#clanlands book

[snowwhitelass]

Congratulations to Sam and Graham!!! 👏👏👏 🥳

#sam heughan #graham mctavish #clanlands #scotland #clanlands book #meninkiltsstarz #book authority

[transparentdreamruins]

📷 samheughan IG & IGS (screenshots)

#sam heughan #clanlands #new zealand #author #book signing

[readtilyoudie]

Drawbridges always make me think of films like Robin Hood (multiple versions), Warlord (a great Charlton Heston flick if you've not seen it) and Ironclad (very good too). Bad shit always happens on the wrong side of a drawbridge and I could sense this would prove to be no exception.

- Graham McTavish from Clanlands by Sam Heughan, Graham McTavish, and Charlotte Reather

#book quote #clanlands #sam heughan #graham mctavish #charlotte reather #history #travel #scotland #nonfiction #humor #quote #quotes #booklr #bookblr

[fiction-she-read]

It's a wrap indeed! I'm finally done with Clanlands, and not a moment too soon. I will give to Sam that he genuinely seemed to care when Graham was nearly killed (or nearly severely injured), while Michelle just kept repeating throughout that chapter, "We're losing the light."

But that show of concern does not redeem him for everything else he's done. (It is here that I would advise the fans of Mr Heughan to leave.)

Strike 1: Self-promotion of his godforsaken whisky (followed by everything he's ever endorsed throughout the book) over 2-3 pages.

Strike 2: While the teasing would have been fine if done in moderation and with some variety, the fact that he kept calling Graham a woman (Lady McTavish being his go to "insult") eventually left a bad taste in my mouth. If this book had been written in the 90s or earlier, I would have dismissed it as a product of its time. But considering they talk about the pandemic, this damn book was written at a time when you would expect guys to know better. Even if they're old and grew up in a time when it was ok to use anything remotely feminine as an insult to "manly men".

Strike 3: Speaking of that "manly man" attitude, good grief did he like showing off how much of a "man" he is, compared to McTavish who likes the finer things in life. Most of his parts in the book were about him and how awesome he was and how manly he was acting in Scotland. Scottish history was clearly less important to him than, well, him. Oh, we did get some Scottish history from Mr Sam Heughan, but most of it was found in McTavish's parts. Otherwise, we either got stuff from his resume, products he endorsed, or Outlander stories (some had something to do with the location they were visiting, which I was fine with, while others were more about the cast getting drunk, which just made me wonder why I needed to know that.)

As they say in baseball: Three strikes, you're out!

So about halfway through, I only read Graham's parts. Now, don't get me wrong, Graham McTavish was no angel that did nothing wrong. He made fun of Sam for having his makeup artist prep him before going in front of the camera. We also got his resume and some Outlander stories that had little to do. But we got more about Scotland than about him, so when I decided to just stick to his part, the experience became a tad more enjoyable.

But only a tad. The way Scottish history was presented was all over the place and not necessarily in chonological order of the events, but in the order of the place they visited, which would have been fine, if we didn't kept going back and forth between the events. We saw the location where Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped Scotland before seeing Culloden, location of the battle the Jacobites lost which led to the Prince's escape! We would hear about a certain person important in Scottish history, than not hear about him for a few chapters before said person was suddenly mentioned again. To quote my favourite Belgian detective: Order and method! There was none of that in the book. Because the narrative was divided between Graham and Sam, it felt all over the place. Sometime we would get the same event from each of their perspective (which was boring), other times, they would complete each other, but not fully.

