I loved 44 Scotland street and Espresso Tales, so I am looking forward to reading this. I have another copy of this book, which will become part of my PC.

Edit 23/08/07
Another great installment of the 44 Scotland street series. I just love the character of Bertie - he is hilarious, and rather tragic at the same time, having such a terrible mother. Domenica's anthropological adventures are fascinating and amusing. As with the previous two books there is a lot that is quite profound in these stories, Alexander McCall Smith must really understand people, and enjoy taking a wry and affectionate look at the motavations of Edinburgh society.

aava (Finland)
clairmagnolia - (England)
Astrofiammante- (England)
carocharlton (England)
loribee - (England) it's here
brunton11 - (England)
yowlyy (England)
garibaldisghost (England)
Twynnie - (England)
KiwiinEngland (England)

RELEASE NOTES:

I got back from my holiday this morning and this was one of the books that were waiting for me. I will start reading this one asap. Thanks for sharing this Heaven-Ali!

What can I say?This is just as charming book as all the others by McCall Smith. I did miss Bruce at first, it felt like there was a gap, but Irene did her best again to be the most wonderful and irritating character you can think. Hmh,I know: these are not real people but I just feel like they are my old friends and I want to keep on reading about their lives.

Thanks Heaven-Ali for organising this ring. I'll contact clairemagnolia for the address and send the book forward.

edit 16.8.2007: Mailed today so the book is now on its merry way to Clairemagnolia. Happy Reading!

Received safely from Finland. Very much looking forward to this, a perfect summer read!

This series just gets better and better! Hope there's another one - I want to read more about Bertie and Irene especially, and Cyril of course!

This is now on its way to Astrofiammante.

Received with thanks.

Posted on October 5 to Caroline080, who I understand has received it safely. Huge thanks to Heaven-Ali for making it available. And now for a proper review:

- - - - -

This is the third installment of Alexander McCall Smith's gentle and self-referential love affair with Edinburgh and its people - a romance he is also quietly carrying on in the pages of the Isabel Dalhousie novels. And, like the others, it is amusing, poignant, pensive, occasionally hilarious and inexpressibly sad by turns.

Our cast of characters has shifted and developed: Bruce Anderson is continuing his brilliant career in London and is (thankfully, I thought) absent from these pages. Pat MacGregor is starting a new life as a student while her boss, diffident gallery owner Matthew, has been reborn as a millionaire and is having to come to terms with his changed status and the way people react to it. Big Lou, coffee shop doyenne and dispenser of wisdom, is adapting to life with her long-lost American lover Eddie back on the scene while child prodigy Bertie is coping with the strain of having his teenage years visited upon him by his pushy mother while he is still only six. Domenica Macdonald is in the field, doing risky anthropological research on piracy in the Malacca Straits. Will she return unscathed? Angus Lordie is certainly hoping so, although it's questionable whether his gold-toothed dog Cyril gives a damn...

Something that interests me greatly about McCall Smith's writing style is the way it is episodic, in the moment and quite disrespectful of narrative conventions in some places. Aspects of the story that might, under other circumstances have been developed into major narrative threads fall by the wayside at the expense of other storylines. Narratives don't start and end within the covers of one book, and things that the characters become greatly exercised about turn out to have been mere storms in teacups. Just like real life, actually.

This is undoubtedly due to the fact that these lovely books are written as proper series novels and published by installments in The Scotsman newspaper. They were, according to an introduction written by McCall Smith for the first volume, inspired by a conversation at a party with none other than the Tales of the City writer Armistead Maupin. Tales of the City was famously published in this way in a San Francisco paper and McCall Smith claims them as a direct inspiration. Certainly this method gives his tales an immediacy, a verisimilitude and a marvellous excuse to drop in cameos of Edinburgh's great and good as they go about their everyday lives.

I understand that volume four is currently being serialised, I hope I am right and that the author goes on with it for as long as he continues to find it so entertaining.

Some links:

• The Scotsman: Love Over Scotland
• Author's website: 44 Scotland Street series
• Love Reading: Love Over Scotland
• Random House: Love Over Scotland
• My Weekly Book: photographs of Scotland Street

Read more of the same at My Weekly Book, in which I attempt to read a book a week for a whole year...

Received in the post from Astrofiammante - many thanks! I've read and enjoyed this. Now reserved for Loribee.

Handed over to Loribee today - only a year after I received it. Apologies to Heaven-Ali and those who are waiting to read it!

Passed on to me today by carocharlton. Soon I shall settle down with tea and toast to enjoy the continued happenings at 44 Scotland Street.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and ready to pass it on to brunton11. Loved the tension and resolution (!!) of the 'pirates' storyline!

Received yesterday - I'm looking forward to this one.

I enjoyed this one as much as the others. Thanks all for sharing - Yowlyy has asked me to send this to garibaldisghost first - Hopefully I can brave my way through the inch of snow to get to the post office tomorrow ;)

Arrived about a week ago - forgot to journal it.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Caught on my ID by mistake handing to Dad (garibaldisghost)

Originally caught onto my daughter's shelf - oops!

