Reading Scotland: Clanlands and The Redemption of Alexander Seaton

Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other - written and read by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish, Charlotte Reather (co-writer)

Here's excerpts from the GoodReads blurb: 

As stars of Outlander, Sam and Graham eat, sleep and breathe the Highlands on this epic road trip around their homeland. . Armed with their trusty campervan and a sturdy friendship, these two Scotsmen are on the adventure of a lifetime to explore the majesty of Scotland. A wild ride by boat, kayak, bicycle and motorbike, they travel from coast to loch and peak to valley and delve into Scotland's history and culture, from timeless poetry to bloody warfare.

 Definitely a fun book to listen to, although the banter between Sam and Graham did wear thin after a while. I definitely enjoyed hearing about this history of the various places they visited, and their love of Scotland shines through so strongly. 

I also enjoyed their Outlander anecdotes. I only watched the first three seasons, but I am planning to rewatch them again this summer. And I also enjoyed hearing about their non-Outlander acting careers--always interesting to hear about life in the theater and on the set.

The Redemption of Alexander Seaton - by Shona (aka S.G.) MacLean - the first in a series by the author of The Bookseller of Inverness, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Here's the Goodread blurb:

Is the young man merely drunk or does his tottering walk suggest something more sinister? When he collapses in front of two sisters on that dark, wet night, they guess rightly that he's been murdered by poisoning. So begins this tale set in the town of Banff, Scotland in the 1620s.

Alexander Seaton is not the young man mentioned in the blurb, but he is the one that said young man reaches out to, imploring his help, and Alexander, to his great shame, ignores the plea for help.  That is just part of what he needs to redeem. Alexander has made some mistakes and had some bad luck, and is now a very educated man who cannot do the work he has felt called to do all his life, namely be a Presbyterian minister. 

I truly enjoyed traveling back to 1620s Scotland, during a witch-hunting phase, when invasion from France was highly likely, given the religious and political turmoil. Who knew that map-making could have such ominous overtones? The who-dunit part of the story was excellent--and the unfolding of the mystery was detailed and super interesting. 

It is a very detail-rich, historically satisfying novel. You can tell the author is writing of her homeland--she knows the landscape, the flora and fauna, the fog patterns (it is Scotland, after all!), and all the landmarks, natural and manmade. I also loved visiting the university in Aberdeen, Alexander's alma mater, with him, and hearing about his haunts and habits as a student.

Alexander is a very likeable protagonist--flawed but earnest, with a solid gold heart, and brains to boot. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

Written in My Heart's Own Blood - Outlander book #8

Written in My Heart's Own Blood by Diana Gabaldon was my big book for the summer.  I love the Outlander series, and book eight didn't disappoint.  In fact I enjoyed it much more than it's predecessor, An Echo in the Bone, because it wrapped up comfortably, like the rest of the books in the series, instead of with a cliff-hanger, which was so unsettling.  There's still room for lots more books, should Gabaldon want to continue the story, but it also had a lovely sense of completeness and closure.

One of the things I like about the series is the sense of extended family--it's really the clan idea, but more so. Some of the characters are connected by blood--that's the traditional family or clan--but Jamie and Claire have big hearts and a sense of responsibility to the waifs and the dispossessed whose paths intersect with theirs, and the collection of people who can rightfully say they are part of the Fraser clan, American-style is large and diverse.  Sort of like America itself!

This particular book had the right balance of time travel stuff thrown in too.  In some of the books, the idea of Claire being not of the time she is living sometimes gets lost in the plot.  And there definitely is a lot of plot...and characters...and story threads.  Gabaldon also achieves the right balance of Jamie/Claire with the rest of the threads.  Some of the newer characters are really growing on me, and it was so good to have Jenny's sister Claire back on stage again.  I can't help it, I'm already matchmaking for her and I think Lord John's brother Hal would be an interesting love-interest.  I don't believe he's eligible at the moment, but a lot can happen!

Again, I'm so impressed by the level of detail Gabaldon achieves in a very throw-away style. You never get the feeling with her that she is inserting her research because she did it. I found Claire's treatment of Lord John's eye absolutely fascinating, and I did some reading on the Revolutionary War battles that feature in the story and Gabaldon got the details right and made them relevant.  That is no mean feat.

I do hope there's a book nine in the works.  I think with the Outlander TV series looking so good, the market will be hungry for more.  I sure am.

Speaking of the TV series, did everyone catch Gabaldon in her bit part as Iona McTavish, who attended the gathering?  She talks about it on an Aug 30 post on Facebook.

Outlander First Look Trailer

I am so excited for this Starz mini-series, which will be out this summer.  I started reading the Outlander series about ten years ago, and have been patiently waiting for someone to make a series of it.  A series makes so much more sense than a 2-hour movie.  The books are long, and there are seven so far!

Last night when I watched this preview after the first episode of Black Sails, I was a bit underwhelmed.  After watching it again, I realize that I was underwhelmed because I wanted to watch the whole thing...NOW!

I'm going to reread Outlander, the first book in the series, in February.  Maybe I'll reread the whole series this year, just for good measure.

Anyone else eagerly anticipating this summer treat.  Oh, and by the way, Black Sails was okay but I kept on obsessing on how nice all the pirates teeth were and wished that someone in makeup had been paying attention to this detail also.  Overall, I've been impressed with Starz--they did a wonderful job with The White Queen and Dancing on the Edge, so I'm expecting a great production of Outlander.