In her foreword, Diana Gabaldon, the author of Outlander, compared this book to Jack Kerouac (the exact quote being "Think Jack Kerouac, but with fewer drugs, more paragraphs and no sex. Well, almost no sex..."). This gave me great hope for the book I was about to read... The "almost no sex" is most likely a reference to the scene where Jamie Fraser is raped in Outlander, and is often used as a joke by both Sam and Graham (because rape is so funny). While I have yet to read any of Kerouac's books, what I've heard of the author and his body of work tells me that putting any of Kerouac's book at the same level of this money-grab is an insult to the late author.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, I do not recommend this book, unless you are some big Sam Heughan fan who will defend everything he does, no matter what it is. To the others, if you want to know more about Scottish history, find a book written by an historian or read Wikipedia as it does a better job at explaining the whole Jacobites thing than Clanlands. If you want a guide to know where to go to Scotland, buy a travel book. Hell, there's even a travel book about the Outlander locations! Finally, if whisky is the reason you bought this book, it really only features in like one chapter and gets an honorary mention in some others, so buy a book about whisky (or Scotch, if your interest lies in that particular type of whiskey) instead.

If you insist on suffering, I mean, reading this book, it seems that most who enjoyed it listened to the audiobook. Maybe this should have been a podcast instead of a book...

#book review #clanlands #sam heughan #graham mctavish

[the-sums-not-counted]

Watcha Reading Wednesday (#96)

Watcha Reading Wednesday (#96)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful week! This week I’m The Clanlands Almanac by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. I really enjoyed Clanlands by these two and I’m really excited to learn more about Scotland in this follow-up book. I love how they include their playful banter in the written narration and I love that they write how they talk. It’s like talking to a…

View On WordPress

#Books #clanlands #clanlands almanac #currently reading #jamie fraser #sam heughan #scotland

[mizutoyama]

I have decided that I will try reading Clanlands by only reading Graham McTavish’s parts and completely ignoring Sam Heughan’s. I do not care for him anymore. You can show me pictures of him shirtless and this will be my reaction:

(If this also fails and the book still pisses me off, I will stop reading. Scotland deserves better.)

#they say ‘don’t meet your idols’ #I say ‘don’t read books by actors you think are cute but don’t know much about’ #their personality may not be as cute… #clanlands

[sgiandubh]

I’m reading the new Clanlands book. I was hoping it would be a fun read like the first one, no narrative. I’ve now read two different passages in the book where Sam talks about running into a woman he finds attractive whether it’s a hotel patron, hotel staff, or shop worker, including this passage about Valentines Day. He hoped to ask the woman making his smoothie on a date and instead ended up alone in his hotel room on Valentine’s Day dreaming about a romantic night in his hotel room with the fantasy date that never came to fruition.

I wish for once we shippers could get a win instead of taking one step forward and two steps back if you know what I mean. It’s hard to hold out hope of Sam and Cait ever coming out publicly when there’s interviews and books filled with the narrative.

Dear Valentine's Day Anon,

You start with a lie. You are not reading that book. You have read someone else's (dutiful Marple, as always, all hands on deck) choice of salacious/commercial/crappy sentimental passages of a 150 to 200 pages book chock-a-block full with other things. You, therefore, have an F- from me for laziness and naïveté. When you speak about a text, any text (and this, Anon, scarcely is literature), please be honest with yourself and wait until the end. The same way you should never judge a book by its cover, do not judge a book by some excerpts someone picked up in order to show you how desperate the author is to sell it.

Reading is a personal affair. Buy the book. Read it all. And then you'll be qualified to have a grounded opinion. I am not in a hurry to read it and I certainly had no hopes he would give us a single ounce of his reality or truth in a commercial companion to a TV show, as this book clearly is.

Then, there's also that: it is a ghostwritten book and not a very good one. Travel books are also always rife with false self-references and I hope, for one, you do not believe there is anything remotely objective in Marco Polo's Book of the Marvels of the World (some say he never got where he told all the Western World he did!). And if Marco Polo himself lied shamelessly, why wouldn't SRH do exactly the same, for the needs of a scantily cobbled show where he is playing the decoratively fit clown along his older, wiser, nerdy companion?

