Fingal's Cave

Felix Mendelssohn was inspired by Fingal's Cave and wrote his Hebridean Overture.  Joseph Turner painted his Staffa, Fingal's Cave in 1832.  Sir Walter Scott described it as one of the most extraordinary places he ever beheld.  Jules Verne described it in detail in Green Ray and this cave can be seen throughout his works especially his most extraordinary novel, Mysterious Island.  Perhaps a trip to the Hebrides is not possible, but the music of Mendelssohn and the literature of Sir Walter Scott and Jules Verne are not.  Or should the Book Wraith claim Jules Verne as one of its own?

John Gow

Sir Walter Scott's novel The Pirate was based on the adventures of a Scottish/Orkneyan sailor named John Gow.  I could not find a copy of this book in The Jacksonville Public Library and it was not available on Project Gutenberg for a download.  Happily google books had a copy and I used ecalibre to make copies available to my Nook and my wife's Kindle.  First editions are nice to own but not carrying around in a book bag for reading.
Today was the annual celebration of Scott's birthday with a film, shepherd's pie and dance.  The best film I could find was about a Scottish pirate named Captain Kidd.  Not the same as John Gow, but their end was the same.  Well almost.  Gow apparently requested that his end be quick so the hangman grabbed Gow's legs for a quick dispatch but with the effect of snapping the rope and requiring Gow to be hung again.
A good read but apparently The Book Wraith can soon claim this book for his own unless someone puts it back on the library shelf or in the book store.

Scotch Tasting

Samuel Johnson and James Boswell visited the Isle of Skye and documented their visit with Flora MacDonald in their Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.helping immortalize the romance of Bonnie Prince Charlie's escape.  This month's scotch tasting visited the Isle of Skye and two other islands in the Inner Hebrides.
Isle of Mull:    Tobermory & Ledaig
Skye:             Talisker
Islay:              Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila and Laphroaig quarter cask.

Ivanhoe

Good vs. evil may be the primary conflict of a story or in the case of Ivanhoe a subplot.  Scott is not an author who would label a Saxon or a Norman as evil simply because the individual is a Saxon or a Norman.  As he says in Ivanhoe, "For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears."   There is always the possibility of taking this a step further and ask why is there evil or why does a god allow terrible evils to exist  especially in professions which claim to represent that god.  Boethius addressed this when he said: 

Si quidem deus est, unde mala?  Bona vero unde, si non est?  Boethius Consolation of Philosophy I.4.  

Scott stated in Ivanhoe, "We are like the herb which flourisheth most when trampled upon."

These are not random quotes but rather related thoughts that are worthy of discussion while reading Scott.  Ivanhoe was once required reading but apparently teachers tired of this classic.  Unfortunately, books like Abraham Lincoln the Vampire Hunter are replacing it.  

Will you read Ivanhoe or allow it to be removed from the library shelves and be claimed by the book wraith?

John Galt

Who is John Galt? Do you know the answer to this question from Atlas Shrugged?
As the book wraith, I am curious to see if anyone can identify an author with that name and if anyone has actually read his work

Diana Gabaldon

The Outlander series is more popular than I expected even for a romance novel. Most romance novels are considerably shorter so it takes a dedicated reader to read a whole series of novels each being several hundred pages long. Just wondering how many readers think Gabaldon's books will stand the test of time or just vanish in ten years.

La Dame Blanche

La Dame Blanche by Boildeau was first performed in 1825 and by the mid-1860s had been performed more than 1,000 times in the Theater Feydeau in Paris alone. This enormously popular opera was taken from a few of Sir Walter Scott's novels, primarily Guy Mannering and The Monastery. The 20th century showed a sharp decline in its popularity but it was revived in 1996 and a few recordings are now available.
Have you heard this marvelous light-hearted opera or will it soon fade into the mists of time?
Have you heard the tune Robin Adair (not really Scottish in origin like much of the music in this opera)? Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFJdziYzbP8&noredirect=1

Can you find this in La Dame Blanche?