Words and pictures

    If you're a fan of Alexander McCall Smith's novels, particularly the 44, Scotland Street, Corduroy Mansions and von Igelfeld series, you'll be very familiar with the work of the books' illustrator Iain McIntosh. I love the way his beautifully simple, characterful pictures match the text, pointing up a significant moment, drawing out a detail, furthering the whimsy just a bit, so I've chosen an example from the latest Scotland Street volume, Bertie Plays The Blues, just for the fun of showing it.

        Struggling with their newborn triplets, art gallery owner Matthew and his wife Elspeth find themselves in need of domestic help, and a local agency's name causes Elspeth to remark, "Have you noticed how everybody calls themselves solutions? There are kitchen solutions, office solutions, travel solutions and so on. Lots of solutions."

    'She was right, thought Matthew. Perhaps his gallery could be called Art Solutions or even Wall Solutions. One did not associate solutions with the art world, but he saw no reason why one should not. Perhaps when they had decided to paint the Sistine Chapel roof they had called up Ceiling Solutions, or Renaissance Solutions. He allowed his thoughts to drift for a moment. We've got this ceiling, you see, and we were wondering ... Could you give us a quote?'

                                                    ~~~~~

 

    I'm currently reading the second of Jane Duncan's My Friends novels to be re-issued by Millrace Books. A few months ago I greatly enjoyed My Friends the Miss Boyds and found it a distinctive and refreshing book (there's a post on it here), so I'm delighted to now have My Friend Monica which encompasses a later period in Janet Sandison's life, a wartime friendship and Janet's marriage to Twice.

    I mention this in a post to do with illustration as Millrace have again used a striking design by Kate Baylay for the jacket. I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.

Comments

[Dark Puss]

I was a fan, but recently (last couple of years) I have found myself wishing that McCall Smith would write fewer books and not spread his talents too thinly. I've noted a few other former enthusiasts saying much the same thing on weblogs recently. You are in a much better position than I am to offer a thoughtful and properly critical opinion of how the series are progressing. Does this latest book stand up to the earlier ones?

[Barbara]

I look forward to this as Scotland Street is my favourite AMS series.
Private Eye ran a 'solutions' corner for a while; very funny.

[Lyn]

What a fantastic quote from AMS. I love Scotland St & can't wait for this next instalment. Triplets! How is Matthew coping with that?

[Cornflower]

Ah well, being an AMS book, most things work out in the end!

[Cornflower]

He never fails to make me laugh, and I mean really laugh. I love his sense of humour, his genial nature which comes through in the books, his strong moral sense and his observations on human nature, and I find his more discursive, whimsical musings always engaging and diverting. Undoubtedly there are stronger books - or parts of books - and weaker ones, too, and I think the demands of a daily serial novel, which is of course what the 44, Scotland Street and Corduroy Mansions books are, mean that almost inevitably some threads within the stories will peter out or go in directions which might not have been chosen, had it been a finished work from the start, if you see what I mean.

[Dark Puss]

I read your response whilst on vacation and then picked up and read The World According to Bertie. I'm sorry to say that it hasn't rekindled my enthusiasm for McCall Smith although I do think Bertie is an excellent character and skillfully depicted. I found the others to be far less convincing/interesting and overall the book failed to enthuse me. I'll have another go in a couple of years perhaps.

Thank you for your thoughtful response to my question and for persuading me to try again.