When was the last time you got lost in a good book? Not a textbook. Not some dry academic thesis you have to crib for an exam. I mean a rollicking great thriller, or a classic Victorian spinechiller, or an autobiography of that sporting hero you’ve always admired. When was the last time you tucked yourself up in bed with Stephen King, Jane Austen or Terry Pratchett?
World Book Day promotes the idea of reading for pleasure. There is a wealth of evidence that shows that reading for pleasure – just the pure, unalloyed enjoyment of it – is important for personal development and helps in educational success. It stimulates the imagination, brings comfort, expands your horizons, helps to build social connections and promotes better health and well-being. All that from a book!
World Book Day is specifically aimed at children. But we want to remind you that reading for pleasure is like riding a bike – once learned, you never forget how to do it. So, if it’s been a while since you picked up a book just for the sake of it, why not do so today and re-discover that childlike state of wonder that only books create. As far as I’m concerned, the best thing about reading for pleasure is that I get lost in my own personal world and nobody else gets a look in.
World Book Day is celebrated on the first Thursday of March. But feel free to pick up a book on any day of the week, any month of the year. And if you happen to be in any of our libraries when you do so, why not pull up a chair, sit back and settle into your story.
An annual celebration of books and reading, organised by the Scottish Book Trust to promote the joy of reading throughout Scotland. Between 13-19 November, a packed programme of in-person and online events and activities will take place in venues across the country. See the Scottish Book Trust website for more information about events taking place near you.
Every year, the Scottish Book Trust invite people from all over Scotland to write about their experiences and share their true stories as part of the Scotland’s Stories project. The theme for 2023 was Adventure. As part of Book Week Scotland, a collection of these stories has been published in a book which will be freely distributed in venues throughout Scotland. You can also read all the stories submitted on the Scottish Book Trust website.
Book Week Scotland at Edinburgh Napier
Edinburgh Napier University are pleased to be able to offer copies of Scotland’s Stories to students and staff. Pick up your copy in one of the campus libraries or student residences between 13-19 November before they’re all gone!
You can follow Book Week Scotland using all these social media platforms:
Don’t forget, you can browse the thousands of books and journal articles. All available to students and staff at Edinburgh Napier University by using LibrarySearch
Or you can read about their past themes on our blog
Today is National Poetry Day, a celebration that has been marked on the first Thursday of October since its inception in 1994. William Sieghart is a publisher whose stated aim is to help people “drop their fear of the p-word” . To that end, Sieghart founded this celebration of excellence in poetry, and since that first day, NPD has reached an audience of more than 500 million people.
The celebration is not yet 30 years old, but poetry itself is as old as humanity. It may, in fact, be our oldest form of artistic expression; it certainly predates literacy. The word poetry comes from the ancient Greek poieo meaning “I create”, and humans have been creating down the centuries, using poetry to articulate every emotion as well as to record oral histories, and important events, to entertain and to offer prayer.
There are dozens of different types of poetry, from haiku to limerick, ode to epic. But maybe you prefer one of the more modern free-verse forms. Maybe you’ve even had a go a writing a few of them yourself. If you’d like to test your poetry skills on a wider audience, why not check out the various competitions currently open for submission. Find out more here:
We have books on how to read it, how to write it, how the greats do it, and why it matters. We also have access to the Poetry Archive which houses recordings of poets reading their own work out loud. It features the works of contemporary poets alongside historic records of Seamus Heaney, W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot and many others. Of course, we may be biased, but we believe that one of the best poems within the archive, is Library Ology, written and presented by Benjamin Zephaniah. You can listen to it here:
Or how about checking out Poets on Screen, a library of 879 video clips of poets reading their own and other poets’ work. We may be biased, but we love this tender and moving poem – The Keepsake – written and read here by Fleur Adcock (spoiler alert – it features witty librarian jargon).
All the clues are there in the first few pages: the narcotics, the torpor, the scratching on the violin, the trusty but plodding assistant. It’s not long before we’re given a treatise on “the science of deduction and analysis” and the use of the word “elementary”. This is our first introduction to the world’s most famous consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, who made his debut in the long story, A Study in Scarlet, published in 1887.
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes caught the reading public’s attention with his cold, calculating logic, and he went on to solve many seemingly insoluble cases, always accompanied by his loyal companion, Dr Watson.
