Hi List With unexpected last minute changes to our Christmas plans (was grounded and couldn't fly to Calgary to be with our family as planned) I finally found the time to read Peat, Smoke and Spirit, A Portrait of Islay and Its Whiskies by Andrew Jefford, ISBN 0 7472 2735 7. For those who know me, this might seem funny since I cannot drink Islay's malt (allergic to barley!) but reading this book was time well spent. Jefford has a picturesque way with words that had me climbing the hills with him. I found myself wishing that I'd had family connected with the distilleries so that I could add the interesting info to my research. Intersperced among the distilleries' histories are chapters that intrigued me even more including early times, recent times, peat, weather, nature, shipwrecks and Islay today. The only sour note in the book was lousy editing insofar as each and every time "Kildalton" was mentioned, (and there were 100s of times!) it was misspelled as "Kidalton" and I found it distracting/maddening. Even the bibliography notes for Freda Ramsay's "John Ramsay of Kildalton" had it misspelled as "Kidalton". Another minor editing error was calling the Museum of Islay Life by another name (pg 306). Overall I highly recommend this book to Islay researchers. Cheerio Sue Visser Ontario, Canada

Hi Sue, Thanks for the book report. Is it available in the library? Mary