The wider world of the book

     I do enjoy references to real locations and real 'things' in novels, and Alexander McCall Smith's work is a particularly good source of these. His Edinburgh books are full of places and people I know, and that familiarity adds another dimension of interest, though of course the books appeal just as much to readers who know nothing about the city and its residents.
    His new London novel, Corduroy Mansions, is equally fertile ground, sending me off on pleasant digressions as I read. So here, just for fun and in no particular order, is a glimpse of the wider world of the book.
     Barbara Ragg and the ghastly Oedipus Snark spend a night at The Mermaid Inn in Rye (with memorable consequences), and mention is made of erstwhile locals Henry James and E. F. Benson.
     Impending rain means Jenny pops into Daylesford Organic for a well-earned break from the said Oedipus and samples tea from Henrietta Lovell of The Rare Tea Company (I'd like to try this!), and she contemplates also a walk up to Hatchards to turn a book token sent by her aunt into several hardbacks.
     Meanwhile, William is out buying Belgian shoes, but they are not his only indulgence for he admits to having a made to measure pair from Lobb.
     Less expensive, but I'm sure equally agreeable - though a more transient pleasure - are Nigella's Lemon gems (from How to be a Domestic Goddess) which Caroline and James make when the mood for baked goods suddenly strikes them!

Comments

[Dark Puss]

I am interested by this post; would you like to expand a little more on why you enjoy the references to "real" locations/things/people? I think you don't mean the very obvious Edinburgh Castle, Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate type of reality since you chose some more specialised examples in your article. How does a good writer make use of these in a way that doesn't irritate or distract? I guess I'm thinking of the antithesis to the "sex and shopping" genre of writing.

In think I have the opposite view (mildly!) to you on this issue.

PS I see there is a book by De Botton titled The romantic movement: sex, shopping, and the novel. Have you read it?

[Cornflower]

I have never read a "sex and shopping" novel, nor do I ever intend to!!! I don't know the de Botton book, either.
I'm quite hungry for knowledge of all kinds and so I find references to 'real' places, people, etc. send me off to "look things up"! As I read at my desk a lot of the time I can google anything which crops up in a book and learn more about a subject in an instant. This may be 'serious' fact-gathering (e.g. the book I'm currently reading has lots on botany, Victorian India, early photography, some of which I'm looking up), or something much more casual such as finding out about The Mermaid Inn, earmarking Daylesford for whenever I might be in London (hah!), or looking at what sounds like an interesting collection of teas.
AMcCS's Edinburgh books have masses of the familiar in them, of course, and those references - particularly the people - are just fun.
At the other end of the scale there is, famously, Fay Weldon's 'product placement' novel, but that's not what I'm talking about here.
I've never read Ian Rankin, but his Rebus novels are, as we know, set in Edinburgh, and you can go on a walking tour of Rebus locations - it would be daft of Rankin, writing about his own city in the present day, to omit the very 'character' his setting can give to his books so he uses what is around him, and as is evident from the fact the tours exist, people want to know about/visit 'the wider world of the book'.
A. S. Byatt's The Children's Book is marvellously rich in references to real people, places and things, and following up some of them was a joy as it took me in so many directions while never interfering with or diminishing my reading of the novel itself.
As with any aspect of a novel, to work it must be relevant, fitting, done with care and integrity and balanced!

[Dark Puss]

Thank you for the excellent response. I think I have read everyone of Ian Rankin's Rebus novels and let me strongly recommend them to you.

P x

[Nan]

I had great intentions of listening to a chapter a day of Corduroy Mansions, but never followed through. I listened to several, but mostly a few at a time. I seem to be able to read perfectly well at the computer, but not listen at it. I look forward to buying it and sitting down with the book in front of me. :<)

[Cornflower]

Nan, although I read all the chapters on a daily basis as they came out, I think I enjoyed the book more in its 'whole' form - perhaps because I could go at my own pace and wasn't rationed to a little at a time.
By the way, I think there's a new Isabel Dalhousie coming soon!

[Nan]

The man simply amazes me, period!