So popular is Sherlock Holmes that he has been reincarnated in film many times over, most notably by Basil Rathbone, and more recently by Robert Downey Jnr, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Doyle’s Life
But he is, of course, a fictional creation, spun from the imagination of Edinburgh doctor, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. After graduating from Edinburgh university and studying in Vienna, Conan Doyle set up his own medical practice in the south of England. It didn’t do well, and to supplement his income he turned his hand to creative writing. His Holmes adventure stories were immediately successful and ensured that Conan Doyle kept writing them until they ran into several volumes.
To Conan Doyle’s lifelong chagrin, the success of the Sherlock Holmes stories overshadowed his other literary work. Who has heard of his 14th century knight, Sir Nigel, or his Napoleonic war hero, Brigadier Gerard? History was Conan Doyle’s great passion, and he wrote many fictional and non-fiction accounts of great historical events, and published his own psychic research into spiritualism.
It’s Conan Doyle’s birthday today. A pub named after him still stands on the corner of Picardy Place, the street in which he was born. Why not pop in and raise a toast? Better still, log into LibrarySearch and discover his many stories, and the films, for yourself:
It’s not often we give a shout-out to our west coast cousins, but this month we want to sing Glasgow’s praises high. Congratulations to the 2023 Aye Write festival for arranging a cracking programme of events.
Founded in 2005, this literary festival has gone from strength to strength, and this year 175 international authors are participating in more than 120 events between 19th and 27th May, with a spinoff Wee Write festival on 3rd June for the little ones in our lives.
They’ll be speaking on topics as diverse as fiction, climate and the environment, music, politics, health issues, social activism and my own personal favourite subject – food.
There are also creative writing classes available if you fancy yourself as a budding novelist or poet. And there will be musical entertainment too, as well as an open mic poetry session. With so many different events, there is bound to be something to appeal to anyone interested in reading, writing, and engaging with the cultural and social worlds around them.
Aye Write Festival
The festival has always been housed in the impressive Mitchell Library – a good enough reason in itself to visit Glasgow. And this year the festival organisers have added the Royal Concert Hall as a bonus venue.
We, of course, are unbiased in our support of the festival, so we don’t want to pick out particular events or authors. Oh, all right. We can’t resist highlighting one event from the Wee Write festival. It’s never too early to get wee ones into reading and books. Indiana Bones is a magical talking dog! He’s on a perilous adventure and sounds like a very clever boy.
Happy birthday, Charles John Huffam Dickens – born this day 211 years ago and still going strong!
Not many authors get their names turned into adjectives, but our Charles did. If I were to describe circumstances as “Dickensian”, you’d know exactly what I mean. It’s thanks to this forensic analysis of the seedier aspects of London life that he’s generally considered to be the greatest Victorian novelist.
Childhood
He didn’t have the best start in life, young Charles. His father had a decent job but was so financially reckless that he ended up in debtors’ prison, and his 12-year-old son was withdrawn from school and sent to work in a factory. It was all grist to the mill, though, for Dickens. This harsh start provided a rich source of material for him to draw on when he wrote his sprawling, serialized novels and created his many memorable characters – so much larger than life that they live on in our cultural imaginations more than two centuries on.
Characters
Who has not known an Ebenezer Scrooge? (I’ve known a few). How many of us have skelped an artful dodger around the lugs? (I’m not admitting to that one.) Who has not cheered on Philip (Pip) Pirrip as he rises up to become a gentleman and then remonstrated with him when he treats brother-in-law Joe so abominably? Who has not cried with Bob Cratchit as he strives to keep his young son alive?
You’ll have your favourite characters. Some are sweet and innocent, some are cruel and heartless; still, others are preposterous buffoons. My favourite is Betsey Trotwood, David Copperfield’s eccentric aunt. She’s stern and stubborn, to begin with but comes good in the end. If you’re looking for character transformation, look no further than BT.
