The Black Book, by Ian Rankin

An Inspector Rebus novel, (copyright 1993) in which Rebus becomes involved in several mysteries at once, which he, in his inimitable fashion, ties together, during which process he offends and alienates much of the Edinburgh police force.

This is a great book, a great mystery, and full of colorful language. While reading this book I decided to keep a list of what I imagine are "Scottish" words. Some of these I know the meaning of, some I guessed from context, some I need to look up. Page numbers are from my St. Martin's / Minotaur paperback edition, ISBN 0-312-97675-5.

• harr, n. Scot. and North Eng., a thick, wet fog along the seacoast.
  [1665–75; north var. of HOAR]*
• polis -- police
• ca' canny -- be careful?
• snell, adj. [Appears on p. 18 "weak sunshine and a snell wind" and 247.] Chiefly Scot. 1.    active; lively: a snell lad.
  2.    witty: a snell remark.
  3.    severe: snell weather. [bef. 900; ME, OE; c. OHG snel (G schnell) quick, ON snjallr excellent]*
•  stews -- I lost the page number for this one, but here's the quote I wrote down: "The Edinburgh establishment has never bided too far from the stews." (brothels)
• guttered -- "is he guttered?" [p.96]
• tadger -- penis [p.115]
• bunnet -- some kind of headgear [p.131]
• gey -- extremely? "...guide dogs are gey expensive these days..." [p.160]
• skited -- slipped, skidded? " ...nearly skited on wet linoleum..." [p.172]
• gardyloo -- "stepped under a gardyloo bucket..." [p.180] gardyloo, interj.
  (a cry formerly used in Scotland to warn pedestrians when slops were about to be thrown from an upstairs window.)
  [1760–70; Anglicized form of F gare (de) l'eau beware of the water]*
• heid-the-ba -- henchman? [p.189]
• keech -- shit? "They used to chuck all their keech out of the windows and onto the street ... the locals called it the Flowers of Edinburgh..." [p.190]
• blether -- talk, conversation [p.193]
• pulses -- beans? [p.241]
• fly-halfs [p.251]
• scoor-oot [p.263] -- a scattering, like throwing a handful of coins on the ground for children to scramble after -- search this page for "scoor-oot." Also, there's a rather expensive dictionary of Scottish words and phrases on Amazon.com with this word as its title.
• thrawn [p.321]
• teuchters [p.322]
• donnert [p.325]
• glaur -- mud? shit? [p. 333] 

*Thanks to my friend R.S. for these definitions

Another wonderful bit of color from the book: at one point, Rebus visits an elderly aunt that he hasn't seen since he was a child. She surprises him by grabbing his wrists and reciting the following grace before they eat:

     Some hae meat and cannae eat
     and some hae none that want it
     but we hae meat and we can eat
     so let the Lord be thankit

The Black Book is violent, funny, and beautifully written.

Rankin's favorite moments from his books, in The Guardian

Summary of The Black Book on Ian Rankin's website

Fives and Twenty-Fives, by Michael Pitre

I heard this author interviewed on NPR. One gets somewhat jaded to the tales of returning vets. Homeless, PTSD, misunderstood: my heart goes out to all of them, but there are so many, and it seems to be constantly in front of us, a horrible problem that won't go away. But there was something about Pitre when I heard him on the radio (Fresh Air?), and I managed to remember to get his book out of the Library.

NY Times Book Review

I found the book to be a non-stop read, the "can't put it down" type. The characters are excellently drawn and believable. Pitre's Marines have stayed with me, and I doubt I'll look at any service member quite the same having read this book.

The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, by Barry Udall

Edgar Mint is a young boy living on an Indian reservation in Arizona. At the beginning of this book, his head is run over by the tire of a Postal Service Jeep. As a result, he spends quite a long time in a hospital, recovering (miraculously, it would seem) from his injuries. In the hospital, he meets some people who figure prominently in his life for many years.

This story is oddly captivating. I found the book one of those that I wished would go on when it was over. Edgar's naive view of the world, the lot of his fellow Native Americans, his disabilities, the Western characters who are both cruel and kind to him in this story, are all beautifully drawn. I cared about Edgar to the last period on the last page.