Robert Alan Jamieson

This is a wonderful book of poetry. Jamieson is from Shetland, and all the poems are written in Shetland dialect, but with commentary and translations in English, and also a number of photos illustrating each one. I visited Shetland a few years ago and loved it - I would go back in a heartbeat - and I was pleased with how much of the dialect I was able to understand (although I was grateful for the translations too!). The poems are all short (1 small page) but I thought were very profound and beautiful. I can see this making a great gift for friends I know who also love Shetland (it will also make a good change from the chocolate I usually buy them!). The only reason I gave this 4.5 rather than 5 stars (unheard of for me and poetry, which I often find quite daunting!) is that the photos were a bit grainy. I'd have loved to see some of them in colour, and many of them a bit sharper. A list somewhere labelling the photos would also have been helpful. But that's a very minor point, this was a beautiful book. 4.5/5.… (altro)