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386th out of 485 books
—
429 voters
The World According to Bertie (44 Scotland Street #4)
by
Alexander McCall Smith (Goodreads Author)
There is never a quiet moment on 44 Scotland Street. In The World According to Bertie, Pat deals with the reappearance of Bruce, which has her heart skipping - and not in a pleasant way. Angus Lordie's dog, Cyril, has been taken away by the authorities, accused of being a serial biter. Unexpectedly, Domenica has offered to help free him. As usual, Big Lou is still looking...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
August 1st 2007
by Polygon
(first published January 1st 2007)
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I really enjoyed this book. It was the best one in the series so far. The characters are so amusing, and it's just a fun look at life and all the craziness that goes along with it. Bertie is an awesome character!
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Hooray for Christmas! It was worth waiting to see if a copy would show up in my holiday stocking. I always enjoy a visit to Scotland Street and this was no exception.
All the old "friends" were back, with some shuffling around but Bertie was definitely more front-and-center this time struggling with his own set of imponderables (overbearing mother Isabel, new baby brother Ulysses of the strong resemblance to B's psychotherapist, Olive and her needles, etc). Some of it was really funny, other par...more
All the old "friends" were back, with some shuffling around but Bertie was definitely more front-and-center this time struggling with his own set of imponderables (overbearing mother Isabel, new baby brother Ulysses of the strong resemblance to B's psychotherapist, Olive and her needles, etc). Some of it was really funny, other par...more
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As usual, I enjoyed the casual and comfortable atmosphere created by McCall Smith. I always finish his books feeling as if I've spent time with some old friends who impart simple wisdom to live by in day-to-day life.
And young Bertie's perspective gives sweet insights into the world of children. "You see, Mummy, there are two different worlds. There's the grown-up world, and then there's the world down below, where boys and girls live. I don't think grown-ups really know what's happening down in...more
And young Bertie's perspective gives sweet insights into the world of children. "You see, Mummy, there are two different worlds. There's the grown-up world, and then there's the world down below, where boys and girls live. I don't think grown-ups really know what's happening down in...more
Like the excellent Precious Ramotswe books these are subtle observations of 'interesting' characters. I say 'interesting' because the charm of the books is there is nothing interesting about them and their lives at all - yet some how you get drawn into their everyday'ness rather as you would a friend or neighbour. I listened to myself, my mother and my aunt talking about this book and anyone listening to the conversation would be mistaken in thinking we really were talking about friends and rela...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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The world according to 6 year old Bertie is one of the most entertaining aspects of the 44 Scotland Street series providing plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
There are thoughtful moments also. I am including this excerpt because I wonder about McCall Smith's view of God. His characters seem to have faith in love, family, friendship, kindness, Scotland...anything but God.
This is a prayer of Angus Lordie whose dog is being detained because he was accused of biting and Angus misses him greatly (p....more
There are thoughtful moments also. I am including this excerpt because I wonder about McCall Smith's view of God. His characters seem to have faith in love, family, friendship, kindness, Scotland...anything but God.
This is a prayer of Angus Lordie whose dog is being detained because he was accused of biting and Angus misses him greatly (p....more
This book is best enjoyed with snuggling down with your favorite drink, soft, but good, reading light, and plenty of time to devote to savoring the essays of daily life of the persons living in Edinburgh, Scotland, near 44 Scotland Street.
As the title of the book suggests, this volume is dedicated to Bertie, a six-year old project (Mother's viewpoint.) Bertie wants to be a boy. That's all. Mother sees the world differently. She has him playing the Saxophone, speaking Italian, and doing Yoga. Of...more
As the title of the book suggests, this volume is dedicated to Bertie, a six-year old project (Mother's viewpoint.) Bertie wants to be a boy. That's all. Mother sees the world differently. She has him playing the Saxophone, speaking Italian, and doing Yoga. Of...more
"The World According To Bertie. My name is Bertie Pollock, and I'm a boy. I live in Scotland Street, which is a place in Edinburgh. Our house is at No.44, which is easy to remember.....I have a brother called Ulysses, who is very small and can't talk or think yet. My Daddy's name is Stuart, and he works for the Scottish Executive, where he makes up numbers....My Mummy's name is Irene. She is quite tall and she talks more than Daddy, who sometimes tries to say something but is told not to say it...more
The book is a collection of very short episodes (there are 100 of them in the space of about 350 pages) in the intersecting lives of a collection of characters living in Edinburgh. The writer describes it as a serialised novel, but this is the fourth book in the series (and the only one I have read), and shows no signs of a beginning, middle and end. Therefore one could not call it a novel, nor could one describe the episodes as short stories. I think a more accurate comparison is with a televis...more
I learned a world of new words and expressions from Scotland. The first book in this particular McCall Smith series was done as a newspaper chapter-a-day (a la Dickens). The three main strands in the story all originate in different apartments in 44 Scotland Street. The saddest and most concerning one comes from the apartment six-year-old Bertie lives in. His mother, Irene, is determined to help Bertie develop with the help of the most up-to-date, current thinking on child rearing. So come the y...more
Jun 11, 2008
Heather
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Celtophiles
Shelves:
international-celtic-lands
What can I say? I love this series. I love how Alexander McCall Smith captures Edinburgh. I love the characters. I want to say the books are sweet or heart-warming, but not in a cloying way at all. The author allows his characters to be human, yet rise above their petty cares some of the time. The books are smart and funny and make me want to gather round a table with friends and truly feel at home.