I was shown the reactions to those dutifully poisonous posts. A mob, cackling and the host gleefully throwing gasoline on that fire (but oh, no: she is not a hater - my foot she isn't). The only comment that truly broke my heart, Anon, is this one:

What a terrible person must the woman who wrote that be! What a horrible, empty life she must have! Please, for the name of everything holy, leave Chrissie Heughan out of your putrid pettiness! She raised her boys by herself and with very little. Whoever wrote this comment should really, really be ashamed of herself. She can even say whatever she wants about SRH, but she should leave his family out of her hatred. Not a single woman in that thread corrected or challenged her. Not. A. Single. One.

You also tell me you are tired with the tango. I also think no real shipper could fall, by now, for these tired tricks. And if you do believe the interviews and books more than they should be, you are the perfect fodder for those interviews and books that can and should be questioned, as anything else in this strange story is critically questioned every single day.

So you see, Anon, I will perhaps be interested in your grounded opinion the day you will come back after reading the whole book, not Marple's Reader Digest version. If anything, your uninformed, gluttonous curiosity backfired. Unless you came here to spread the holy shite on this doorknob, too. But that is your problem, Anon. Not mine.

#Anon #fandom

[samheughanswife]

Sam is not the messiah, he is a man with clay feet and a never ending case of foot in mouth.

Please stop with the excuses in DM defending, excusing an intelligent 43 year old man who is his own worst enemy.

First up I haven’t mentioned Caitriona because she is living the 2023 version of Greta Garbo.

She is silent on international relations du jour, thankfully. Has she learnt from being burnt previously, I doubt it. She just has zero interest in maintaining a SM presence.

I’m sure she has a private IG account where she shares her feelings on the dire state the 🌍 is currently facing. She is a woman with opinions and a social conscience. I would even go out on a limb and suggest this has been a period in which she settled into uninterrupted day to day motherhood. Post partum following L’s birth and the never ending Belfast promo had her ragged and exhausted. All that travel and living in different places with a babe would have not been easy. An enforced hiatus was a silver lining.

Caitriona has always shown she not a slave to socials unlike Sam.

I don’t believe he is subservient to his PR team. Maybe in the beginning but not now. He has agency and he can absolutely say no to strategies. The print media he appears in is a result of the fact that Sam is still decidedly C-list. He hasn’t been able to make it in FTHTSI (Financial Times), he hasn’t been able to get an interview the in NYT Saturday magazine ( even though he is a holder of a number one book cachet).

Same can be said for Condé Nast Traveller. No interest in a Brit actor with an alcohol side business to share his favorite place in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and the rest of the 🌍. To share his travel essentials, whether travelling for pleasure or for business. Sam and his agency just can’t attract that market. The readers, subscribers of these publications are not aware of him from film and television roles and SS is a niche market. Because his brand is a mess.

Sam is unable to be nuanced in interviews anymore. He used to be more erudite, but not anymore.

It’s all over the place. One minute wanting to be seen as more than a shirtless thirst trap actor on IG. But then constantly reverting to form, and then chastising those who question the thirst traps, they are now referred to as holiday photos 🙄.

Then there’s the endless addendum to puerile promo of MIK and Clanlands with GMcT. It’s sooo stale and they, he knows it. That promo relies on a sexualised element for Sam. What’s under my kilt? Remember I was commando on top of a mountain?

Gen Z don’t know or care about a relatively unknown 43 year old on a series that is always keeping the audience waiting and waiting. There is so much streaming choice. New viewers and casuals just loose interest. His OL haitus filler MIK is niche and ridiculously puerile. Old fashioned slapstick, it’s just for rusted on fans.

With a week to go for TCND to hit screens it will be interesting to see the direction of his socials and the accompanying press. Will it be rinse and repeat.

Sam can do better than this. I just don’t think he wants to.

[yano2519]

Hi Yano, I would like to hear your thoughts about Sam‘s Telegraph interview. Thank you and have a nice weekend.

My first thought was whether the interviewer was the same person who wrote parts of the latest Clanlands book.

„Maybe one day“ Heughan says dreamingly sounds exactly the same writing style as „Heughan sitting alone in a hotel on Valentine's Day, dreaming of his imaginary date under the full moon and using the hot tub“.

