The Unbearable Lightness of Scones

Book on CD performed by Robert Ian Mackenzie.

Book number five in the 44 Scotland Street series, featuring the residents of a particular apartment building in Edinburgh, as well as a few of their neighbors. All the regulars are here: Bertie, his mother Irene, his dad Stuart, Matthew, Elspeth, Brian, Angus (and his dog Cyril), Domenica and Big Lou. There’s a wedding, a possible romance, and a breakup. Bertie joins the scouts, but still can’t get away from Olive. Angus tries to help Domenica with a neighbor dispute and just gets in deeper. And Cyril, that scamp, has fathered a litter of SIX puppies!

I really enjoy reading these books; they are just a lovely summer delight for me. It’s like visiting with old friends. This one, like all show more the episodes in the series, bounces around from character to character, so the reader gets a glimpse of Bertie, then of Angus, then of Matthew, etc. It’s the same way we frequently experience our friendships. You don’t learn someone’s entire life story in one sitting but get snippets here and there before you eventually truly feel you know him or her.

Robert Ian Mackenzie does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. He has a lot of characters to deal with and he is up to the task. show less

I've come into this series in the middle, reading this one because it has some incidents set where I live (Perth, WA). The interweaving tales of characters from Edinburgh are delightful, funny, poingnant and very human. I will be reading (and buying) more...

This was another light and enjoyable book in Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series. A variety of characters (some endearing, some exasperating, all entertaining) are woven into this episodic novel which was originally published a chapter each day in The Scotsman newspaper. There are some parts that will have you laughing out loud, and finding someone to listen to you read the funny bits. The stories take place in Edinburgh and, as most of McCall Smith's novels can be described, it is "delightful," "sweet," "gentle," and "charming."

The latest in McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series is as delightful as its predecessors. Much is changing, though. Matthew and Elspeth are wed and both are adjusting to married life. Bruce, the pre-eminent narcissist and egotist, has turned over a new leaf, or has he? Against his mother's wishes, Bertie has joined the Boy Scouts! Unfortunately, so has his nemesis, Olive. But at least he has a new therapist. And The Pretender from over the water has returned to Scotland!

This series is always entertaining, frequently amusing, sometimes thought-provoking, and provides a lovely picture of the city of Edinburgh.

This is apparently part of a series about 44 Scotland Street in Edinburgh - and, as I gradually realised, it might have been better to have read at least one of the others in the series beforehand. I simply could not keep track of all the people in this book, which felt at times more like a few episodes from a soap, rather than a novel. My favourite character was the delightfully precocious six-year-old Bertie who wants nothing more than to join Cub Scouts, while his mother wants him to join only gender-neutral groups and to play with the bossy Olive.

There’s a thread about a missing blue teacup, another about a valuable long-lost painting, another about someone who breaks up with his girlfriend and is offered a modelling job. And show more there are many conversations between people who, unfortunately, I found it hard to care about. Or even to distinguish. Perhaps the book was not meant to stand alone - or perhaps the intention is to be snapshots of several people’s lives as they intertwine and overlap. But since I could not grasp who was whom, or what relationship they had with each other, this point was rather lost.

Still, the writing for the most part is enjoyable enough, with some nice irony here and there, and interesting insights into people whose lives - albeit caricatured - are far removed from mine. show less

This was a lovely listening. It was my first McCall Smith's story but won't be the last one. First it took me some time to get the clue, that different everyday events are told which seem to be related to each other or are taking place at the same locality. Furthermore I loved the idea that those events were told by characters from different ages. I loved all of them and the children's view, especially Bertie's one, is adorable. I had the feeling to sit amongst them as an observer and being a part of this community.

This instalment of the 44 Scotland Street saga is an enjoyable read, as ever, and has one of McCall Smith's best titles. It doesn't really add a great deal to the development of either the story or the characters, though: the appalling Bruce gets his come-uppance yet again, and shows signs of an unlikely reform, but that's about it. No really major comic set-pieces.