44 Scotland Street
8 journalers for this copy...
The Back of the Book
Alexander McCall Smith's Scotland Street occupies a busy, bohemian corner of Edinburgh's New Town, where the old haute bourgeoisie finds itself having to rub shoulders with students, poets and portraitists. And number 44 has more than its fair share of the street's eccentrics and failures.
When Pat - on her second gap year and a source of some worry to her parents - is accepted as a new tenant at number 44, she isn't quite sure how long she'll last. Her flatmate Bruce, a rugby-playing chartered surveyor, is impossibly narcissistic, carelessly philandering and infuriatingly handsome. Downstairs lives the gloriously pretentious Irene, whose precocious five-year-old is in therapy after setting fire to his father's copy of the Guardian. And then there is the shrewd, intellectual Domenica MacDonald, mysteriously employed but a sharp-eyed observer of the house's activities in her sapre time ...
Dry, funny, hugely entertaining, with its glittering cast of rogues, oddballs and innocents, McCall Smith's Scotland Street is proof that the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency can be as witty, incisive and humane in observing his native Edinburgh as his adopted Botswana.
Alexander McCall Smith's Scotland Street occupies a busy, bohemian corner of Edinburgh's New Town, where the old haute bourgeoisie finds itself having to rub shoulders with students, poets and portraitists. And number 44 has more than its fair share of the street's eccentrics and failures.
When Pat - on her second gap year and a source of some worry to her parents - is accepted as a new tenant at number 44, she isn't quite sure how long she'll last. Her flatmate Bruce, a rugby-playing chartered surveyor, is impossibly narcissistic, carelessly philandering and infuriatingly handsome. Downstairs lives the gloriously pretentious Irene, whose precocious five-year-old is in therapy after setting fire to his father's copy of the Guardian. And then there is the shrewd, intellectual Domenica MacDonald, mysteriously employed but a sharp-eyed observer of the house's activities in her sapre time ...
Dry, funny, hugely entertaining, with its glittering cast of rogues, oddballs and innocents, McCall Smith's Scotland Street is proof that the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency can be as witty, incisive and humane in observing his native Edinburgh as his adopted Botswana.
Offered as BookRing
BookRing:
wolfprincess - USA - USA
cisco - USA - Intl if nec
mysteryfan03 - USA - Intl
sdkelley - USA - Intl
Ulrika - Sweden - Eur
hetku77 - Finland - Eur
FriarTuck - UK - Intl
TheWhiteLion - UK - Intl
laura0141 - UK - ENDS
wolfprincess - USA - USA
cisco - USA - Intl if nec
mysteryfan03 - USA - Intl
sdkelley - USA - Intl
Ulrika - Sweden - Eur
hetku77 - Finland - Eur
FriarTuck - UK - Intl
TheWhiteLion - UK - Intl
laura0141 - UK - ENDS
On way to wolfprincess
The book arrived today with another book. I have a couple that I have to get done before this book. I hope to get to this book by the end of next week.
I just got done with the book this morning. I enjoyed the book I want to Thank you for letting me join this ring. I have emailed Cisco for the address so I can get it in the mail this week.
This was my first time reading Alexander McCall Smith - enjoyable story, intriguing, quirky-flawed characters. I'm looking forward to learning more about these folks!
Thanks for making it available, Laura! Waiting for Mysteryfan03 to give me mailing instructions.
Thanks for making it available, Laura! Waiting for Mysteryfan03 to give me mailing instructions.
Mailing to Mysteryfan03 today!
Cisco
Cisco
Got this book in the mail safe and sound! Thanks!
This was a very interesting book. It was neat that it was written as a series for a newspaper in daily installments. I want to read the second one now! Thanks so much for sharing this one. It is now on its way to Kansas City.
Arrived today - I hope to start on it soon, but I am way behind on my reading. I will get to it as soon as I can!
The book was interesting enough to hold my interest throughout, but that was mainly because I thought that something would be happening soon! Boy was I surprised. It was a great book for what it was - stories of day-to-day lives of those who live in an apartment building. If you want something more (I did), it just isn't going to happen.
Will be passing it on as soon as I get an address.
Will be passing it on as soon as I get an address.
It's here!
//Ulrika
//Ulrika
I liked the idea behind the book. That it was written for daily installments in a newspaper. It also helped knowing that when I read it. It is a bit fragmented, but sort of fun anyway. I didn't like all the characters, but it was nice to try something else by the author.
I have the adress of Hetku77 and I'll send it on as soon as I can. That might not be until after Christmas though.
//Ulrika
I have the adress of Hetku77 and I'll send it on as soon as I can. That might not be until after Christmas though.
//Ulrika
Sorry it took so long, but now it's finally on the way to Finland.
//Ulrika
//Ulrika
9.1. I received the book today, thank you Ulrika!
9.7. I finished the book last night, finally. I really, really liked McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe series, but his books that take place in Scotland just don't have the same effect on me. The set up is pretty much the same - nothing that special happens and the stories are mostly about different characters, but somehow they work better in Botswana than in Scotland. This particular story didn't really seem to begin and to end at all. I did like though that it told about a variety of characters, which had very different kind of backgrounds.
9.7. I finished the book last night, finally. I really, really liked McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe series, but his books that take place in Scotland just don't have the same effect on me. The set up is pretty much the same - nothing that special happens and the stories are mostly about different characters, but somehow they work better in Botswana than in Scotland. This particular story didn't really seem to begin and to end at all. I did like though that it told about a variety of characters, which had very different kind of backgrounds.
Received with thanks to all who made this Ring successful.
I really enjoyed this book although I did struggle a bit in the middle when I felt we weren't going anywhere in particular. Now it's finished I feel bereft - I'm going to miss some of the characters very much and hope to meet them again soon. This book was originally published as a daily series in The Scotsman but it works very well as a book - better, perhaps, as it builds in intensity in a way that reading it piecemeal could not have achieved. The book is an account of the events and interactions between the tenants of a divided house in Scotland Street. We meet Pat, Bruce, Domenica, Irene and Bertie (although there are other tenants and I wonder if they will appear in future instalments?) Other characters also appear - I find Matthew particularly memorable - but the plots centre on those who live in the Scotland Street house. There are several loose ends at the end of the book which probably explains why it lingers so strongly in my mind. Roll on the next in the series!
On way to janette141
A good book to 'lift and lay' when you have just a few moments as it is written like a serial - with stand-alone chapters - although the book makes a complete story. It's a fascinating insight into human nature and at times some of the characters made me want to shake them they were so realistic and self-centred!
Going back to Laura0141
Going back to Laura0141
Received with thanks. Offered as BookRing.
BookRing:
spaceystacey - US - US
madnad - Spain - Eur
Martjxox - Italy - Intl next to madnad
special1165 - UK - Intl
laura0141 - UK - ENDS
spaceystacey - US - US
madnad - Spain - Eur
Martjxox - Italy - Intl next to madnad
special1165 - UK - Intl
laura0141 - UK - ENDS
Ring cancelled. Book will be released to charity shop.