Second, it’s always funny to read that Outlander doesn't give him time for a relationship in the last few years. But that this probably wasn't a problem in the early years when he had "his relationships" on public display and he had significantly more and longer filming days when most of the story was just about Jamie and Claire.

Some would say which is it, is it Outlander that leaves him no time for a relationship or is it because he is not relationship material due to his father trauma. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if what he says is true or not, because the people who read these interviews certainly don't question his answers.

[bcacstuff]

Oh that's interesting... now I don't know when this interview was conducted but he speaks of the strike ended, so I figure it was just after the book events (the strike ended November 9th! And shortly after that we lost track and saw these weird times he was posting (as of 13 November till 20 November). So hmmm hmm... maybe my suggestion wasn't that far off?

[snowwhitelass]

Waypoints Book Cover reveal on Instagram Live this Sunday

Instagram August 4th, 2022

#sam heughan #jamie fraser #outlander starz #scotland #waypoints book #clanlands book #meninkiltsstarz #greatglencompany

[p-redux]

From Anons..

Anon is referring to this recent People Magazine interview Sam did. 👇

Anons, I don't see any reaction that is different than the way he acted in the rest of the interview. He was his usual deflecting self when asked about his personal life. 🤷‍♀️

#samheughan #sam heughan #people #people magazine #interview

[readtilyoudie]

After maybe two takes, Graham starts to complain he's cramping and his quads are seizing up. It happened every time he was required to ride poor old Lambert, his faithful horse in the show. Graham gives 100%...for a couple takes. And then, as soon as he feels he's done enough or he thinks the director has enough footage, he suddenly gets cramp or an injury and has to have a wee sit down. And a latte. And definitely a snack. 'And could I possibly trouble you for a copy of The Times - thank you so much.' And perhaps a shoulder massage from a fair wench...There is a lot I can learn from Maestro McTavish.

Sam Heughan from Clanlands by Sam Heughan, Graham McTavish, and Charlotte Reather

#book quote #clanlands #sam heughan #graham mctavish #charlotte reather #nonfiction #travel #history #scotland #outlander #quote #quotes #booklr #bookblr

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

The Scottish winter scuppered plans for a second domestic series of Men in Kilts.

Sam Heughan revealed he had hoped to make a follow-up to the 2021 Starz TV show and Clanlands book which was set in Scotland.

But the 43-year-old Outlander star has revealed the follow-up, which was filmed in New Zealand, was moved down under due to a combination of short days and the schedule of his and co-star Graham McTavish, 63.

He said: “We initially looked at options in Scotland, doing another season of the show exploring the north of Scotland, Shetland, its ties to Scandinavia, Ireland etc.

“I am very much interested in the Viking influence (growing up in Galloway near Whithorn and the Viking settlement there).

“My initial idea was to do ‘Men in Kilts - in boats!’, have us in Viking longship, speed boats, kayaks, swimming/scuba, however challenges with our schedules meant our window for filming would fall in the winter months, not ideal for daylight in the UK.”

Mr McTavish added: “We’d really enjoyed the first experience and hopefully will do another. We did New Zealand because I live there and New Zealand has a very strong connection with Scotland.

“One in five have Scottish ancestry, and it’s a mirror of Scotland in many ways - the people, the landscape, you can see why the Scots settled so easily.”

And the pair are set to reunite for a third chapter.

Mr McTavish added: “Our sights are set on North America particularly the eastern seaboard, from Nova Scotia down through Maine, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, places with a strong connection to Scotland.

"There are bears and moose. I’m sure Sam is drawing up a list.”

It is unclear when SH and GMcT were selected and interviewed by the Scottish Sun to reveal their plans 🤔 Whether there are any projects underway at commitment level for a third chapter.

