I found this book on the OBCZ I maintain at Heartbake cafe. Some kind soul left it there for someone to find, I've registered it on BookCrossing, and returned it to the shelf. Please take a moment to make a note about how you found and enjoyed the book, and then pass it on to some other lucky reader.

This book is the first in a series of novels about the occupants of an apartment building in Edinburgh, Scotland. Alexander McCall Smith, author of the "Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series, wrote this book in a series of thousand word chapters, published one per day in The Scotsman. The response was so positive that he was commissioned to write more, and he shows no signs of letting up, expanding his efforts to a similar set of apartments in London, published in The Telegraph.

Picked up at our monthly BookCrossing meet held this time at King O'Malley's Pub in Civic, ACT. I have read some books in other series by this author, but this is my first in this series.



3/9/2012 My Review:
Reality was stretched a bit far in some parts, but most of it was a very enjoyable read. It reminded me of the 'Sunday Philosophy Club' series by the same author. I half expected Isabel Dalhousie to pop into the art gallery to look at the paintings and was disappointed she didn't.

Passing it onto Kermit58.

Thank you.

Released at our New Year's Eve Bookcrossing get together by the lake, near the National Museum of Australia, Acton, ACT.
Happy New Year.

That's us in the photograph (minus me, taking the photograph).

This book is released:
In memory of Megi53’s mother
2011 Keep Them Moving Challenge

Enjoyed this book and the way it was written - small segments/episodes for publishing in a newspaper

At the Canberra Book Crossing Group meeting

This is the first of Alexander McCall-Smith’s books that I have read and I was not overly impressed. Written as newspaper serial each chapter is short and deals with a group of people living in a subdivided house. One girl has moved into shared space with a narcissist guy who she cannot stand but wants to hop into bed with. Downstairs there is a young family where a mother is forcing her little boy into being a prodigy, resulting in his rebellion. But this is OK as it gives the mother opportunity to try commencing a romance with the child’s psychotherapist. The girl has started a job in an art gallery and believes a painting there might be by a famous artist, the painting goes missing, is retrieved, is shown to be very valuable, but is destroyed in the process of being revealed.

Things happen but there is no progress. A man falls off a first floor window ledge onto his car parked in the street, but we never hear or see from him again. Our little team explore a tunnel under the city and eavesdrop on a secret committee meeting, but nothing comes of this.

Perhaps this novel is too true to life for my tastes.

Animal Division book exchange

Canberra BookCrossing meet up

Picked up at Old Parliament House on the weekend. Will take with me to QLD this weekend, I am meeting up with a friend who is currently living in Papua New Guinea and is a McCall Smith fan.