Charles Dickens on LibrarySearch
We’ve got all Dickens’ books. If you haven’t read any, why not start today. Log into the library catalogue LibrarySearch to see which are available:
In order of publication:
Pickwick Papers (1836-37)
A Christmas Carol (1843)
Oliver Twist (1837-9)
Nicholas Nickelby (1838-9)
The Old Curiosity Shop (1940-1)
Barnaby Rudge (1841)
Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4)
Dombey and Son (1846-8)
David Copperfield (1849-50)
Bleak House (1852-3)
Hard Times (1854)
Little Dorritt (1855-7)
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
Great Expectations (1860-1)
Our Mutual Friend (1864-5)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (incomplete when Dickens died in 1870)
By Lesley McRobb
Read more on another Literary Master, Jane Austin in our post on her here.
If it’s your first Winter in Edinburgh: you’re in for a treat! Edinburgh tends to get crisp and cold between December and February (ok, sometimes wet, and dreich too…) but there’s plenty going on and our city is buzzing over Christmas and the New Year.
Winter Walks
If you’re willing to wrap up warm, why not take a walk around Arthur’s seat? Arthur’s seat is an extinct volcano in the centre of Edinburgh, near to coffee shops on the Royal Mile if you need a gingerbread latte to warm up afterwards.
Another lovely place to go in the frost or snow is Dalkeith country park – there are festive events on too! There are many trails to walk in this beautiful park, set over 1,000 acres. The park has a rich history, having been in the Buccleuch family for over 300 years. The site dates back to the Roman times.
Another option is to head up Calton hill for a panoramic view of the city lit up in full Christmas mode – it’s not a difficult walk up the steps. You can also see the National Monument and Nelson monument. This is a popular spot on Hogmanay to take in the fireworks too.
A little further afield but worth a trip is the lovely Roslin Glen. You can see the ruin of what was once Scotland’s largest gunpowder mill. You can also see the impressive and partly ruined Roslin Castle. A short walk through the glen takes you to the famous Rosslyn Chapel, founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair. In the New Year, you might see the snowdrops starting to come out in the Glen.
Finally, another bracing walk in the wintertime is a walk along the promenade at Cramond. If you so desire, you can walk from Silverknowes along to Cramond and if you’re feeling adventurous and have checked the tide times , you can walk over to Cramond island. According to the Cramond Association, Cramond is the oldest known site of human habitation in Scotland.
Christmas Lights
If you’re looking to soak up some festive illuminations, there are a number of options in Edinburgh!
At the west end of Princes Street garden, you’ll find Santaland, with a festive family funfair.
George Street also boasts Christmas lights and an enormous Christmas tree which can be seen at the top of the mound – apparently this tree has a history, and is a gift from Norway each year. This tradition dates back to WW2.
Looking for more lights? The Botanic Gardens hosts a light trail each year, which is pretty spectacular, and you couldn’t ask for a nicer backdrop. Have a look at Christmas at the Botanics for more information.
Another light spectacular to take in this winter is Edinburgh Castle’s ‘Castle of Light’. This involves projecting light onto the castle’s walls and ramparts and a historical walking tour.
Last but not least, Edinburgh is well known for its Hogmanay celebrations, and in 2022 Edinburgh will host its giant street party once again. For the uninitiated, Hogmanay is the Scottish word for New Year’s Eve.
The celebrations also include live music and a huge fireworks display at midnight. Lots of kissing, hugging, and dancing ensues!
Looking for something quieter?
If you’re looking for a cosy corner to curl up in when it’s cold and snowy, come to one of our campus libraries. You can check our festive opening hours here.
You can borrow Library items from Friday 9 December 2022, and you won’t need to return them before Monday 16 January 2023. Full details can be found here.
Remember, we’re always here online too – you can continue to access ebooks, ejournals and databases usingLibrarySearch, even if physical libraries are closed.
International Literacy Day was originally founded by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and raises awareness of illiteracy globally.
Reading and writing are essential for our everyday lives, such as navigating signs, news, menus, and even labels on food. There are challenges with illiteracy, as approximately 771 million people still lack basic reading and writing skills.
UNESCO is holding a hybrid event and awards ceremony to remind everyone of the importance of literacy: You can find more information here
But what can be done to support literacy?
· Governments, schools, and communities can participate in activities to focus on illiteracy.
· Books can be donated to libraries and offer tuition to support success and development.
· Discussions, group sessions and 1-to-1s.
