In the first sentence of the article, "principle" should actually be "principal," meaning "main" or "high in importance." I think you might want to correct a huge honking mistake in the first sentence of a book review, yes?

I find it sort of depressing that even in a magazine for fairly intelligent people, common British usage such as "jumble sale" has to be translated into American. No comparable British publication would insult its readers by translating "rummage sale". Add to that a couple of sloppy mistakes (Edinburg etc) and it doesn't matter how witty you are, you've lost me.

It might seem trivial but the same attitude - that Americans can't be bothered understanding anyone else's English, let alone their culture - apparently permeates the whole society, from tedious remakes of foreign films and television shows to yee-ha foreign policy. Please, Salon, keep your standards a bit higher than this!

Also wonderful and by Kate Atkinson is "Behind the Scenes at the Museum," her first novel, which also wasn't quite a mystery but had wonderful characters and a lot of surprises.

Oh, for heaven's sakes. Yes, mother, we know it's "Edinburgh" and yes, Mother, we know a "jumble" sale is a rummage sale. How tiring and snotty.

Let's talk about the damned book and not break apart the review. I thought the book over-emphasized Martin's utter lameness but put him aside and you have smart, snappy, fun characterizations of some real humans.

Yay, Kate!

Fantastic, funny and at times slightly absurd, this was a great read. Having lived in Edinburgh for 16 years I loved the accuracy of Atkinson's characters' trips about Edinburgh. And yes, as a local, I hated festival time! The author's descriptions of queues outside venues, really terrible fringe festival productions and some of the type of people who attend the book festival were spot on. A good book to read anyway, but particularly if you are thinking about going to the Festival.

Her characters and storyline were developed in a way which made me want to know what was happening from their perspective - I couldn't wait to get back to each character when their 'turn' came round again. Loved the ending.