44 Scotland Street (Book 1)
by Alexander McCall Smith
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1015)
Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
I've just finished this book in a week, and really enjoyed it. It was a complete change from the last book I read and had everything you could ask for.
The fact that each chapter is only 2 1/2 pages in length is a definite plus for me, as it makes it so much easier to read and you do find yourself flying through the book. Also that format makes it easy to read on the bus, while waiting for dinner or wherever - as there is not a massive amount of concentration and time required.
Then the...more
The fact that each chapter is only 2 1/2 pages in length is a definite plus for me, as it makes it so much easier to read and you do find yourself flying through the book. Also that format makes it easy to read on the bus, while waiting for dinner or wherever - as there is not a massive amount of concentration and time required.
Then the...more
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Read in January, 2005
I listened to this book on CD in the car on a move across country. I think that's probably the best way to be exposed to McCall Smith's little world of 44 Scotland Street. He wrote this book (and its sequels) as serials for a newspaper in Scotland, so each chapter is about as long as the one before it, and each chapter is a little story in itself, although he does like to keep you hanging here and there. He follows the lives of several different people who live in the flats of this one buildi...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2008
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 intera...more
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Read in September, 2006
Listened to on tape (unabridged.)
Review from AudioFile
Alexander McCall Smith modeled this book on the evergreen hit TALES OF THE CITY, by Armistead Maupin, which were published serially in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. Smith's appeared in an Edinburgh daily; the title refers to an address in Edinburgh where several of the main characters live. It's a great device, imposing specific challenges to the storyteller, working in little chunks of uniform length, all with intriguing endings. The on...more
Review from AudioFile
Alexander McCall Smith modeled this book on the evergreen hit TALES OF THE CITY, by Armistead Maupin, which were published serially in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. Smith's appeared in an Edinburgh daily; the title refers to an address in Edinburgh where several of the main characters live. It's a great device, imposing specific challenges to the storyteller, working in little chunks of uniform length, all with intriguing endings. The on...more
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Read in April, 2008
There is something about McCall's Smith's writing that brings a smile to my face. Having read all of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and adored them, I was hoping to find this series appealing as well and I certainly do. Meeting these Scottish characters is like sitting down to share a cup of coffee with a group of friends. Normally, the tangents some of these characters take would feel irrelevant and make me feel rather impatient, but I was willing to ramble anywhere in the city and cov...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Charlaralotte by:
My mamarecommends it for: Anglo
An Xmas gift from my mama.
Delicious. Delicious. Delicious.
The best character is Bertie. His trip to Paris is an all-time high in this series. If the book were entirely about Bertie and his parents, I would be in 7th heaven. Ah, Bertie-Pierre...
And Angus' dog. He's a good point-of-view too. Not so into Domenica's travails in pirate land, but Bertie and the dog made up for that. Come to think of it, the storyline of Matthew and whats-her-name, Pam?, was not so exciting as Bertie either...more
Delicious. Delicious. Delicious.
The best character is Bertie. His trip to Paris is an all-time high in this series. If the book were entirely about Bertie and his parents, I would be in 7th heaven. Ah, Bertie-Pierre...
And Angus' dog. He's a good point-of-view too. Not so into Domenica's travails in pirate land, but Bertie and the dog made up for that. Come to think of it, the storyline of Matthew and whats-her-name, Pam?, was not so exciting as Bertie either...more
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Read in January, 2006
Another series by McCall Smith that introduces the reader to people who seem real, and whom I want to meet. He wrote this book as a serial for the newspaper, and has continued to do so for further novels. I loved all of the books in this series. 44 Scotland Street is a rooming house in Edinburgh. As the people living there go about their lives in present-day Scotland, they sometimes interact, but they always leave me with food for thought and anxious for the next installment. The characters...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. Very fun read. It's just about the goings on of the people who live in the different apartments at 44 Scotland Street. There's different personalities that we've all come across and can relate to. Even though it takes place in Edinburgh, these same types are everywhere. If you've read the No.1 Ladies Dectective Agency Series, you'll like this. I've only read a couple of those, but liked this better. I was a little disappointed that he left me wondering what hap...more
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The first thing to know about this book is that it was written in seral format for a newspaper in Scotland. The second thing to know is that it doesn't make a lot of sense. The third thing is -- if you can get past the first two, this book is downright hilarious. Don't expect a great work of fiction, but do expect some wry observations on the human condition, as well as some unique characters.
I would have liked to see things wrapped up a bit more at the end (What happened to Bertie? And Liz...more
I would have liked to see things wrapped up a bit more at the end (What happened to Bertie? And Liz...more
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Read in September, 2007
"What I have tried to do in 44 Scotland Street is to say something about life in Edinburgh which will strike readers as being recognisably about this extraordinary city."
