On tour: Meet the author Alexander McCall Smith

UK author Alexander McCall Smith is touring Australia in March, stopping in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Ballarat. His most recent novel is The Forever Girl (Polygon).

What would you put on a shelf-talker for your book?
Happy ending! 

What are you reading right now?
A book on Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven (John Eliot Gardiner, Allen Lane).  

Which book do you always recommend?
A Pattern Language (Christopher Alexander, Oxford University Press), a wonderful book that sets out the principles of humane architecture. 

Which book made you wonder what all the fuss was about?
Other authors have long memories—I’d better not answer this one!

What’s the best book you’ve read that no-one’s ever heard of?
The Acreage of the Heart (Ruthven Todd, William Maclellen). This is a wonderful book of poems that absolutely nobody I know has ever read.  

What was the defining book of your childhood?
Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopedia (various imprints). I had a set of these and I read and re-read them.  

Hardback, paperback or digital?
Hardback. The pleasure of holding a beautifully produced hardback book is difficult to beat. 

If you were a literary character you’d be …
Winnie the Pooh. 

What’s your favourite book adaptation (film, television or theatre)?
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, various imprints). The film really did justice to the novel. 

What’s your favourite section of the bookstore?
The recently published table—I like the random choice that this presents. 

Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook—it allows for proper expression of thoughts. 

In 50 years’ time books will be …
Cherished and valued just as they have been since people started writing on papyrus.