In fact, excavations showed a Norse trading settlement around the Galloway coast. SH was born in New Galloway, which is 34.7 miles (about 55 km) from the Viking settlement of Whithorn; I don't think he went very far to play every day when he was a kid. I don't remember him being interested in Viking Ages, maybe he likes watching Vikings: Valhalla drama series 🤷‍♀️

Filming has never been easy, but filming in the middle of a Scottish winter, in the Shetland islands, during the dark British winters, means that the goal was not clearly defined, unless his idea was to go to Lerwick to the Up Helly Aa parade with torches marching a Viking longship through Lerwick, during the "Shetland Fire Festival", and the idea didn't work. Lerwick Up Helly Aa is a superb spectacle, a celebration of Shetland's history, from the Norse sagas.

But there is something interesting that SH always forgets to mention: in winter 2021 he had a motorcycle accident 🏍️ which would also have prevented him from filming. So the hours of darkness and his demanding schedule led him to an unforeseen change of location for MiK2: he tries to tell a different story and that doesn't convince. He went to New Zealand to have fun and to recover physically from the motorbike accident. MiK2 was filmed when the country was on “Red alert level” 🚩 of the Omicron virus new variant and was closed to foreigners.

There is no doubt they really enjoyed the New Zealand experience because GMcT lives there, and GMcT confirmed that Sam's trip to New Zealand was a "well-deserved" holiday. However the strong connection to Scotland was not present and indeed the mirror of Scotland in New Zealand was not shown in MiK2. A trip dedicated to enjoying adventure adrenaline activities, it was a fantastic holiday.

If he misses Scotland and is looking forward to seeing it on screen with Men in Kilts: why a Roadtrip in North America, why not take up the original idea of doing it in Shetland? Or it will continue with an American romance novel construction about Scotland.

So what is the goal of MiK3, or are these two trying to turn MiK3 into something more than a business? 🤷‍♀️ while SH makes a list?

@dlansing53 His mishap was in Scotland, after a training. On that occasion, he didn't mention anything and tried to cover it up. The accident was mentioned months later in an interview in the U.S. he confirmed that he fractured his knee and tore his MCL, as you can seen in the New Zealand’s photos he received stitches and has a large scar on his left leg after the mishap.

Here at Pharos Athletic Club with Pieter Vodden (He’s not in the picture) trainer in the U.S. he’s not his physio. This photo is from before his trip to New Zealand 🇳🇿

@ajrajraj In Britain Motorcycle is a Motorbike or "Bike" 🏍️ and motorcyclists are called "bikers". When SH says "bike" he fell off a motorbike, not a bicycle. The mishap occurred when he was supposedly on his way home from the gym. SH doesn't go to the gym on a bicycle, he goes on a motorbike 🏍️

After his trip to New Zealand 🇳🇿 He mentioned his accident on the GMA show it was posted by @imahalfemptykindofgirl I reblogged her post

and days later he confirmed it in a talk in Men's Journal. if you are interested you can see both published on my blog.

@ajrajraj On 14 December 2021, on Twitter (X) SH posted that he had been in an accident "on a bike". In a conversation with Charles Thorp of Men's Journal, in the article SH says: he was on a bike, not on a bicycle. If you have the interview where he clarifies that he was on a bicycle, I would like to know more about it, because his injuries did not correspond to this situation.

He limps to the gym to pose for a photo to his fans. He plays stupid games and wins stupid prizes.

[the-sums-not-counted]

Watcaha Reading Wednesday (#97)

Watcaha Reading Wednesday (#97)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope your week is going great! This week I’m still reading the Clanlands Almanac. I’m learning a lot about Scottish history that I didn’t previously know and it’s also fun getting some behind the scenes stories from Outlander as well. I really enjoy Sam and Graham as narrators and I’m excited to learn more about Scotland. What are you reading? Let me know in the…

View On WordPress

#Books #clanlands almanac #currently reading #jamie fraser #outlander #sam heughan #scotland #scottish history

[thetruthwilloutsworld]

Instagram samheughan

Thanks to everyone that came to @hatchstpancras for our festive "Clanlands" signing! Loving the book Xmas tree!

10 December 2023