I read 44 Scotland Street a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it.

This one is the third in the series and I've read it before Espresso Tales and although I loved it I think I should've read them in order - still still worth a 7/10.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its belated way to the next person in the ring - enjoy!

Arrived safely on Friday, thank you everyone for sharing! I haven't yet read Espresso Tales so this may take slightly longer to pass on as I want to read them in order, but I have acquired a copy already so I'm hoping I can fit them both in, in the next few weeks.

This is the third in the 44 Scotland Street series, and I found it the most enjoyable yet.

Part of its joy is that I now feel I know most of the characters so well, that they seem like old friends. For this reason I would recommend reading the previous instalments in this series before this one, although I'm sure the book will still be a good read for anyone who has not.

In this episode in Edinburgh life Pat starts university, and immediately gets entangled with a somewhat dubious character named Wolf, while Matthew (still holding a torch for her) wonders what to do with his millions. Domenica swans off to study Pirates
in the Malacca straits, leaving Angus Lordie pining. He goes onto to experience more than this loss, adding tinges of sadness to the generally relaxed and unthreatening story. His bond with Cyril is touching (even for me, and I am naturally prejudiced against dogs!) and the letter he writes to Domenica and then tears up - to mention its subject would give too much away - is very moving and quite beautiful.

Meanwhile Eddie, Big Lou's erstwhile fiancé is up to his old tricks and her friends have to call in Glasgow gangster-type Lard O'Connor to resolve the situation. Bertie continues to quietly rebel against Irene, who has not changed one bit despite Stuart's newfound assertiveness in the last book (in fact Stuart has reverted somewhat to his old ways). She forces him to audition for the Edinburgh Teenage Orchestra, despite his being only 6,which a point of acute embarrassment for him!

Bertie is without a doubt the best thing in the book. His adventures with the orchestra (which despite his best efforts he cannot avoid joining) are hilarious. Bertie, without Irene in tow, is a force to be reckoned with and Paris doesn't know what has hit it! The sections written from his POV are delightful as well as funny and I just can't get enough of him. His observations when he speaks to Antonia (A new character introduced in this book - an aspiring historical novelist) near the end are priceless, and as Antonia observes, as interesting anthropologically as anything Domenica has discovered about her pirates.

The narrative somehow manages to be both relaxing and exciting at the same time – I wish I knew how he does it. The episodic format - which comes from the story's original serialization in the Scotsman, helps with the pace and does not disrupt the flow of the story at all. There are constant little cliff-hangers at the end of many of the sections which have the effect of keeping you waiting for the next chunk of each character's story, and unable to put the book down. Events in the lives of these characters are not world changing, but they seem very important nonetheless, although there is never any real menace or threat even from Eddie or the aptly named Wolf.

If anything, McCall Smith's style most resembles a chatty but brilliantly observed letter relating events in the lives of family members or acquaintances, who are much loved but rarely seen. His characters feel like friends and their story is ongoing, not something that can be resolved neatly as you would expect in the average novel. I am already looking forward to reading the next instalment!


I have KiwiinEngland's address so this will be on its way tomorrow, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Safely Arrived, thank you. I need to read the second book (which I found last weekend at the BCUK Uncon in Edinburgh)

A good airport read where short chapters means you don't loose the plot. I enjoyed Cyril much more in this book, but ponder the introduction Antonia who seems very similar to Domeinica.

Would have loved more of Bertie in Paris, his comments about life for me make the book.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:





I am posting to the Releanna, as an early celebration of a very important birthday in February, many happy returns.

thank you so much for this birthday surprise! I love 44 Scotland Street series :)

another very enjoyable 44 Scotland Street novel.
I especially enjoyed Bertie's adventures in Paris and the love between Angus and Cyril.
Domenica's adventures with the pirates are very interesting, too.
And again, I had an urge to hit Irene on the head several times...

have fun reading :)

Received with thanks :)

I think I like this series better than the Mma Ramotswe one, which of course is wonderful too. I love all the Scotland Street characters - particularly Bertie & Irene (I'm afraid I occasionally recognise myself in her :D) and I'm also partial to Cyril <3 How lucky that I have the next couple of books on my TBR pile, too!

Next off to Halonhakkaaja as a wishlist RABCK. Enjoy!

Thank you! And certainly I'm going to enjoy :)

I DID enjoy the book! Thank you so much!!!

I wanted to read the books in this series in right order. Finally I managed to get the previous one, Espresso Tales, so after enjoying it, I immediately read this also. The charaters are so wonderful! In the first book, 44 Scotland Street, there were so many characters, it was sometimes difficult to remember them. But now they are old friends, so there aren't any problems anymore. Funny and wise, that's what McCall Smiths' books are!

I'll post the book soon forward. Enjoy!

4.10.2011 The book arrived by mail today. Thank you for fulfilling my wish, halonhakkaaja!