A spooky time slip book that I read as a young child, and that chilled me delightfully. The 1983 TV movie version starring a very young Helena Bonham Carter is also worth a watch.

The second in the longer fantasy series of the same name, a magical tale of childhood, mythology, Good versus Evil, and the countryside, all set in the days around Christmas.

Almost the last book by Agatha Christie published during her lifetime, this is a strong set of short stories, showing how effective her character Poirot is in the shorter format.

Though somewhat dated now, this can still be appreciated as a groundbreaking work in software engineering and computer science. I read it avidly as a computer science student in the early 1990s, pulling the book from the short loans shelf to read while I worked part-time as a library assistant in the Physics, Maths and Computing library at St Andrews University.

Many worldwide are familiar with Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings tales. But for a different take on him, read these handwritten Christmas letters he crafted over many years for his young growing family, writing as if from the North Pole, and illustrating them with characterful drawings. Just charming.

No surprise here I’m a big Tolkien fan! This was one of the first biographies of his life that I read. The biographer writes in a lyrical style, and had unparalleled access to Tolkien and his papers. Recommended without question. One of the best biographies I have ever read, even many years later.

Strictly speaking I read the 1988 2nd edition of this book, but the original version came out in 1978, so I’m including it here! This book saved me during a particularly fraught series of undergraduate computer science lectures at St Andrews in 1991/2 (so problematic, they led to a student rebellion, and a dramatic drop in student numbers for the following honours years). C programming was absolutely fundamental to learn and understand for my degree, and this book played a vital part in me getting through that.

I can’t remember if I saw the 1981 BBC TV version of this before reading the book. But either way, I was an instant fan. A scifi classic, with a wry humour, bonkers plot, and Marvin the Paranoid Android!

A powerful and devastating tale of one family’s loss and survival in the Holocaust, and the long-term impact of it on them. This was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. It also won an Eisner Award.

I bought a copy of this book in St Andrews Tourist Information Office (then on the corner of South Street and Queen’s Gardens) in the early 1980s on a family summer holiday. It was an eye-opening book for still very young me, revealing the rich potential of Scottish genealogical records held in New Register House (the General Register Office for Scotland) in Edinburgh. It’s largely thanks to this book that I got so hooked on Scottish genealogical research, and later became an academic historian.

As a teenager I worked my way through many of the detective and crime books in Hawick Public Library. This included many of Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael series of medieval mysteries. This one is my favourite, set in a magical wintry setting, and uncovering unexpected depths for Cadfael himself.

As a youngster I gobbled up as many of the Fighting Fantasy books as I could. These were a British spin off from Choose Your Own Adventure, and repackaged tabletop roleplaying, complete with stats and dice, in a form a solo player could hold in their hand. Forest of Doom was the first one I bought, from John Menzies in Hawick. And it remains one of my favourites. I especially liked the artwork in Fighting Fantasy books of the 1980s (not so keen on more modern reprinted versions), and my mind was stunned by the imaginative storytelling potential of them. Plus I got very adept at sticking tons of fingers in the pages to act as temporary bookmarks, in case I needed to back track in my choices!

I only read this many years later, but found it a gripping tale of early amateur computing enthusiasts, many of whom led to some of the greatest innovations in popularising the home computer worldwide. Tales of the 1970s and 1980s Homebrew Computer Club and its members were mesmerising.

Many readers encountered Philip Pullman’s books, including the Northern Lights trilogy, as children. I read them later in life, as a young adult. And this is my favourite. An almost Conan Doyle esque tale of Victorian times and a plucky young female lead character. I also watched and enjoyed the BBC TV version starring Billie Piper, and a supporting cast including a very young Matt Smith …

Another book that I read later in life than many other people, this tale of a medievalesque world of talking woodland animals, defending their abbey and way of life against marauding pirate-like rats is gripping. Definitely aimed at a younger age than I was when I read it, but still an excellent read.

Even as a very young child I was captivated by tales of Scottish history. And, above all, the life of Mary Queen of Scots. I read and reread Antonia Fraser’s acclaimed biography many times. Years later, as an undergraduate at St Andrews in the early 1990s, I saw a Byre Theatre production of Liz Lochhead’s play about Mary’s life. And it was thoroughly gripping. Reading the play script book also works very well.

I have only read one of Iain Banks’s scifi novels. And it’s this one, which I found both accessible as a newcomer to the scifi world he had created, but also a vivid representation of the power of games and gaming to engross participants, and be used in even life threatening ways. I’m not sure how well I would get on reading it now, as my probable aphantasia has got much worse. But when I first read it, I could readily visualise the game playing that was described throughout the novel, and was captivated by it.

I am a long-time learner of Scots Gaelic, though I wish I had made more progress! I adore Gaelic songs by bands such as Runrig and Capercaillie, the latter especially often reusing much older works. Among modern Gaelic poets there are two that speak to me the most: Sorley MacLean and Iain Crichton Smith. I was keen to include one of their books on this list. This one, the only collection of poems by Sorley MacLean published during his lifetime, won the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year award. It is a fantastic introduction to his poetry, with a huge number of his poems, including the acclaimed “Hallaig”. The Gaelic original text is given on left hand pages, with MacLean’s own English translation on the right side.