McCall Smith originally wrote these stories as a serial published in the The Scotsman about the lives of a group of people living in and around an apartment building at 44 Scotland Street, Edinburgh. It's not profound but I enjoyed the characterizations and interactions of the residents and their soci...more
McCall Smith originally wrote these stories as a serial published in the The Scotsman about the lives of a group of people living in and around an apartment building at 44 Scotland Street, Edinburgh. It's not profound but I enjoyed the characterizations and interactions of the residents and their soci...more
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Read in April, 2008
I liked this book quite a bit. The character of Pat was drawn in such a way as to feel uncomfortably familiar to me--I think that I was that awkward when I was 20 (sadly)! For reasons that I don't quite understand, I found the book very difficult to get into, but once I was about halfway through, I didn't want to put it down, and I immediately began on the sequel once I had finished this. By the end of the book, I really did feel that Pat was a friend of mine, that I wanted desperately for Br...more
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I would give this book 2 1/2 stars. It was first published as a serial in The Scotsman newspaper. I didn't like how each chapter was so short and there really wasn't a plot. I did like the McCall Smith's characters. There were some very funny ones, especially vain and beautiful Bruce, a young professional who thinks every woman is in love with him and Irene, an overbearing mother who wants her precocious four-year-old to speak Italian fluently and has other lofty goals for him. Also, if you are...more
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Read in July, 2007
This is the first of a series (I'm not sure I'll bother listing the rest here) that first appeared, just like a Dickens novel, in a newspaper. Some find the writing episodic, but I have no problem with that. Makes it easy to pick up and put down in small bites.
A saxaphone savant (if not exactly his idea; he's all of about five), a 20-something narcissist obsessed with hair products and uncertain about the undergarment for a kilt, a later-middle aged anthropologist whose widowhood... Well, t...more
A saxaphone savant (if not exactly his idea; he's all of about five), a 20-something narcissist obsessed with hair products and uncertain about the undergarment for a kilt, a later-middle aged anthropologist whose widowhood... Well, t...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
Lovers of art, literature, and the British Isles
I've just finished this book, and I'm absolutely enchanted with it. The title of the last chapter sums it up: "Gain, Loss, Friendship, Love." What more could one ask?
44 Scotland Street is a gentle book, like murmured conversation about fascinating things. The characters are more real than many people I've met in the flesh. After the last page is read, you feel that they continue on without you, as in life.
Literary fiction is like art, I suppose: you either love it or you...more
44 Scotland Street is a gentle book, like murmured conversation about fascinating things. The characters are more real than many people I've met in the flesh. After the last page is read, you feel that they continue on without you, as in life.
Literary fiction is like art, I suppose: you either love it or you...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
anyone
This is the first in a series of three books that were actually written for the Edinburgh Scotsman newspaper as daily installments. That means the chapters are short, each is a bit of a cliffhanger and it's a breezy, fun read. Plus the characters are just fantastic. We took all three volumes in paperback to Costa Rica and zipped through them because they were so enjoyable. Will also post the next two books. The last one is actually the best! Feel-good reading with a warm, literate, smart, g...more
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Read in December, 2007
Opening 44 Scotland Street is like paging through a pop-up book, with characters, situations, and a descriptions of Edinburgh that pops right off the page. It is simply a fun, fun book to read, especially if you have spent any time in Europe. McCall Smith is a master of character development, with realistic dialogue and emotional descriptions that help the reader feel that he has escaped into Scotland. A great book to read between heavy non-fiction books.
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Read in May, 2008
Reminds me of a Scottish rendition of Amistead Maupin's Tales of the City. I enjoy Alexander McCall Smith immensely, for his quirky accuracy about humans. Rather like Grace Paley, in that way. The great thing about this site is that in searching for it to add to my list, I discovered a whole bunch more of the same series. Cool. What bugs me recently about AMS is that even though his characters are very well rendered, they often have similar speech patterns.
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Read in December, 2006
1 December 2006
I bought a copy of Robert McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street on our way back from Beijing and finished it within the week. I absolutely loved it! It's a novel set in Edinburgh written as a weekly serial for a newspaper. The format itself made the book more interesting, the chapters are necessarily brief, but filled with enough to make you keep reading. The characters are interesting and quirky—but not too quirky—and very Scottish.
I bought a copy of Robert McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street on our way back from Beijing and finished it within the week. I absolutely loved it! It's a novel set in Edinburgh written as a weekly serial for a newspaper. The format itself made the book more interesting, the chapters are necessarily brief, but filled with enough to make you keep reading. The characters are interesting and quirky—but not too quirky—and very Scottish.
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Read in April, 2008
Is it cheating to include an audio book? Is there a Goodhears.com site?
We listened to this on a long drive and found that it worked quite well as an audio book. Because it was originally serialized in a newspaper, it is broken up into short chapters that somehow seem to lend themselves to listening while driving.
We both enjoyed it and have now plunged into the sequel via the noncommittal approach of reading aloud to one another.
We listened to this on a long drive and found that it worked quite well as an audio book. Because it was originally serialized in a newspaper, it is broken up into short chapters that somehow seem to lend themselves to listening while driving.
We both enjoyed it and have now plunged into the sequel via the noncommittal approach of reading aloud to one another.
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Read in September, 2006
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, each has its own character, style and humor. This book is based on a daily newspaper serial, McCall Smith was asked to do after he brought up the subject in an article he wrote in the newspaper, The Herald, in Scotland. As usual, McCall Smith was up to the task and, I believe, is working on another serialized story that will eventually be put into book form.
Funny, iInsightful, depictive.
Funny, iInsightful, depictive.
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