Somehow, I managed to miss this entirely, but the ever prolific Alexander McCall Smith is writing a sequel to his delightful Corduroy Mansions, first published online in daily installments in the British newspaper The Telegraph last year. (I'm wondering if I should add more frequent perusal of British newspapers to the too many things I already read online.) This one is called The Dog Who Came in from the Cold, which must mean that Freddie de la Hay, the temporarily vegetarian Pimlico terrier that William the wine merchant adopts, is back.I wrote about the first volume of Corduroy Mansions here, last November. Alexander McCall Smith is so astonishingly productive--he seems to write a new volume for all three of his other series every year--I'm not sure why I didn't assume he'd write a sequel to this as well, especially because the ending of the first book wasn't really an ending. (AMS likes ending with a party and a toast--he's done this with several of the volumes in the 44 Scotland Street series as well--and it's true that the party and the toast help distract you from the fact that there's no real resolution to anything.)
As with the first volume, there are multiple ways to access the new book. You can read it on the Telegraph site linked above. You can sign up to have each daily installment sent directly to your email address (though I'm assuming you'd have to read the already-published installments on the site). My preference, obvious given my love of audio books, is to download the podcast of the novel, narrated by the excellent Andrew Sachs.
If you missed the first volume and aren't yet sure you want to commit, Alexander McCall Smith has kindly provided a brief summary, to let you know what you're in for. His books are light but smart and always entertaining, and this one is no different.
Meanwhile, if you'll excuse me, I have 46 chapters to download . . .
10 comments:
Ooh, have fun! Funnily enough, I discovered the sequel just as I was coming to the end of re-listening to Part I, about a week after it started. I have a couple of weeks worth of chapters to catch up on, I like to listen to it in bulk :-)
I must get hold of some of his other stuff. I've only read "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" so far, and have to confess that I wasn't that taken with it, but I loved listening to CM.
If you like Corduroy Mansions, definitely listen to the 44 Scotland Street series. It's similar in that it was originally written as a serial novel (in the Scotsman) and also deals with the people who live in one building in Edinburgh. He's up to book 5 or so with that, so things have branched out somewhat, but the feel is similar. He has many charming characters, but it's worth reading just for his portrayal of Bertie, the 6 year old prodigy with the overbearing mother. And I also like to listen "in bulk." But then I kind of have to, since I just found out it existed, and he's already halfway through.
This is great. Would love to read more of your blogs.
Part I was so nice too.
I agree with mark.
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Loved reading this.
Love your blog!
Nice - thanks a lot for the links.
A life is cannot be divided any time because its depends on some one
I was read about him Alexander McCall Smith, i thought that he is wonderful man in world. still now they are released 3 volume. when i was reading the article getting some information form this..
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