Continues the long-running saga of the residents or former residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. IfWarning! This review may contain spoilers.
Continues the long-running saga of the residents or former residents of 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh. If you haven't read any in the series before, you might want to start at the beginning. These books move at the glacial pace of a soap-opera, but there is an arc to the characters. Bertie is finally (the title of book #6 not-withstanding), finally turning seven. Matthew and Elspeth look at a new house and hire an au pair for their au pair. Bruce gets only one small scene in the whole book. Pat, just maybe, might have found a boyfriend. Angus and Domenica must put up with a visit from Antonia. Big Lou takes a big step and applies to become a foster mother. And Bertie, as always, steals the show. Fate steps in to give him a break from his mother (I won't say more), which means that Bertie gets to go on a cub scout camping trip and do other normally forbidden things (like eat pizza.) His mother is still away at the end of the book. Can Bertie look forward to having more freedom in the next installment? As usual, McCall Smith manages to combine the mundane and the absurd with humor and wisdom.
Description: Newlywed painter and sometime somnambulist Angus Lordie might be sleepwalking his way into trouble with Animal Welfare when he lets his dog Cyril drink a bit too much lager at the local bar. The longsuffering Bertie, on the cusp of his seventh birthday party, has taken to dreaming about his eighteenth, a time when he will be able to avoid the indignity of unwanted girl attendees and the looming threat of a gender-neutral doll from his domineering mother Irene. Matthew and Elspeth struggle to care for their triplets, contending with Danish au pairs and dubious dukes to boot, while the narcissistic Bruce faces his greatest challenge yet in the form of an over-eager waxologist. As ever, when Alexander McCall Smith visits 44 Scotland Street, fun is sure to follow....more
I rather enjoyed the 2nd book in this series, when Freddie was recruited by the MI6. But this one just didn't appeal very much. I struggl3 green stars
I rather enjoyed the 2nd book in this series, when Freddie was recruited by the MI6. But this one just didn't appeal very much. I struggled to remember the characters, though the backstories did come back to me, but I really didn't much care for any of them. All the various characters and threads came to a more or less satisfying conclusion, but some of them (Oedipus Snark - REALLY?) in a very strange way. Freddie goes missing, but is found in the end. We finally get to meet the Yeti. Barbara and Caroline have found new loves - I did enjoy the story of Hugh's escapade on a cruise ship - and William, too, has a happy ending. But I think I am glad there are no more tales in this series. I still love Alexander McCall Smith. This just wasn't one of his better efforts.
Description: It seems the universe itself is conspiring against the residents of Corduroy Mansions, as they all find themselves struggling with their nearest and dearest. Oedipus Snark’s mother, Berthea, is still at work on her scathing biography of her son—the only loathsome Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament; literary agents Rupert Porter and Barbara Ragg are still battling each other for first crack at the manuscript of Autobiography of a Yeti; fine arts graduate Caroline Jarvis is busy exploring the blurry line between friendship and romance; and William French is still worrying that his son, Eddie, may never leave home, even though Eddie’s got a new wealthy girlfriend. But uppermost in everyone’s mind is William’s faithful terrier, Freddie de la Hay—without a doubt the only dog clever enough to have been recruited by MI6—who has disappeared while on a mystery tour around the Suffolk countryside. Will Freddie find his way back to Pimlico? Is Corduroy Mansions starting to crumble?...more
I loved, loved, loved the cover of this book so I really wanted to love the stories, too. It was... interesting. I like quirkiness, so 3.5 pink stars,I loved, loved, loved the cover of this book so I really wanted to love the stories, too. It was... interesting. I like quirkiness, so 3.5 pink stars, but a few of the stories were just too weird. My favorites were "You Can Find Love Now" and "The Animal Mummies." Looking a little deeper, I'd say these stories are an exploration of death, loss, longing, and loneliness. Wanting love, wanting children, wanting connection.
Description: Acclaimed for the grace, wit, and magic of her novels, Ramona Ausubel introduces us to a geography both fantastic and familiar in eleven new stories, some of them previously published in The New Yorker and The Paris Review. Elegantly structured, these stories span the globe and beyond, from small-town America and sunny Caribbean islands to the Arctic Ocean and the very gates of Heaven itself. And though some of the stories are steeped in mythology, they remain grounded in universal experiences: loss of identity, leaving home, parenthood, joy, and longing. Crisscrossing the pages of Awayland are travelers and expats, shadows and ghosts. A girl watches as her homesick mother slowly dissolves into literal mist. The mayor of a small Midwestern town offers a strange prize, for stranger reasons, to the parents of any baby born on Lenin's birthday. A chef bound for Mars begins an even more treacherous journey much closer to home. And a lonely heart searches for love online--never mind that he's a Cyclops. ...more
This was a good choice to read right around Christmas time - like Dicken's Christmas Carol with its ghosts and visitations. I enjoyed the 4 red stars.
This was a good choice to read right around Christmas time - like Dicken's Christmas Carol with its ghosts and visitations. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the Church of England vs. the pagan lore of Herefordshire as well as "New Age" spirituality, the newness of having women clergy and the resistance to that, and then what is actual paranormal activity vs. people with evil intent. This felt so terribly dated, but I have to remind myself that 1999 really was almost 25 years ago, not yesterday (even if it feels like it), plus the ordination of women in the Church of England came 20 years after the Episcopal Church in the U.S. began ordaining women clergy. Nevertheless, it felt to me more like the 1970s when "New Age" spirituality became part of popular culture and I was a young graduate student wrestling with matters of faith and spirituality, and keenly interested in paranormal phenomena, being a bit psychic myself. I was also the daughter of a minister, so I can appreciate that while Merrily is being pulled into her role as a clergyperson and finding comfort in tradition, her daughter Jane is just at the age where she is rebelling against all things "church", but does not yet have the maturity to sort out what might be truly harmful. I wouldn't put this book in the horror category, but there is certainly a lot of suspense, and the author doesn't want us to easily discern what is truly going on either.
This book was made into a 3-part TV miniseries, and I am looking forward to watching it.
Description: When offered the post once styled Church of England Deliverance Minister, the Reverend Merrily Watkins -- parish priest and single parent -- cannot easily refuse. But the retiring exorcist, strongly objecting to women priests, not only refuses to help Merrily but ensures that she's soon exposed to the job at its most terrifying. And things get no easier as an early winter slices through the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is desecrated and there are signs of dark ritual on a hill overlooking the city....more
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