The Lost Art of Gratitude is the last installment in the Isabel Dalhousie series, reviewed here in the past. There’s a significant dearth of any significant mystery in this one, but the usual complement of charming toddler, perfect husband-to-be, and nefarious plotter. I found Isabel to philosophize a tad too systematically so I hope the [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘Scotland’
December 5, 2008
The World According to Bertie by Alexander Mccall Smith
The World According to Bertie is in the 44 Scotland Street series like Espresso Tales and Love over Scotland and I’m glad to report that the series continues to improve. (It was a slow day at the library, and the mention of my favorite character, Bernie, right in the title, seemed to be a good omen [...]
October 9, 2008
The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith
The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday is another installment of the Isabel Dalhousie series, one of at least three series written by Alexander McCall Smith. I don’t find this particular one to be anywhere as captivating as the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, reviewed here, but it still makes for satisfying and layered books, books that can be [...]
February 19, 2008
Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith
Encouraged by reading Love over Scotland, the third volume of the 44 Scotland Street series, and not wanting to dwell on my disappointment with the first volume, I figured I would read the second volume, Espresso Tales and I found it disappointing as well (althought not as much — so perhaps the trend is up [...]
February 15, 2008
Love over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith
Part of the 44 Scotland Street series by the prolific Alexander McCall Smith, better known for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Love Over Scotland brings back many of the characters from the prior books in the series. My favorites are Bertie, a precocious six-year old with a neurotic mother and Cyril, a dog with [...]
February 13, 2008
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
Plan on a good chunk of time to read the first part of this mystery novel since it appears to start with completely unrelated characters that eventually meld into a satisfyingly complex, if necessarily contrived adventure. You need to get through a good ten chapters to get it all together; once you do, you will [...]
