It can be a little embarrassing to admit that a trip to the states of Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina had as one of its finest features, an audio book. We often listen to some audio book while we drive. We don't drive very long distances, usually under 300 miles. (If you have seen the film "Nebraska", you know what the cousins would think of that.)
But embarrassing or not, I spent so many hours laughing and smiling, that I want to pay tribute to the wonderful imagination and writing skill of Alexander McCall Smith in his 7th book in the 44 Scotland Street series, "Bertie Plays the Blues". His series "The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency" is also a longtime favorite and we have listened to all 14 of those volumes. We love the narration skills of Lisette Lecat in the Ladies books.
44 Scotland Street is the address of an apartment building in Edinburgh, Scotland and over time, we have come to know the residents of all the flats very well. They all have character and they are all memorable. So are their friends and relatives. But the most important one is Bertie, who is almost 7 years old.
The writing is often quietly hilarious, one of my favorite kinds of funny. Here, the staff of a hotel famous for its hydrotherapy is the scene of a convention of Elvis impersonators while a game of croquet is played on the lawn by a group composed of retired Church of Scotland ministers and North Berwick fund managers:
Croquet and Elvis were not an obvious mixture, but the hydro staff had seen even more surprising combinations before and were quite capable of coping with such contradictions . For a hotel that had at the same time hosted a party of American morticians on a golfing tour of Scotland along with the North Sea Oil industry's Gay Barbershop Quartet Singing Competition, the juxtaposition of ministers and Elvises was but as nothing.
Mccall Smith, Alexander (2013-10-08). Bertie Plays the Blues: A 44 Scotland Street Novel (7) (Kindle Locations 3783-3786). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
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