Several years ago, Alexander McCall Smith began writing a serialized novel in Edinburgh's newspaper, The Scotsman. Due to popular demand, the daily installments were collected into a book, 44 Scotland Street, so that the world beyond The Scotsman's daily circulation could enjoy the tales of the residents of #44. The World According to Bertie is the fourth entry in the series.
Here we are welcomed back into the homes, workplaces, and local Edinburgh haunts of Pat, Matthew, Big Lou, Dominica, Angus...more
Here we are welcomed back into the homes, workplaces, and local Edinburgh haunts of Pat, Matthew, Big Lou, Dominica, Angus...more
There’s a predictability in Alexander McCall Smith’s little escapist novels, with their episodic romps through modern Edinburgh. In this one, however, I think McCall Smith is starting to become instructive. There are many rambling musings about relationships. They are generally placed in the heads of characters who are trying to work through their own muddled affairs, but I think McCall Smith is using his bully pulpit. It’s wonderful, gentle, and humorous.
Since these books were written to be ser...more
Since these books were written to be ser...more
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I loved this. It might be one of my favorites in the 44 Scotland Street series so far. Probably because it focuses more on some of my favorite characters. Wee Bertie, the little boy beleaguered with an awful mother, now has a younger brother, Ulysses. When Ulysses is temporarily misplaced and a girl rather than the real brother mistakenly returned to them, Bertie suggests they keep the girl. Not because he, as his psychiatrist says, is jealous of having to share his Mother's affections with Uly...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Part of the 44 Scotland Street Series, this book is essentially a celebration of life in Edinburgh. Each chapter was once a column in the newspaper in Edinburgh so they are short and skip around to tell what is going on with different characters.
The title is promising because it includes the little boy who is so engaging. Six year old Bertie desperately wants to be average while his mother insists on his achievement. Also having problems are the dashing Bruce who has recently moved back to town,...more
The title is promising because it includes the little boy who is so engaging. Six year old Bertie desperately wants to be average while his mother insists on his achievement. Also having problems are the dashing Bruce who has recently moved back to town,...more
Life in Edinburgh, as elsewhere, sometimes plods along at a measured pace, sometimes rushes forward as things change rapidly, taking everyone by surprise.
In The World According to Bertie, change is afoot in the lives of several main characters: Bruce has met his match in his new girlfriend, Matthew's taking steps to ensure that he won't face thirty alone, Bertie gets a new baby brother and new teacher, and Angus Lordie may not have to sacrifice as much as he once thought to keep his dog.
I don't...more
In The World According to Bertie, change is afoot in the lives of several main characters: Bruce has met his match in his new girlfriend, Matthew's taking steps to ensure that he won't face thirty alone, Bertie gets a new baby brother and new teacher, and Angus Lordie may not have to sacrifice as much as he once thought to keep his dog.
I don't...more
The audio reader was too slow for my taste and I haven't read the first 3 books in this series, so I almost gave up on this book after the first couple disks. I'm glad I stuck with it, because in the end, I found myself liking the characters and enjoying the setting.
I don't think I've ever read a novel set in modern day Scotland (Edinburgh), and being a bit of an anglophile, that made the whole story more appealing to me. I also liked that the characters were generally good people living ordinar...more
I don't think I've ever read a novel set in modern day Scotland (Edinburgh), and being a bit of an anglophile, that made the whole story more appealing to me. I also liked that the characters were generally good people living ordinar...more
The World According to Bertie is the fourth in Alexander McCall Smith's 'Scotland Street' series, and is a gentle, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful look at a by now firmly established cast of characters (although Smith skilfully mixes new faces into the crowd to keep things fresh). As the title implies, this volume focuses on precocious six-year-old Bertie, who just wants to be a normal boy, but who is frustrated at almost every turn by his mother, who sees Bertie more as an experiment than...more
I had been feeling "ok" about this series. I thought it was sweet and the characters interesting, but with this book, McCall Smith has really drawn me in and gotten me hooked.
I felt for Angus Lordie as he "grieved" because Cyril, his faithful dog and friend, was wrongfully placed in the pound. I cheered for Matthew and Big Lou as they found love, though not with each other. And laughed at Bertie as he continued to navigate his mother and his terrible classmates.