I first went to New Register House (the General Register Office for Scotland, in Edinburgh) to research my family tree when I was aged about 12 in 1984. But it took until near the end of my school days and start of university years for me to venture into the mysterious and somewhat intimidating Scottish Record Office next door. This book was my gateway guide to this vast archive of Scottish historical material. I also quickly bought the sister publication, about researching Scottish local history in the SRO. Both books were essential to my baby steps into the SRO (now the National Records of Scotland).

I could have included any Calvin and Hobbes comic book in this list. This one is pretty much a representative for all of them. My future husband, who was an undergraduate at St Andrews at the same time as me, got into Calvin and Hobbes sooner than me. But I have since become a huge fan. The tales of a young mischievous boy and his more philosophically inclined stuffed tiger are timeless.

My husband and I first visited Venice in 1998, in our mid 20s. We always go out of season, in the depths of winter, when it is much quieter. Though it can get very flooded … It took me some years to discover Donna Leon’s fantastic whodunnits set in Venice. I especially like the ones set in a foggy wintry city.

This has become an annual reread ritual for me, in the run up to Halloween. A gothic horror delight, it tells of a fantastic game, involving a cast of familiar and less so gothic horror characters. All narrated to us by Jack the Ripper’s dog Snuff, one of a number of animal companions in the book. Just a joy.

I read this book in the 1990s, and have remembered it fondly ever since. A lyrical retelling of Orcadian history, through the dreams and day dreams of a crofter’s young son on the island in the 1930s. It won the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

An astonishingly assured debut novel, which won multiple prizes. Told through a mix of a life running forward and flash backs into the past, it also plays with narrative and reader expectations.

I discovered this book by chance in the late 1990s on the shelves of St Andrews University Library. I borrowed it many times, captivated by the tales of British people, including many Scots, in eighteenth-century Russia. I have a similar story in my own family history, of a g..uncle originally from East Lothian working for Empress Catherine the Great. Though he doesn’t get a mention in this book, it helped put my own family history in context. I was very happy to buy a paperback copy of the book for myself years later.

I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, and Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor was my first Doctor, watching in 1978 as a 5-year-old. This is a very bonkers biography, I believe not ghost written, and thoroughly unputdownable.

I was lucky to have my own TV in my bedroom as a teenager in the 1980s. The first Blackadder TV series didn’t grab me. But then came Blackadder II. And I’ve been a fan ever since. I picked up a hardback copy of this script book some years ago, and it’s almost as funny to read in print as watch on the telly. Oh and my favourite episode is “Potato”, though all of Blackadder II is utterly brilliant.

I’ve played musical instruments since the age of 4, when I started piano accordion lessons. But I’ve never had any deep music theory training. I didn’t, for example, do O’Grade Music at school. And I definitely feel some gaps! I’ve looked at a fair few music theory books over the years. But nothing has impressed me as much as this compact book, written by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. It’s highly accessible, written with a light touch, and thoroughly inspiring. It covers so much.

I could have included many Terry Pratchett books on this list. My all time favourite is “Guards! Guards!” (1989). But the Pterry one I’ve gone for is “The Truth” from 2000. An insightful look at the impact of moveable print and journalism on the Discworld, and so much more. Highly recommended.

I’ve loved text adventures / interactive fiction since first playing Colossal Cave / Adventure in 1980 on an Apple II computer my Dad borrowed from work to bring home over the Christmas holidays. This was followed by the glory days of text adventure company Infocom, as well as British rivals like Magnetic Scrolls. But the 1990s also saw a major amateur revival in IF, spearheaded by British mathematician Graham Nelson, who reverse engineered the Infocom game file format, and created a compiler to let people write new games in that style. I first dabbled with the resulting game coding system in the 1990s. But 2001 saw the first print version of Nelson’s book guide to writing in his Inform language.

Ramsey Campbell is an acclaimed British horror writer, especially for Lovecraftian-style horror. But he’s also an insightful and interesting essay writer. This is a thoroughly entertaining mix of essays covering a huge range of topics (though mostly horror themed) as well as reviews.

John Kovalic’s “Dork Tower” series of comic strips is an affectionate look at tabletop roleplaying gamers and geek culture in general. Any of his collected comic books could have made my list. But I went for this one, which opens with a marvellous introduction to tabletop roleplaying games as a concept.

A heartwarming tale of a man who rescues a young kitten during a snowstorm. Beware it will pull at the heartstrings terribly in places. I also bought a copy for my Mum to read.

An unusual perspective on Venice and its inhabitants, told by a long-term visitor to the city. Some of the theories in the book about the 1996 fire at La Fenice opera house have been disproved more recently. But it is nevertheless a fascinating read. Venice remains one of my favourite places in the whole world.

The first in a delightfully whimsical modern fantasy series set in the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby, with the lead characters a B&B landlady with hidden secrets and her best friend. My late Dad discovered this series separately from me, and told me with joy one day about these books he was reading from the library. “Ah you mean the Brenda and Effie books!” I said.

