists. This is a land where Gaelic is increasingly spoken and ancient monuments abound, where stunning seabird colonies and birds of prey can be watched, and where the grassy coastal zones known as the machair are transformed into glorious carpets of wildfllowers in late spring and summer. Whether visiting the Standing Stones of Callanish, the Uig peninsula, Barra's Castle Bay, or historic St Kilda, or if you just want to experience the romance of the Sound of Harris, one of the most beautiful ferry journeys in the world, Bradt's Outer Hebrides: The Western Isles of Scotland, from Lewis to Barra has all the information you need.
Download or read book Clues A Journal of Detection Vol 42 No 1 Spring 2024 written by Caroline Reitz and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-05-17 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over two decades, Clues has included the best scholarship on mystery and detective fiction. With a combination of academic essays and nonfiction book reviews, it covers all aspects of mystery and detective fiction material in print, television and movies. As the only American scholarly journal on mystery fiction, Clues is essential reading for literature and film students and researchers; popular culture aficionados; librarians; and mystery authors, fans and critics around the globe.
Download or read book Between Light and Storm written by Esther Woolfson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-12-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A landmark examination of the fraught relationship between humans and animals, taking the reader from Genesis to climate change. Beginning with the very origins of life on Earth, Woolfson considers prehistoric human-animal interaction and traces the millennia-long evolution of conceptions of the soul and conscience in relation to the animal kingdom, and the consequences of our belief in human superiority. She explores our representation of animals in art, our consumption of them for food, our experiments on them for science, and our willingness to slaughter them for sport and fashion, as well as examining concepts of love and ownership. Drawing on philosophy and theology, art and history, as well as her own experience of living with animals and coming to know, love, and respect them as individuals, Woolfson examines some of the most complex ethical issues surrounding our treatment of animals and argues passionately and persuasively for a more humble, more humane, relationship with the creatures who share our world.
Download or read book Ecocriticism and the Island written by Pippa Marland and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2022-12-19 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islands have long been the subject of cultural fascination, but in recent decades, they have exerted an increasingly powerful centrifugal force, sending writers to the outer edges of the British-Irish archipelago in search of inspiration and insight. Drawing on contemporary ecocritical approaches, island studies, and emergent archipelagic perspectives, Ecocriticism and the Island explores a wide selection of island-themed creative non-fiction. Through a combination of textual analysis, and, where possible, original interviews and archival research, Pippa Marland offers new insights into the work of Tim Robinson, Brenda Chamberlain, Christine Evans, W.G. Sebald, Stephen Watts, Amy Liptrot, Kathleen Jamie, Adam Nicolson, Robert Macfarlane, and David Gange. In assessing the ways in which these authors negotiate existing cultural tropes of the island while offering their own distinctive articulations of “islandness,” this book represents an important intervention into island literary studies. At the same time, it contributes to the development of an archipelagic strand of ecocriticism—one that offers a valuable perspective on human-environmental relationships in an Anthropocene context.
Download or read book Before Scotland A Prehistory written by Alistair Moffat and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneering look at early Scotland that transforms prehistory into gripping narrative. The story of the land that became Scotland is one of dramatic geological events and impressive human endeavor. Alistair Moffat’s gripping narrative ranges from the great thaw at the end of the Ice Age, which was instrumental in shaping Scotland’s magnificent landscape; through the megalith builders, the Celts, and the Picts; to the ascension of King Constantine II. Moffat deploys his knowledge with wit and deftness, interweaving the story with numerous special features on topics as diverse as cave drawings of dancing girls, natural birth control, the myth of Atlantis, and the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence—all of them valuable, sometimes quirky, additions to the whole picture. Erudite and entertaining, Before Scotland transforms our understanding of a neglected period and is essential reading for anyone interested in the people, events, and monuments that make up Scotland’s captivating past.
