Book picks similar to
Somewhere to Lay My Head by Robert Douglas


biography
reading-list
scotland-scottish
biography-nonfiction

Jack Kerouac: A Biography


Tom Clark - 1984
    Clark's biography reveals the essential Kerouac, often through his own words and writings.

Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle


Mary J. MacLeod - 2012
    MacLeod and her husband encountered their dream while vacationing on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. Enthralled by its windswept beauty, they soon were the proud owners of a near-derelict croft house--a farmer's stone cottage--on "a small acre" of land. Mary assumed duties as the island's district nurse. Call the Nurse is her account of the enchanted years she and her family spent there, coming to know its folk as both patients and friends.In anecdotes that are by turns funny, sad, moving, and tragic, she recalls them all, the crofters and their laird, the boatmen and tradesmen, young lovers and forbidding churchmen. Against the old-fashioned island culture and the grandeur of mountain and sea unfold indelible stories: a young woman carried through snow for airlift to the hospital; a rescue by boat; the marriage of a gentle giant and the island beauty; a ghostly encounter; the shocking discovery of a woman in chains; the flames of a heather fire at night; an unexploded bomb from World War II; and the joyful, tipsy celebration of a ceilidh. Gaelic fortitude meets a nurse's compassion in these wonderful true stories from rural Scotland.

Poverty Safari


Darren McGarvey - 2017
    Darren McGarvey, aka 'Loki' gives voice to their feelings and concerns, and the anger that is spilling over. Anger he says we will have to get used to, unless things change. He invites you to come on a Safari of sorts. A Poverty Safari. But not the sort where the indigenous species is surveyed from a safe distance for a time, before the window on the community closes and everyone gradually forgets about it.

The Dream Shall Never Die: 100 Days that Changed Scotland Forever


Alex Salmond - 2015
    In September 2014, he came close to realising that dream.In a riveting daily diary, written with his trademark wit and charm, Salmond takes us into the heart of the YES campaign, revealing what was said and done behind the scenes as the referendum reached its dramatic climax.He explains how the YES campaign energised the entire Scottish nation and rewrote the rulebook for grassroots political campaigning, not just in the UK but throughout the world.He also looks ahead to the critical role of the ‘national question’ in the future of British politics, making clear that the referendum was not the end of a process, but the beginning of one. The dream of Scottish independence is very much alive.

Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank: And Other Words of Delicate Southern Wisdom


Celia Rivenbark - 2006
    In this collection of screamingly funny essays, you'll discover: * How to get your kid into a character breakfast at Disneyworld (or run the risk of eating chicken out of a bucket with Sneezy)* Secrets of Celebrity Moms (don't hate them because they're beautiful when there are so many other reasons to hate them)* EBay addiction and why "It ain't worth having if it ain't on eBay" (Whoa! Is that Willie Nelson's face in your grits?)* Why today's children's clothes make six-year-olds look like Vegas showgirls with an abundance of anger issues* And so much more!Rivenbark is an intrepid explorer and acid commentator on the land south of the Mason-Dixon line.

The Teachers of Gurdjieff


Rafael Lefort - 1973
    In the first half of the 20th century, George Gurdjieff was an influential spiritual teacher in the West. With a striking manner and appearance, Gurdjieff attracted many fashionable and influential pupils, while the sources of his teachings remained mysterious. In addition to recounting thrilling adventures in the souks of Baghdad and Aleppo, this book provides striking and timeless advice to those interested in finding spirituality. Its appeal is far beyond that of one seeker in one era, but offers us information for today on how to evaluate different forms of teaching, how to study, and even some tantalizing information on the role of Jesus. "You are scrabbling about in the sand, attracted by pieces of mica to knit together and make a window, not realizing that the sand itself is capable of being transformed into the purest glass." --from The Teachers of Gurdjieff

Hell's Guest


Glenn D. Frazier - 2007
    Five months later, an underage U.S. Army volunteer, he found himself thrust into a war of an unimaginable brutality and became a hero of the defense of Bataan, a survivor of the brutal Death March and of three harrowing years in a Japanese prisoner or war camp. This is his story.

