Which literary pilgrimage sites would you recommend?
Sir Walter Scott has his own fantastically decorated monument in Princes Street: it looks like a miniature cathedral. You can climb it for a small fee and look out over the shops and gardens. Nearby Waverley Station is named after his novels; you would be hard pressed to find a more bibliophile transport terminus. The High Street has numerous literary walking tours, including an Ian Rankin/Rebus tour. The Scottish Poetry Library, at Canongate, has a wonderful collection and archive, as well as a very good cafe. And you can admire Robert Burns’ desk and Stevenson’s riding boots at the Writers’ Museum.
Where can I buy books when they are gone?
Bibliophiles are never short of Edinburgh. There are large branches of Waterstones and Blackwell’s, with wide selections of genres. The award for prettiest bookshop has to go to Topping & Company: housed in an old William Playfair building, it’s a delightful jumble of shelves and ladders, staffed by some very well-read booksellers. Golden Hare Books in Stockbridge is located on arguably the prettiest street in town, with a superbly chosen selection of books. It also has a fireplace, so it’s a perfect place to sit and warm up with a book on your lap. The Edinburgh Bookshop is a must, located in a corner of the bohemian Bruntsfield neighbourhood; they are good at matching the right book with the right reader and have a particularly great children’s section.
What is the best time to visit Edinburgh if you are a book lover?
No doubt August, when the incomparable Edinburgh International Book Festival takes over the College of Art for a few weeks, with a fascinating and diverse program of hundreds of events and talks throughout the day. Miss it at your peril.
And what is the best reading lamp for the city?
David Nicholls “One day” needs a special mention for its perfect encapsulation of the Edinburgh university experience. The novel is mainly set in London, but the two main characters meet as students here and almost – but not quite – fall for each other. Therein lies the story.
Are there book-oriented destinations nearby that I should visit with the kids?
Is there a child out there who has never heard of Harry Potter? Edinburgh is inseparable from the boy magician: JK Rowling lives and writes here. You can visit The Elephant House, the café where she worked on her manuscripts (although it is currently closed until further notice due to a fire, which locals believe was started by He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named) and you can walk through the nearby Greyfriars Kirkyard and discover the headstones that inspired her names: McGonagall, Scrymgeour, Moodie, Tom Riddell, Cruikshanks and even a family of Potters are all buried here. And as you walk down the vertiginous multi-storey Victoria Street to the Grassmarket, you might get a few Diagon Alley flashbacks…
Maggie O’Farrell’s Edinburgh Reading List
“Miss Jean Brodie’s Prime Minister,” Muriel spark
“Restoring Scotland’s Slavery Past: The Caribbean Connection,” TM Divine
“kidnapped,” Robert Louis Stevenson
“The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner”, James Hogg
“Trainspotting,” Irvine Wels
“The New Confessions,” William Boyd
“Knots and Crosses,” Ian Rankin
“A good turn,” Kate Atkinson
“One day,” David Nichols
Maggie O’Farrell, born in Northern Ireland, has lived in Edinburgh for over ten years. Her novels include “Hamnet,” winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and, most recently, “The Marriage Portrait.” She has also written a memoir, “I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes With Death.”