The twenty stories here offer little variation from those in Busted Scotch. Written in the first-person, these are again mostly from a lower-class male perspective. They often feel fragmentary in nature, rarely offering up a traditional "story" per se, they tend to be more about how people communicate and misunderstand each other. Kelman's a good writer, but I don't find his stories particularly interesting.

I purchased this book hoping to further understand the reign of James IV of Scotland and the events that led up to Flodden Field. Norman MacDougall certainly provides this information in, what is often, excruciating detail. Mainly focusing on government operation, political in-fighting, and clan rivalries of late 15th and early 16th centuries, MacDougall throws a plethora of Scottish earls, bishops, and burghers into the mix and the reader is highly challenged to keep it all straight. If one is looking for a leisurely read of James IV and his reign, I suggest looking elsewhere. However, if one requires an intensely detailed political account of this patricidal, fiscally obsessed, ruler who, himself, was doomed to destruction, you need look no further.

Full page color plates of some of the most common tartans, but the book is not as complete as I was looking for. The plates are not as crisp as they could be, and the color quality is off. Altogether, a good introduction to the common tartans, but not the definitive guide the title suggests.

Why did I assign only three stars to this wonderful book? Waymack and Harris need to produce another edition--I'm dying to know what they think of the more recent Balvenie. This edition's entertaining and informative discussions of major single malts and the distilleries producing them whet my desire to know what has improved in the last eight years. The section on how to hold a whisky tasting still stands, and the recipes are great! Read it so that you too can wait with bated breath for a revision.

This was a terrible book. Multiple authors were not able to successfully make the book flow from chapter to chapter. Character development was disjointed to say the least. Way tooooo much celebrity name dropping...it almost read like People Mag. Buy "The Greatest Player Who Never Lived" instead.

At first I thought this was going to be a serious mystery novel, until I realized that each chapter was written by a different author. It was almost like they were challenging each other, coming up with situations that were more and more ridiculous. I found myself laughing out loud. I should have known something was up when I saw that Dave Barry was one of the writers. It's a great book for those who like golf and for those, like me, that have never swung a club.

It is said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Since a camel is very efficient doing what camels are intended to do, then the remark must mean that a camel is a very funny looking horse. Well, in The Putt at the End of the World, a committee of nine individually popular writers has turned out a very funny golf story.
The Putt at the End of the World is apparently the brainchild of last-listed author Les Standiford, shown as editor and compiler. It also seems to be a salute, at least in part, to recently deceased British writer Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy series which includes The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It is certainly reminiscent of Adam's work, with zany characters interacting amidst nefarious schemes, all centered around a golf tournament. But not just any golf tournament. Computer zillionaire Philip Bates has bought a Scottish castle and cleared original growth timber to construct the ultimate golf course-as well as rehabbing the castle into an exotic hideaway retreat. This infuriates both environmental terrorists and the last of the MacLout clan, who claims that the MacGregor sellers usurped his family's claim to the property and he should have gotten the money. Then Bates (no relation to this reviewer) scheduled a conference and golf tournament inviting all of the world's political leaders and top golf players.
One of the invitees is Billy Sprague, club pro from Squat Possum Golf Club in rural Ohio. Billy is a magnificent golfer, unless there is money involved in which case he can't even get the ball of the tee. Billy's mentor is the old retired family doctor whose life is golf, who build the Squat Possum Club and who dies immediately after giving Billy his invitation and telling him that he has to go to Scotland and play in order to lift the curse and "...save the world as we know it..." Then FBI and British Secret Service refugees from the Keystone Kops get involved because of the terrorist threat, and the rest is-not history, but hilarious.
Each of the nine authors wrote one of the chapters. They did a good job matching styles, and/or Standiford did a great job of editing, because the novel is seamless. It is a farce, but at the same time has a "Bagger Vance" note of paean to the wonder of golf. It reads fast, and it reads great.

some really really great descriptions here, of forest and sabbaths. the greatest i have read in fact. a priest tries to persuade his congregation to become good christians. some worship ancient religions. there is a coven performing rituals in the woods. if only Buchan would have sticked to that. but no. intrigues, a love story, doubts, and worst of all: another story completely different than this is formed, and this story is boring. for political reasons the priest needs to defend an action. and that destroys the previous story. in the end it all becomes a mediocre blur.

Not one of Buchan's more rewarding works, this novel finds the author in a mournful and disappointed mood. Largely concerned with the doings of a Scots minister in an impoverished lowlands town in the mid seventeenth century, we are tortuously given a social history in microcosm. David Sempill is involved in plots of witchcraft, rural poverty and a bizarre epidemic, Anglo-Scottish border wars and ultimately flight over the seas.In no sense are we swept up into the life or adventures of the hero, as we are say with Richard Hannay in 'Greenmantle' or Dickson McCunn in 'Huntingtower'; both very different classes of hero but both extremely engaging. David Sempill fails the test of engagement and we remain sharply on the side lines, slightly uninterested observers of a time we can hardly credit occured

A good, engaging read. Well developed characters and an excellent insight into a peculiar time of history. Also, a healthy examination of the religious doctrines and culture that define the Scottish Presbyterian presence in what is now referred to as the Reformed Faith.

At the end of this biography, the author aptly summarizes King James as "the most human of our kings." James VI and I was a complex, contradictory, and altogether fascinating character. His life is worthy of study; that said, I do not recommend this particular book.

It is well researched and not without intriguing tidbits, but the writing style provides too serious a distraction to study. It is exceedingly disjointed. Paragraphs are strings of often unrelated and badly sequenced sentences, full of odd digressions. The narrative does not flow any better as it moves from one paragraph to another. The prose itself lacks clarity. Misplaced modifiers are common, punctuation is dubious, and a careless use of pronouns often creates confusion.

What I found most distressing about this book was its consistently salacious tone. It lingers on the king's alleged homosexuality, his coarse sense of humor, and his interest in other people's sexual activities. The author's voice provides an apt frame for this portrayal. At one point he describes Lady Frances, wife of Robert Carr, as follows: "She was beautiful, but her portrait at Woburn reveals her sensuality and depravity. Beneath the curves of her dress can be seen her breasts, ripe and luscious." The reader must wade through a great deal of this.

If you are looking for a solid biography, I recommend Lady Antonia Fraser's book. It is out of print and difficult to obtain, but worth the effort.