The Rothschilds: The Dynasty And The Legacy


Michael W. Simmons - 2017
    There, one man and his five brilliant sons made their fortune as court agents to a royal prince. It would take Napoleon’s earth-shattering quest to conquer Europe to scatter the five brothers to the four winds, but when the dust of war settled, there was a Rothschild brother and a Rothschild bank in five cities: London, Paris, Frankfurt, Naples, and Vienna. The era of haute finance had begun, and the legend of a banking dynasty more powerful than any royal family in history was established. In this book, you will follow the progress of the Rothschild family through the centuries. Their ranks included not only bankers and financiers but doctors, scientists, bomb experts, and collectors who amassed not only some of the finest art collections in Europe, but also one of the finest bug collections. Find out for yourself how the Rothschilds prevented wars, crowned and uncrowned kings, helped win the battle of Waterloo, looked down their noses at Nazis, and established a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Dawn


Phil Elverum - 2008
    "Dawn" delves deep into an intensely creative period of Elverum s life, with a beautiful mix of journal writing, jokes, photographs, and music. This 144-page hardcover collection chronicles a winter spent alone in a cabin in arctic Norway, wrestling with ghosts, gathering wood, acting out myths--3 months of unfiltered brain torrents interspersed with drawings. It comes with a 17-track CD of songs written during that time, songs that have become well known over the years through recordings and live performances. The CD is a kind of lost album finally recorded properly, pared down to just guitar and vocals. Also included is a 16-page color photo booklet.

The Railway Man


Eric Lomax - 1995
    During the second world war Eric Lomax was forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam Railway and was tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio.Left emotionally scarred and unable to form normal relationships Lomax suffered for years until, with the help of his wife Patti and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, he came to terms with what had happened and, fifty years after the terrible events, was able to meet one of his tormentors.The Railway Man is an incredible story of innocence betrayed, and of survival and courage in the face of horror.

Skin Deep: Tattoos, the Disappearing West, Very Bad Men, and My Deep Love for Them All


Karol Griffin - 2003
    When she walked into the Body Art Workshop in Laramie, Wyoming, she found what she was looking for: a culture on the fringe of polite society, complete with outlaw signature. Soon Karol was a full-time tattoo artist, an occasional outlaw, and a tattooed woman looking for love in all the wrong places. By the mid nineties, the West had been invaded by suburban culture; and tattoos had become a mass commodity of coolness, compelling Karol to go even farther to find the authentic outsiders she romanticized. She eventually hooked up with a real old-fashioned Wyoming outlaw, complete with felony convictions and outstanding warrants—which is how Karol wound up looking down the barrel of a gun held by a tattooed caricature of true love.

Duck Feet


Ely Percy - 2021
    Dive in and follow the lives of 12-year-old Kirsty Campbell and her friends as they navigate life from first to sixth year at Renfrew Grammar school. This book is a celebration of working-class life and youth in an ever-changing world. It uses humour to tackle hard-hitting subjects such as drugs, bullying, sexuality, and teenage pregnancy. But moreover, it is a relatable and accessible portrait of figuring out who you are, plunging into the currents of life, and most of all, finding hope. 'Relatable, quirky, and sometimes heart-wrenching, this story paints an authentic portrait of growing up working class in Scotland.'

On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line


Robert Viagas - 1990
    The show is based on a remarkable series of taped discussions made in the mid 1970s with some of the top "gypsies" (veteran Broadway dancers), many of whom went on to play characters based on themselves in the Tony- and Pulitzer-winning musical. In many ways, On the Line: The Creation of "A Chorus Line" is a continuation of the show itself. In this collective oral history, the 19 original cast members tell how they got involved with the project, how they labored through the months of workshops that shaped it, and what its success has meant for their lives and careers. They paint intimate and frank portraits of co-creators Michael Bennett, Joseph Papp, Ed Kleban - and each other. Originally published in 1990, the book has been updated to continue telling their stories over the past 16 years. Wayne Cilento ("I Can Do That") has become a Tony-winning choreographer of shows like Wicked and Aida; Kelly Bishop ("Can the adults smoke?") has become a TV star; Trish Garland has become a California fitness guru, and so forth.

How We Sleep at Night


Sara Cunningham - 2014
    A christian mother comes to terms with her son being gay through a personal journey that starts with the Church and ends at the Pride Parade.

Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy, Jr. Story


Wendy Leigh - 1993
    It shows the kind of father that John Kennedy was, and the kind of mother that Jacqueline Kennedy turned out to be. It examines the Kennedy clan, with its loyalties, scandals, secret feuds and open splits, and the roles that Robert and Ted Kennedy played in trying to be father figures to John, Jr. It offers a riveting, at times shocking account of Jackie's strange marriage to Aristotle Onassis, her relationships with other men, and how they affected John as he grew up in a world that he never made but that would not let him forget who he was and what was expected of him. But most of all, of course, the revealing spotlight is on John Kennedy, Jr., himself, bewildered at his father's death and its devastating effects on all he thought was normal; growing up with Secret Service men as his constant companions; trying to be just another kid in a New York private school and finding how impossible that was; his break-out years at Phillips Andover, where he displayed a wild streak few imagined in him; his time at Brown University, where he discovered the power he had over women. It reveals his dreams of becoming an actor and how close he was to total commitment before familial pressures made him choose law as a career. And it intimately details his relationships with a string of the most stunning and sexy women in America - including Madonna and Daryl Hannah - a list that indicates he is his father's son in more ways than one.