Download or read book Villages of Britain written by Clive Aslet and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-08-15 with total page 1091 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain's villages are world famous for their loveliness and idiosyncratic charm. Each village is different; travel across the country and you will unearth a joyous variety, from straggly Leintwardine in Herefordshire to BBC-film-perfect Askrigg in Yorkshire to higgledy-piggledy tourist hub Polperro in Cornwall to Miserden in Gloucestershire, with its staggeringly beautiful gardens, to Pittenweemin Fife, still eking a living from fishing, to the warring villages of Donhead St. Mary and Donhead St. Andrew in Wiltshire. History and architecture account for some differences-the memorials in churches, the details of door frames and chimney stacks-but there are also differences of spirit, and in how life is lived there today. What are the thriving local businesses? What are they selling in the shops-or are there shops at all? What are the traditions, old or invented? Who are the people who make these communities work? In this captivating volume, Clive Aslet draws on thirty years of travel in the countryside working for Britain's Country Life magazine to give us a living, personal, and opinionated history of five hundred of Britain's most beautiful and vibrant villages. Meticulously researched and drawing from conversations with local residents, publicans, and vicars, this book is both an indispensable gazetteer for anyone planning to tour the countryside and a portrait of rural Britain in a time of change.
Download or read book Sy Story written by Donald S. Murray and published by Birlinn. This book was released on 2015-02-22 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lewisman Donald S Murray tells in his inimitable verse and prose Stornoway's story from the days when Mesolithic people sheltered there to its present-day life as a bustling, modern harbour, casting light on men and boats, native herring girls and island visitors, the town's triumphs and tragedies. These include such events as the sinking of the Iolaire, the ship which went down with over 200 soldiers as they returned home from World War I, the departure of the Metagama to Canada in 1923, packed with islanders on their way to start a new life in North America, and the dramatic arrival of the fishing boat the Astrid, with 29 refugees from Soviet Estonia, in 1948. Accompanying the work are 20 striking and distinctive illustrations from, Douglas Robertson, as well as over 30 photographs. All of this comes together to capture both the past and present of the port, making the book a delight both for those who know the town well and the many holiday-makers who explore its harbour during summer months.
Download or read book Hebrides written by Peter May and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2015-12-15 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the publication of The Blackhouse in 2011, the books of Peter May's groundbreaking Lewis Trilogy have enthralled millions of readers around the world with powerfully evocative descriptions of the Outer Hebrides. From its peat bogs and heather-coated hills, from its weather-beaten churches and crofters cottages to its cold clear rills choked with rainwater, the islands off the northwest coast of Scotland have been brought to vivid life by this accomplished novelist. Now, Peter May and photographer David Wilson present a photographic record of the countless locations around the Hebridean archipelago that so inspired May when he was bringing the islands of detective Fin McLeod's childhood to the page. From the tiny southern island of Barra to the largest and most northern island of Lewis, travel the storm-whipped North Atlantic scenery with May as he once again strolls the wild and breathtaking countryside that gave birth to his masterful trilogy of novels.
