What a mind bend. I picked it up as a foreigner in Glasgow when I found out I was living downstairs from one of AG's friends and also muse / basis for a character in the book. Found myself regularly lost, re-reading large sections of it with different contexts / interpretations each time. Have held onto it the last 16 years and lent it to many. Not too many have finished it!

Because of "poor thing" which he wrote, set in Glasgow.

I remember seeing him in the late 80s (puff) at a poetry reading (puff puff) in Balham (puff) where he consumed (puff puff puff) a ventolin inhaler (puff) the entire night. Based on my SOs reasoning (she is also asthmatic) he must have been totally wired, jittery as all hell. It doesn't just stimulate the lung lining.

No idea either. Alasdair Gray is definitely a great writer. Is it a Hogmanay thing?

Hey, kindly explain why does it not belong here? I'm new.