A collection of mini essays about great tabletop games, board games, card games and more. Thoroughly readable, eminently dip-in-and-out-able. And a great way of finding new games to try that you will enjoy.

I picked this up by chance at the Edinburgh Book Festival, a total impulse buy. A hefty coffee table book to bring home! It’s long out of print now, but is an excellent guide to the much-loved and long-running children’s comic published here in Dundee where I live, and the city’s comic history is much cherished.

It took me ages to get to this. I was very seriously ill around its initial publication and over the next few years. But when I did, wow. Admittedly the writing style took a little getting used to. But I have never read a novel that inserted me so much into the story and place before. An incredible sense of being physically right there among the action and dialogue. Her achievements in writing this series are immense. And as a history buff (and academic historian!) long fascinated by the Tudor period of English history this was magical.

A supreme example of nature writing, this follows a year viewed through the eyes of a familiar nature walk. All recorded with acute observational skills.

I don’t usually read romance novels, but this is the first in a gripping series of romantic fantasy novels, including elements of academia, history and supernatural beings. My only regret is that it took me so long to read after I first bought the ebook back in 2013. The announcement of a new TV version prompted me to finally get to it. And I’m so glad I did.

This was written by a friend, writing a novelised version of some more friends playing through a Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game campaign, set in the 1920s, seeing them cross Europe to Istanbul on the Orient Express. And face so many occult dangers on the way.

Peter Cushing has been one of my favourite actors for as long as I can remember. He’s well known for his roles in horror films, especially for Hammer Films. This novella by Stephen Volk is a powerful and moving reimagining of a particularly difficult period of Peter Cushing’s life. Some horrors are much closer to home …

Big disclaimer: this book was written by my two history PhD supervisors, and I was the original research assistant for the pilot study, and only didn’t continue on to more research assisting work because my neurological illness had relapsed suddenly and unexpectedly in 2004. The resulting book is a groundbreaking work of historical writing, that won multiple Saltire Book Awards, including the overall Saltire Scottish Book of the Year. Which was particularly moving for me, because it was published after Charles McKean had died.

Tom Cox has written a number of delightful books, both funny and moving, often about his life, especially with the many characterful cats he has owned. This is one of my favourites of his. Get to know the cats including The Bear and larger than life Roscoe. A joy.

Like many British children growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I grew up with the stories of Alan Garner as frequent companions. “The Weirdstone of Brisingamen” was a particular favourite, but there are so many great titles by him, that together fired the imaginations of young readers. This book was compiled as a tribute to him, and includes contributions from friends, colleagues, family and fans, ranging across Alan’s many interests.

I’ve never played the Traveller roleplaying game, one of the earliest published tabletop roleplaying games, and an early scifi example. This book collects decades of editorials for the Traveller newsletter by original Traveller game designer Loren Wiseman. But that didn’t stop reading this book to be an eye opening read for a fan of RPG games in general. It has a sad ending – it was published posthumously – but is well worth spending time with.

I’ve been reading Doctor Who paperback novels since the late 1970s. I didn’t read as many as my future husband did at a similar time, but I did cherish those that I had and read. This was the pre-video era when the only way to revisit a Doctor Who story from the past was to find a Target novelised version and read that. And of course so many early Who stories are largely lost, after the BBC wiped the master recordings. The return of Doctor Who to TV screens in 2005 also led to a number of new old-style episode novelisations over the following years. And this one, written by former showrunner Steven Moffat, is in my opinion one of the best, retelling the 50th anniversary special, in an extremely creative way.

In recent years the British Library has published a large number of “Tales of the Weird” collections of spooky stories etc. Each book has a different theme. I could pick lots. But I’ve gone for one of the Christmas collections. There’s something quite magical about spooky stories at Christmas. All of the festive collections in this range are an excellent opportunity to revisit spooky festive stories of the past. Unsurprisingly MR James makes an appearance, but so do many other authors who are not so well remembered today.

This is a marvellous collection of short interviews with early computing and computer game pioneers. All conducted by a British YouTuber and retro computing expert who now runs a computer history museum in Gloucestershire. I was lucky to nab a copy of the hardback version of the book, which is sadly unavailable now. But it is still available to buy as an ebook, and thoroughly recommended.

I discovered this book thanks to another YouTuber I follow. A wide ranging collection of short essays about the current world. Superbly written, effortlessly rereadable.

A publishing sensation, this is a powerfully written novel, almost Dickensian in its style, ranging over colonialism, academia, and the power and uses of language. It was the first RF Kuang book I read.

As someone who has long loved Renaissance art works this was a devastating read. But one that I couldn’t put down. A jaw dropping true tale of a phenomenally prolific art thief and the works he stole.

I’ve loved the Lewis Carroll Alice books since a young age. And then when I was a bit older I enjoyed his logic puzzles. Many editions of them have been published over the years. Any are worth picking up. But this is a particularly nicely packaged new introduction to his world of puzzles. All accompanied by the classic illustrations by John Tenniel.