Download or read book Scottish Island Bagging written by Helen Webster and published by Vertebrate Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-03 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scottish Island Bagging by Helen and Paul Webster, founders of Walkhighlands, is a guide to the magical islands of Scotland. Focusing on the ninety-nine islands that have regular trips or means of access for visitors, plus fifty-five other islands which have no regular transport but are still of significant size or interest, the authors have described the best ways to experience each one. Of the islands featured, many are household names – Skye, Lewis, Bute – while some, such as the isolated St Kilda archipelago and the remote Sula Sgeir, will be unknown to all but a hardcore few. When it comes to things to see and do, the islands of Scotland have it all. Wildlife enthusiasts can watch out for otters, orcas and basking sharks, while birdwatchers in particular are spoilt: look out for the rare corncrake on Islay, sea eagles on Mull, or sight puffins, gannets, storm petrels and many other seabirds on any number of islands – although beware the divebombing bonxies. Foodies can sample Arran or Westray cheese, the many islands' world-renowned seafood or learn about the whisky making process and sample a wee dram on a distillery tour. While the human history may not stretch back in time as far as the geology of these ancient lands, it is rich and varied: visit the 5,000-year-old Neolithic village of Skara Brae on Orkney, or Mackinnon's Cave on Mull, following in the footsteps of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. You can even stay in the house on Jura where George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four. Hillwalkers can bag a Munro, walk the wild clifftops or take in the sights, or you could just escape from it all on one of the dozens of beautiful and deserted beaches – before joining the locals for a ceilidh into the wee hours. Well served by ferries and other transport links, getting around is easy. You could even take the world's shortest scheduled flight. In Scottish Island Bagging, let Helen and Paul Webster be your guides to these enchanting isles.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology written by Nathan Ashman and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-10-27 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology is the first comprehensive examination of crime fiction and ecocriticism. Across 33 innovative chapters from leading international scholars, this Handbook considers an emergent field of contemporary crime narratives that are actively responding to a diverse assemblage of global environmental concerns, whilst also opening up ‘classic’ crime fictions and writers to new ecocritical perspectives. Rigorously engaged with cutting-edge critical trends, it places the familiar staples of crime fiction scholarship – from thematic to formal approaches – in conversation with a number of urgent ecological theories and ideas, covering subjects such as environmental security, environmental justice, slow violence, ecofeminism and animal studies. The Routledge Handbook of Crime Fiction and Ecology is an essential introduction to this new and dynamic research field for both students and scholars alike.
Download or read book The Place It Was Done written by Šárka Bubíková and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2023-02-17 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Locations play an important role in every story, but in British and American contemporary crime fiction, they are often inextricable from the narrative. This work examines the city, the countryside and the wilderness as places ripe with literary significance and symbolism. Using works by authors like Robert Galbraith, Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Chris Brookmyre, John Knox, Peter Robinson, Linda Barnes, Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr, Les Roberts, Philip R. Craig, and others, this work offers a fresh assessment of how place and space are employed in contemporary crime fiction. Highlighted are similarities and differences among the authors' approaches to setting, and how they relate to the history of crime fiction and to the general literary representation of place. Going beyond mere literary geography, the book engages the sociocultural dimensions of the communities affected by crime. Chapters also analyze the reader's perception, recognition and appreciation of place and community.
Download or read book 100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet written by Anna Claybourne and published by 100 Most. This book was released on 2019 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you face the most disgusting things the world has to offer? From nauseating foods and revolting habits to jungle crawlers and stomach worms, this is your ultimate guide to maggots, giant cockroaches, and much, much more. Each vile entry includes a yuck rating and all the disgusting details you need to prepare yourself for the real-life scenario.
Download or read book Herring Tales written by Donald S. Murray and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-10 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scots like to smoke or salt them. The Dutch love them raw. Swedes look on with relish as they open bulging, foul-smelling cans to find them curdling within. Jamaicans prefer them with a dash of chilli pepper. Germans and the English enjoy their taste best when accompanied by pickle's bite and brine. Throughout the long centuries men have fished around their coastlines and beyond, the herring has done much to shape both human taste and history. Men have co-operated and come into conflict over its shoals, setting out in boats to catch them, straying, too, from their home ports to bring full nets to shore. Women have also often been at the centre of the industry, gutting and salting the catch when the annual harvest had taken place, knitting, too, the garments fishermen wore to protect them from the ocean's chill. Following a journey from the western edge of Norway to the east of England, from Shetland and the Outer Hebrides to the fishing ports of the Baltic coast of Germany and the Netherlands, culminating in a visit to Iceland's Herring Era Museum, Donald S. Murray has stitched together tales of the fish that was of central importance to the lives of our ancestors, noting how both it - and those involved in their capture - were celebrated in the art, literature, craft, music and folklore of life in northern Europe. Blending together politics, science, history, religious and commercial life, Donald contemplates, too, the possibility of restoring the silver darlings of legend to these shores.
