Image of Edinburgh by Alexander McCall Smith

I am not very fond of reading fiction which except of great classics like Dumas, Dickens or Tolstoy I usually find unsatysfying and I prefer to read books dealing with history and non-fiction (Claire Tomalin, Jeremy Paxman,Antonia Fraser, Barbara Tuchman, this list could go on and on). In case the book is dealing with fiction it has to be at least a well written crime novel, preferably based in an old, beautiful city like Venice of Donna Leon's stories...

However recently my poor head had to deal with lots of complicated intellectual tasks (writing 6000 words essay in a foreign language about artist as a creator of visual illusions, anyone?) and I have diverted to more so to speak, light literature.

The obvious choice in such circumstances would be Ian Rankin but as I have read all of his Rebus novels already and I had to had an opportunity of carrying a book with me in my bag (one image scanned on a superduper college's Hasselbladt scanner takes aproximately 1 page of a book to read) and I did not want to carry my hefty hardback editions. Therefore I consulted my Edinburgh Literary Companion and settled on another Edinburgh author, especially after reading that he featured Ian Rankin 'as himself' in his novel based in The New Town, my favourite area of Edinburgh.

Being on a tight budget equalled having a deatiled look into some of local second hand book shops (and the best ones in town happen to be situated 2 minutes away from where we live) which handily turned out to be brimming with all necessary paperbacks: all Nr1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Sunday Philosophy Club series and the 44 Scotland Street series were there, short of maybe 1 or 2 volumes but nevertheless all at extremely affordable prices of usually £2.50.

So that is how I became addicted to Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh characters.

I have been passing by Scotland Street before on my usually weekly trip to A&M Imaging down through elegantly layed out streets of The New Town but only now I decided to have a look at the books from the series.

I do also happen to do a lookout of some nice places in Edinburgh which I tend to name since 'a McCall Smith's kind' ones.

Last week, on my way back from the Polish Consulate I came across a nice cafe situated in North West Circus Place. It was a sunny morning, people were sipping their lattes and cappucinos while sitting on the terrace. Its interior was warm and welcoming so I decided to have a break in my journey uphill and sit down for a coffee. My new favourite book I happened to have with me.

A moment later, when a sombre Serbian waitress brought my drinks I looked up from my book (Bertie was just escaping Steiner School to become a part of George Watson's College, a very exciting part of the book, just have a look into 'Espresso Tales' for yourself) and saw the world exactly like from McCall Smith's story: a young mother sharing a latte with her little son, elegant eldery lady flicking through latest issue of The Scotsman, a handsome young man with his laptop unconsciously checking his reflection in the cafe's mirrored wall. I took a sip of my coffee and returned to my book knowing that the world described in it really do exists and therefore can be almost qualified as my favourite kind of literature - nonfiction.

Well, to some extent - there is not a house nr 44 in Scotland Street!