Books like The Lewis Chessmen — picked by fans

I have read a lot of history and archaeology books and more often than not they can be a little dull, dry and in some cases work better than a sleeping tablet.

Not with this book, here you learn about parts of medieval England you just wouldn’t think about, written from a more personal point of view its less about political stuff like kings, queens, and those pesky archbishops and much more on the practicalities of living in medieval England.

Would you know what to eat, wear, or where to go to the toilet? Would you know how to address a lord or lady? Would you know what to do if you got sick? This is a vital guide for all time travelers!

My love of ancient Greek heroes began with the old stop footage films of the 70s and early 80s.

The bravery, the adventure, and the mystery had me hooked at a young age. So, it was a delight to find a book that dealt with the heroes of the ancient Greeks in such an easy-to-read way. This book is not just a rehash of those much-loved tales such as Jason and the Argonauts or Odysseus, Stephen Fry has brought a more modern language to the stories making them relatable and relevant for today.

This is an all-time favourite of mine.

Going even further back in time this book looks to the archaeological evidence and asks, what was life like in the very distant past, in deep prehistory?

Was it short, violent, and miserable as we are often led to believe, or is there a different story? Here Francis Pryor examines the evidence to test this question and finds that actually, much like today, life was complex and yet a place where home and hearth lay at the center of our ancestors’ lives.

Francis Pryor writes from the heart, with empathy and imagination. I found it an easy read given it deals with what can be very dry pieces of archaeological evidence. If you are interested in early prehistory, this is a must read.

I have always admired people who can bring the past to life in a visual way and in this book, Victor Ambrose draws and paints the lives of people and places from the past.

The text is provided by Mick Aston, a well-known archaeologist of Time Team fame. Many of the places featured in this book were sites investigated by the Time Team. The book is full to the brim with excellent illustrations of places and perhaps importantly they are then peopled with interesting characters (for fans of Time Team, you may recognize a few faces).

This book makes it easy to travel back in time, to visualize what life may have been like for people way back when which is why I recommend it to any potential time travelers.

PS Look out for the cheeky dog…

The Black House is a Scottish-based mystery featuring the remote Hebridean island of Lewis. I loved how May captures the essence of this island in this trilogy and uses actual historical and cultural events to weave the plot. Each of the Scottish Isles has its own unique culture, and I love how May explores this through the interactions between the characters from Lewis and mainland Scotland. 

I also really enjoyed the character arc and the prodigal-son-esque storyline of jaded detective Fin Macleod returning home. As he solves the murders, he has to face his own dark past.  

This book is, to me, the most quintessentially Hebridean novel in existence.

My paternal grandmother hailed from the Isle of Lewis (or Eilean Leòdhais, to give the island its proper Gaelic name), as did her parents and their parents, and so on back ad infinitum. I’ve always loved the wild beauty of the place. Lewis feels like Home with a capital H. It has a long history of poetry and song, but until fairly recently not many novels had emerged from those shores.

The Stornoway Way impressed me on several levels. Kevin MacNeil eloquently articulates the difficult duality experienced by many Lewis folk: on the isle they feel isolated and often daydream of being elsewhere, but upon leaving the island they feel uprooted, untethered and lost. And how do the islanders deal with this existential paradox? They drink. As in, really drink.

In the Hebrides, alcohol is both a curse… show more.

Known best for his Waverly novels as well as Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, Sir Walter wrote many of the greatest short tales ever told. “The Highland Widow” is perhaps the greatest short tale ever. A subdued Scotsman living in a foreign London (at that time) and the foremost writer of his time he railed against our English overlords whilst pragmatically trying to maintain the status quo. (The letters of Malachi Malagrowther are a good example, marvellous reading, where he impugns the bank of England with great wit and Scalding rhetoric.)

He gave birth to many volumes of short tales, many under Pseudonyms (such as Malachi Malagrowther) as the English authorities were aware of his influence over the populace of London and his gift for romanticising the “Highland gentleman”. As a writer, he was unsurpassed in his time both in terms of sales by volume and in the quality of… show more.

When I moved to Scotland for my postgrad year studying writing at the University of Edinburgh, the apartment I rented had one book in it – this collection of short stories, set in the same city.

I was pretty sure Trainspotting was the best novel I’d ever read, but I wasn’t aware of this collection of three works of Irvine Welsh’s short fiction. My first night in the apartment, I sat on the one chair and read the one book. And what a buzz!

I loved the mix of grittiness, euphoria, and dark-as-night humour. The focus on club drugs was more relatable than the heroin culture of Trainspotting (although to my delight, Spud Murphy makes a cameo appearance – twice!). 

Great writing is the key to my heart, and this book is gorgeously written. Isobel, a newly arrived Scottish immigrant to Salem, MA, carries a dangerous secret gift—the “magic” of synesthesia. The story takes place two generations after the infamous witch trials, and while Isobel’s unique color awareness means she can support herself as a seamstress and embroiderer while her husband is at sea, it also means she’s vulnerable to suspicion. Meanwhile, she meets Nathaniel Hawthorne—yes, that Nathaniel Hawthorne.

While Albanese explains that Isobel isn’t specifically “Hester” of The Scarlet Letter, by the end of the novel, I completely believe that she is. Here's a strong feminist perspective on a classic case of a woman wronged. I can’t wait to pick it up again.

This is the story of a woman who is having a hard time personally, and she swims to heal herself. She swims to reconnect with her wild nature. And she is brave. She swims in all seasons, all weathers, all conditions. Once she was almost pushed against craggy rocks.

I swim too. I love seals, and know this act of taking to the water - our small bit of wild - to reconnect with my wild nature.

I loved the vulnerability that shines through in this book and I like to read of strong women who dare connect with nature to empower themselves. I feel I do that (a bit) and people like Victoria inspire me to push those wild boundaries a little more.