This year the theme is ‘transforming literacy learning spaces’ and at Edinburgh Napier University, we want to show how important spaces can be to ensuring inclusive education for everyone. For example, our group study rooms on resourcebooker.napier.ac.uk in the library provide a comfortable space for collaborative and group discussions, as well as technical equipment that can support development with researching and writing for dissertations and assignments.
What is the result of literacy?
Increasing literacy also gives people skills for employment with opportunities to develop and break the cycle of poverty, through small steps. It also provides people with knowledge and communication to express feelings and emotions.
You can find articles and books via the library search:
Manga is Japanese comics, and graphics, in newspapers, magazines and books, that emerged in the 1920s. The word consists of ‘man’, ‘whimsical’ and ‘pictures. Manga demonstrates stories of characters through pictures and expressive lines. It is usually printed in black and white due to cost savings; however special editions are printed in colour.
Manga comic at Merchiston Library
History:
Although Manga emerged during the 20th century, the earliest association was found on scrolls created by Japanese, Buddhist monks in the 12th century. They depicted chapters of animals mirroring human gestures. Printing techniques flourished in the 19th century and Manga focused on politics, although the government censored artists and even closed publishers.
Post-World War II, American occupation of Japan influenced the style, so it became more animated and entertaining for readers. These were called ‘Red Books’ and have influenced more contemporary pictures and stories today that suggest emotions and actions.
Manga Genres:
The Manga sub-genres consist of romance, fantasy, horror, and adventure. The most popular and modern classics are Naruto, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, Fruit Basket, and Bleach. A lot of other Manga has been satirical and can focus on darker areas like corruption and injustices.
As Manga is mainly comic books, they have also become ‘anime’ meaning animations in Japanese. Anime uses movement to explain complex stories.
Bleach
So, if you are ready to read Manga, you may find that the print copies are not your usual way of reading as traditionally it is read back to front, from the top right to the left!
You can find Manga resources from how to master the art of drawing Manga to Bleach via the Library Search.
What the librarians are reading: Books we recommend! Part 2
Stumped for your next read? Curious what the book professionals are reading? Look no further! Here’s a peek into what the staff here at Edinburgh Napier University Library (ENULibrary) have been reading over the last year.
Check out recommended books from all genres and Interests (we are a diverse lot!) Some are available right here at the Library. For the books we don’t have, why not try your local library? Edinburgh City Libraries have a huge selection of books and we love supporting them.
The Book Reviews
Marian
“A tale for the time being” by Ruth Ozeki
“Intricately interwoven plots, fascinating settings in British Columbia and Japan, full of ideas, touching and thought-provoking, shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize.”
“Extremely loud & incredibly close” by Jonathan Safran Foer
“This deals with difficult themes but is full of humour and zaniness, and very well-written. ”
“If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? Invisibility? Immortality? You might want to reconsider your options after reading Vicious, a smart, witty take on the superpower/superhero genre. This is a grown-up page-turner with plot twists and snappy dialogue throughout, and it’s all shot through with deliciously macabre humour. V.E. Schwab is an American author who lives in Edinburgh. We’re lucky to have her.
You can borrow this one from us! Check out LibrarySearch
Cathryn
“The Fair Botanists” By Sara Sheridan
“Set in 1822 Enlightenment Edinburgh at the time of the impending visit by King George 1V to the city and the move of the Botanical Garden from Leith Walk to where it is now at Inverleith. Sir Walter Scott who was responsible for organising the King’s visit features as does the rare flowering of the Agave Americana in one of the Botanics glasshouses. The story follows the twists and turns of the lives of the 2 main female characters Elizabeth Rocheid who arrived in the city after the death of her husband and the enigmatic Belle Brodie. I enjoyed this book as it was based in Edinburgh and I recognised all the places it mentioned, the historical and botanical references were also really interesting .”
“On Starlit Seas” By Sara Sheridan
Historical novel set in Georgian times, based around the true character, recently widowed author Maria Graham. She’s been used to travelling around South America with her husband but now she must make to the journey back to England to visit her publisher. She books a place on a ship bound for Bristol captained by Captain James Henderson a roguish smuggler. For those who love chocolate, the story is woven around the consumption of chocolate and the Fry family of Bristol are characters in the novel!
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“Vicious 
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“On Starlit Seas” 
