Paperback:
Dear friends, some questions occur
At quite the wrong moment; as do those nagging doubts
As to whether we've done everything we needed to do -
Rich territory, I believe, for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A party like this, composed of friends, may not be the place
For the question that comes to my mind;
I ask it, though because it seems to me
That although nobody likes a moralist,
Especially at a party, this question
Is not just the moralist's preserve:
How, dear friends, are we to lead our lives?
Of the Decalogue I learned as a boy
Few commandments remain;
Fidelity, we're told, is neither here nor there
(Especially when you're having a good time)
It is quite de trop in fashionable circles -
A meretricious view, I know;
While coveting the goods of others
Is positively encouraged by those slick
Practitioners of the advertiser's art
Who want us to have those things
We do not need but which they are so keen
For us to buy; the Buddhists are right:
You'll never satisfy a material appetite.
Honouring one's father and mother
Is hard when Dad is a donor, perhaps,
Or otherwise somewhere else, and
Mother has her career to consider.
But although the rules are vague
And widely disregard now
Some precepts remain: live with love -
That is a rule we all can understand;
Forgive those who need forgiveness,
Which I think is everybody, more or less;
Be kind - that, perhaps, is first and foremost
In any postmodern, newfangled
Code we devise for ourselves;
Yes, be kind, love one another,
And most of all tend with gentleness
The small patch of terra firma
That is allocated to each of us,
In our case, Scotland.
Wish that for Scotland there may burn,
As in all other places too,
A flame of Agape, that disinterested love,
Translated by Jamie Saxt as charity,
That illuminates our world,
That is our beacon, and in the darkness
Is our singular comfort, our sole night-light.
As the sun rises over the Georgian townhouses of Scotland Street, its most delightfully eccentric residents have burning questions on their minds.
Will Big Lou find true love at last?
How will Bertie's healthy snacks go down at his school fair?
And has Bruce Anderson really won the lottery?
With his trademark charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith combined understanding, kindness and, most of all, friendship in Sunshine on Scotland (2012), the eighth instalment in the gently insightful 44 Scotland Street novel series set in Edinburgh.
About the author: Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most prolific and most popular authors. His career has been a varied one: for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty languages and become bestsellers through the world.
The series include the Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Sunday Philosophy Club series starring Isabel Dalhousie, the von Igelfeld series, and the new Corduroy Mansions novels.
Alexander is also the author of collections of short stories, academic works, and over thirty books for children. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the British Book Awards Author of the Year Award in 2004 and a CBE for service to literature in 2007. He holds honorary doctorates from nine universities in Europe and North America. Alexander McCall Smith lives in Edinburgh. He is married to a doctor and has two daughters. Both he and his wife are members of an amateur orchestra, the Really Terrible Orchestra, in which he plays the contra-bassoon.
Discover the world of Alexander McCall Smith and his other books at AlexanderMcCallSmith.co.uk
Rating: 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment