Tapadh leibh! 7 weeks

I have a correction to make, which, for me, is most embarrassing! As I was thanking many people last week, I most definitely should have written Tapadh Leibh NOT Tapadh leat! As tapadh leat is either the familiar or addressing just one person, whereas tapadh leibh is formal address (which is why I didn't think of it) or addressing many people. Oh dear!

The other think about which I wished to speak is Alexander McCall Smith. Once I get going, I could sing the praises of this author for quite some time. He is best known and loved for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (which I confess I have not yet read) but he is quite a prolific author, and everything of his that I have read has been entirely charming and beautiful and heartwarming. I found his recent novel La's Orchestra Saves the World deeply moving. On a Scottish note, however, there is the delightful 44 Scotland Street series, which I am currently reading. In The World According to Bertie (the fourth, I think, in the series) I found this amazing passage:

"For the most part, we treat others in a matter-of-fact way; we have to, in order to get on with our lives. But every so often, in a moment of insight that can be very nearly mystical in its intensity, we see others in their real humanity, in a way which makes us want to cherish them as joint pilgrims, almost, on a perilous journey."

A few months ago he was chosen for the book group I attend in Greene. Everyone read a different novel of his. Not all the ladies liked him (which really surprised me!) but one, Amy Marsland (herself an authoress) voiced an opinion very similar to mine: that whatever his subject, and whatever the location (be it Africa or Scotland) there is an undercurrent of goodness - the "moral" so-to-speak - of the story is always the same, and a beautiful and refreshing current of humanity runs throughout his writing. So I say Three Cheers for Alexander McCall Smith!