Selected Product:
| Espresso Tales
Paperback
Author: Alexander Mccall Smith
Publisher: Anchor
Release Date: 2006-07-11
ISBN-10: 0307275973
ISBN-13: 9780307275974
List Price: $13.95
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Alexander McCall Smith’s many fans will be pleased with this latest installment in the bestselling 44 Scotland Street series.
Back are all our favorite denizens of a Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh. Bertie the immensely talented six year old is now enrolled in kindergarten, and much to his dismay, has been clad in pink overalls for his first day of class. Bruce has lost his job as a surveyor, and between admiring glances in the mirror, is contemplating becoming a wine merchant. Pat is embarking on a new life at Edinburgh University and perhaps on a new relationship, courtesy of Domenica, her witty and worldly-wise neighbor. McCall Smith has much in store for them as the brief spell of glorious summer sunshine gives way to fall a season cursed with more traditionally Scottish weather.
Full of McCall Smith’s gentle humor and sympathy for his characters, Espresso Tales is also an affectionate portrait of a city and its people who, in the author’s own words, “make it one of the most vibrant and interesting places in the world.”
Espresso Tales
| Customer Rating: | Fascinating read. McCall Smith brought all the characters to life. I found myself on the edge of my seat most of the time wondering what would happen to Pat and Matthew, would Stewart help Bertie live like a normal little boy...? Just plain good stuff. I can't wait for the next one.
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Changes are in the wind for the 44 Scotland Street occupants...
| Customer Rating: | Following my enjoyment of 44 Scotland Street, I picked up a copy of Alexander McCall Smith's sequel titled Espresso Tales. Still the same quirky characters as 44 Scotland Street, and still more of a "slice of life" book with no overall driving plotline. Fortunately, it's still a lot of fun following the players as their pompous attitudes and actions get pricked and deflated...
Bertie is in a major rebellion phase against his overbearing mother Irene. She's still trying to make progress with his psychotherapy, but she's more interested in the therapist than Bertie is. Bertie's father also figures out that he's failed his son in terms of standing up to mom, and is determined to reverse that trend and give Bertie a normal boyhood. But to do that, he has to disassemble Irene's "Bertie Project" against her will.
Bruce is convinced that he's ready to open a wine shop and become the next great wine merchant. Ah, but he needs money to do that. He manipulates a long-time wimpish friend (George) to join him in the idea and front the cash. Bruce plunges in thinking he knows everything, but as usual he's completely clueless as to what people really think of him. As the store gets closer to opening, he's in for a few surprises.
Pat has decided to attend Edinburgh University and stay at 44 Scotland Street. Her father loves this idea, as he's grown quite close to his daughter. Domenica manuvers Pat into a date with a coffee house waiter by the name of Peter. She's somewhat uncertain about Peter on a number of different levels, and his invitation to attend a nudist picnic with him doesn't help much. Domenica, on the other hand, is getting antsy for her next great adventure, and decides that a new study abroad is what she needs.
Matthew is surprising everyone by actually turning a profit at the art gallery. He still holds a candle for Pat, but Pat really doesn't see him in that same light. Matthew's world gets thrown into a complete tizzy when his father announces that he's dating someone who he intends to marry. Matthew's convinced that Janis is just out to get his father's money, and makes his objections pretty clear. But all is not as it seems, and he's in for a few surprises along the way.
And for the fans of Angus and Big Lou, they have their own adventures also...
Although I'm not a fan of "reality TV", I do enjoy the occasional book that goes down that path. The characters of 44 Scotland Street are so engaging and quirky that it's hard not to want to watch their lives unfold. Along the way, you see reality that's obvious to everyone except the person who's living it. Makes you wonder how much of that is in our own lives. I'm in possession of the 3rd installment, and I'm looking forward to starting it. The way this book ends makes you wonder how this cast of characters will be able to stay together... |
A great summer read
| Customer Rating: | | Another great novel by Alexander McCall Smith- super novel that keeps you engrossed and wanting more when you get to the end. |
A Taste Of Edinburgh
| Customer Rating:  | This book, the second in the "44 Scotland Street" series truly gives the reader's palate a taste of Edinburgh. Taking off from his first book, this one develops to a far greater degree those characters introduced in the premier book. McCall Smith has a way of capturing the Edinburgh environment which describes it as the unique and even quaint place that it is. There is no other place in the world like it.
The feeling of Scottish allegiance plays a large part in the descriptive short chapters that Smith creates. Because the novel is a series of serialized columns, each chapter is short and succinct. But each chapter has its own character, has a point to make and a flavor to project.
The reader will be introduced to deeper understanding of the original characters and their relationship to each other. In addition, Smith mixes his characters and their personalities so that there is nothing boring about the book. Rather, each reader will recognize types of people, yet they will be enhanced broadly by the uniqueness of the Scottish environment in which they reside.
Like all McCall Smith's writings, this book is truly a wonderfully descriptive and interesting portrayal of life in Edinburgh, and in fact, life itself, everywhere. Readers should not miss the opportunity to enjoy this fine piece of work develop by Smith in daily segments. It truly is a joy to read.
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A Complete Delight!
| Customer Rating: | If you don't find this book laugh-out-loud funny, then you will have altogether missed the point! Every bit as delightful as 44 Scotland Street, the parody of Edinburgh characters continues in the author's usual witty fashion, with scenes of the ridiculous (but often not altogether impossible) and individual personality traits highlighted to the greatest degree. It's a superb comment upon the ridiculous... In fact, do we even realise how ridiculous our society can potentially be!?
Get back in touch with old friends from 44 Scotland Street. There's Pat, the young 20-something soon-to-be student... should she go to the nudist party at Moray Place? She's still working in the Art Gallery for Matthew & it's now turning a profit... can Matthew find some confidence? The erstwhile narcissistic Bruce had decided upon the wine trade as his latest venture, having recently been fired from his career as a chartered surveyor... of course, it doesn't bother him in the slightest that he knows nothing at all about wine! Pat's neighbour and friend Domenica is still there with her insightful comments upon humankind. So too, Angus & his faithful friend, Cyril. But more to the point, this book focuses most of all upon little Bertie (now 6) and his insufferably pushy mother, Irene. Can Stuart stand up to Irene and let Bertie be a little boy? Bertie is finding his way, having just started school, he is now tentatively trying to make friends & "fit in". But this is difficult for Bertie with his pink dungarees, his pink bedroom, his yoga classes, and Italian lessons, the sessions with the psychotherapist & his Grade 7 saxophone. Bertie wants to love mummy all the time... but is finding it very difficult...
Just as its predecessor the book is written with short pithy chapters (over 100 of them), each presenting a mini-story & social commentary of their own. Some reviewers have found the political chapters boring, but that IS totally the point - read them & you'll see why & don't worry, they're short! I loved every bit of this book & everyone with a good sense of humour should find something to enjoy. |
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