In the 44 Scotland Street series,...more
I felt for Angus Lordie as he "grieved" because Cyril, his faithful dog and friend, was wrongfully placed in the pound. I cheered for Matthew and Big Lou as they found love, though not with each other. And laughed at Bertie as he continued to navigate his mother and his terrible classmates.
In the 44 Scotland Street series,...more
I didn't care for this as much as the previous book, but it was still a lot of fun. Despite the title, it didn't seem like Bertie got as much time in here as he normally does, and he's always so fun to read about that it felt a shame. Still, I loved what bits he had, especially the drama involving Miss Harmony.
Bruce did detract from some of my enjoyment here, since he's so aggravating and really not much fun listening about his narcissism and misogyny. Still, curious to see how his relationship...more
Bruce did detract from some of my enjoyment here, since he's so aggravating and really not much fun listening about his narcissism and misogyny. Still, curious to see how his relationship...more
Jumped into this series with book 4 (about quirky Edinburgh characters who live in and around 44 Scotland Street) only because Steve could fill me in on the first 3 books as we listened to this as an audiobook on the way to and from Omaha. I could never get into this series but now it makes sense since we hoofed it all over Edinburgh in September. Some of the chapters drag, but any chapter with wee Bertie (6 years old) in them simply shine. And there was a dog ...Cyril. Lot of back and forth wit...more
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I have grown to so love this ensemble cast of characters that the books are impossible to put down. There's something very appropriate about the very short chapters of this series, a result of their original development as a serial novel for The Scotsman newspaper. Of course, it's also nice to have access to the full range of snippets without having to wait. If I lived in Edinburgh, though, I think it would be lovely - rather like a gossip column about one's beloved friends. Of course, Bertie is...more
I didn't enjoy this installment of the "44 Scotland Street" series quite as much as the previous ones, but it was still very enjoyable. There is a romantic development for Matthew, Bruce returns to Edinburgh, Dominica MacDonald deals with a friend who has moved next door, and "new vistas of dread" open for Bertie. Again I had a strong desire to shake his mother till her teeth rattled. In the foreword Smith says that though other characters may age, Bertie remains a six-year-old. Really, I'm not...more
This book is another foray into the world of 44 Scotland Street, Edinburgh. I love the world created in this series so much that I went on Google Earth to see what the real Scotland Street looks like. I tried to decide what route Irene and Bertie would take to walk to Valvona + Crolla to get sundried tomatoes and olive oil. It was so much fun! Now I have a real picture in my mind to go with the feeling of place that the book conjures up. This book (and the whole series, really) is not about an a...more
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. As much as I like the characters of Angus (and Cyril) and Domenica (I think they are good people), the chapters with them are pretty boring. I like the developments with Pat, Bruce, Matthew, and Ms. Harmony...it will be interesting to see where that goes. And Bertie's essay near the end is great. I still want Irene to get hit by a bus so Bertie and his dad can live happily together but I don't think that will happen now that Ulysses is in the pi...more
What's there to say about this book that hasn't been said about the previous three? This one is also a good read that is hard to put down. A difference in this series of chapters is the settlement of many of the issues already developed.
Oh, I won't spoil them, but I will say that I'm quite glad that the last voice from Bertie's house is Bertie's own. It is disturbing to me that Irene is as she is. It is even more disturbing that there are people like her out there in the world. How sad.
I was lef
...more
The latest installment of Smith's 44 Scotland Street series is yet another voyeuristic visit to Edinburgh. Although all characters have their own individual stories, their stories commingle peripherally as they would in town environs. I enjoy that all the characters are flawed in their own way, making them quintessentially human. Love and comfort are mistaken for each other; friendship and neighbors don’t always mix, and one can never overstate the importance of a dog’s companionship.
This is a c...more
This is a c...more
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My favorite in the series so far. I usually want to give the Scotland Street books 3.5 stars but end up rounding down. I enjoyed this one enough to round up. Perhaps that's because I read this on the heels of the very sombre For Whom The Bell Tolls?
As always, Bertie's, Matthew's, and Pat's stories held my interest the most, though in this installment I looked forward to Bruce's part of the story as well. I'm happy to see Miss Harmony getting more time and to see her story intertwine with more c...more
As always, Bertie's, Matthew's, and Pat's stories held my interest the most, though in this installment I looked forward to Bruce's part of the story as well. I'm happy to see Miss Harmony getting more time and to see her story intertwine with more c...more
The fourth in this series of serially-published novels (i.e., AMS published them in daily installments in the newspaper "The Scotsman," in the style of Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City")and consistently excellent. McCall Smith's gentle satire--he teases, mocks, and subtly eviscerates modern parenting, psychotherapy, yuppy narcissism, romantic nationalism, the modern art trade, fashion, etc.--will not appeal to everyone, and his style might be deemed precious, lighthanded, bourgeois, or cond...more
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Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what...more
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