SCOTLAND'S politicians are again divided - this time on what to read during their summer holidays.
It seems MPs and MSPs are split between getting away from it all with a good thriller or studying heavyweight works on Scotland's culture and history, according to a survey from a leading bookseller.
Thrillers came out narrowly on top according to Blackwell’s, which asked MPs and MSPs what books they would be packing for their summer breaks.
Favourite picks included new works Different Class by Joanne Harris, and The Blade Artist and Splinter the Silence by Scots writers Irvine Welsh and Val McDermid, respectively.
Award winners H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, Kate Atkinson’s A God In Ruins and The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins were also among the fiction favourites.
The Wolf Trial, the historical epic by Sunday Herald editor Neil Mackay, was the choice of SNP MP Stuart McDonald, while a number of colleagues opted for Dirt Road by James Kelman, which tells the story of Murdo, a teenager obsessed with music, dreams of a life beyond his Scottish island home.
Among the non-fiction choices, SNP MSP John Mason picked Scotland and the Easter Rising by Willy Maley and Kirsty Lusk, which explores the Scottish connections with the Easter Rising in Ireland of 1916.
Sir Tom Devine’s Independence or Union and Kenny MacAskill's The Lockerbie Bombing - The Search for Justice were also on MPs' reading lists.
Blackwell's found Scotland's MPs did not share a common Westminster fascination for Second World War history or, with the US presidential election looming, American politics.
Surveying MPs from across the UK, Joshua Levine’s The Secret History of the Blitz; Roger Hermiston’s All Behind You, Winston: Churchill's Great Coalition 1940-45; John Bew’s Citizen Clem; and Martin Gilbert’s Holocaust all proved popular.
On US politics, David C Whitney’s The American Presidents; Mark Lander’s Alter Egos: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Twilight Struggle over American Power; Robert Caro’s The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York; and Niall Ferguson’s Kissinger 1923-1968: The Idealist were all widely picked.
Darrell Thrush-Denning, manager of Blackwell's Edinburgh shop, said: "Much like a good holiday, many of us read to escape our normal lives and surroundings, tailoring a good book to accompany you on your travels is as important as packing your passport.
"However, It came as no surprise that the reoccurring theme across titles chosen by Scottish MPs was indeed Scotland, and who can blame them.
"After all we live in a country steeped in historical inspiration and awash with both past and present literary talent. You can take the MSP out of Scotland on holiday, but you can't take Scotland out of the MSP, no matter how far away you holiday."
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