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a.s.
Valinor
Jun 25 2008, 11:34am
Post #1 of 24
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Mma Ramotswe captures my heart: The Weekly Book Review Thread
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All right, someone's done it. I can't remember who last talked about the Alexander McCall Smith series set in Botswana, beginning with The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, but I finally decided I needed to check them out. Now I'm hooked. These are gently humorous slices of life, very little "mystery" involved (so far) and I am halfway in love with Mr. J.L.B. Matakoni myself. I've listened to the audiobook of Full Cupboard of Life and am now listening to Number One Agency. I also picked up the printed edition of latest one: Miracle at Speedy Motors. As always when I read a sort of sentimentalized version of a place, I wonder if the reality of Botswana could be as lovely as the portrait which shines through these books, but McCall Smith's love of that country is certainly evident.
I must get hold of some bush tea.
Other than that, I read Ruth Rendell's latest Not In The Flesh. I don't agree with this reviewer that Flesh falls into the middle category for a Wexford novel; I think it's in the bottom two (I thought her last one overrated as well). Now, for me to say this about my second favorite detective series of all times is bitter, but I think Rendell is off her game here. Not only is the story line too pat and coincidental, but the tangential stuff (there are always tangents!) is almost like a second novel. In fact, I wish she would write a novel featuring the dilemma posed by Western societies trying to control ingrained cultural practices in immigrant populations; I am appalled at female genital mutilation myself and yet it seems to keep happening in some of our non-assimilated immigrant neighborhoods and therefore is deeply ingrained and serves some kind of purpose. Right there is an interesting clash of culture and people with horrible suffering right smack in the middle.
Maybe she'll write that novel one day! But Not in the Flesh is not in her best. If you haven't read a Rendell, start with an earlier Wexford, IMHO.
And I finished Barchester Towers! I am now a dedicated Trollope-ite and am onto the next in the series (some say the best in the series!) Dr. Thorne.
That's it for me. What about you all? What have you been reading this week?
a.s.
"an seileachan"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.
But the Skin Horse only smiled.
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LostHamster
The Shire
Jun 25 2008, 12:04pm
Post #2 of 24
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Bill Bryson's Shakespeare and Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler
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Not much new information Bryson's book, but then that's not really his aim. 'Shakespeare - The World as Stage' is more of a collection of things we already know about the bard, which turns out to be very little, told in Bryson's usual entertaining way. A nice light read.
I'm about half way through 'Empires of the Word' and totally fascinated by Ostler's history of languages. I gave up trying to read the phonetic translations of texts in other languages, but that's about the only difficulty I've had so far. Definitely recommend it.
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 25 2008, 2:05pm
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Scotland's not for the Squeamish
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by Bill Watkins.
I picked this up at a library castoff sale, and am glad I did. What caught my attention isn't just that it's about Scotland, but that I'd used the title phrase myself in a novel published in 1990. Watkins never does explain where he got the phrase, but I suspect he and I most have both picked it up in our Scottish history/travel reading.
Even though this book was published in 2000, it takes place around 1970, and is basically a picaresque memoir of Watkins's early life trying to scrape a living working odd jobs and living wherever he can find a place in Aberdeen and Edinburgh. I suspect that like James Herriot's vet books, the true stories have been tidied up a bit to read more smoothly, with punch lines. But Watkins is a heck of a writer and is very interested in history, so I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Much to my amazement, toward the end of the book I discovered that Watkins was one of the founding members of the Scottish folk/rock group Silly Wizard, who I've loved for years -- and even quoted in the aforementioned 1990 novel! I never knew where the group got its name. It turns out that Watkins and several of his friends were living with a self-styled "wizard", a man into tarot cards, purple robes, and the like (at one point Watkins even refers to him as Gandalf). One of their flat-mates drew a series of cartoons about their experiences, calling it "the silly wizards."
Aha!
I need to read more of the Ramotswe books, a.s. The first one was very entertaining, and blessedly not edgy, in-your-face, attitudinously violent and graphic.
I enjoy bush tea (aka rooibos tea) and have some bags of rooibos chai. Delicious!
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Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 25 2008, 2:07pm
Post #4 of 24
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I love Bryson. He could simply re-write the phone book and make it entertaining. I've been griping for months now that our copy of In a Sunburned Country, Bryson's travelog about Australia, went AWOL just when I went to Australia. Ah well, I'll pick up another copy eventually.
Have you seen Michael Wood's PBS series about Shakespeare? I believe it's in three parts. Fascinating, but then, I'll watch and/or read anything by Wood.
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Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Jun 25 2008, 3:03pm
Post #5 of 24
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Still sailing along with Horatio Hornblower.//
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"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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Idril Celebrindal
Tol Eressea
Jun 25 2008, 3:30pm
Post #6 of 24
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First of all, I'm glad that you enjoyed the #1 Ladies Detective series. I like its gentle take on Africa, too; McCall Smith's affection for Botswana clearly shines through.
Fearless Fourteen was the book I've most recently read this week. I enjoy Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, although I'd be the first to admit that these novels are very lightweight. They're slapsticky, darkly funny, and feature a wacky cast of characters. What I like best about them is how Evanovich delivers a nice little slice of working-class life. The Plum stories are set in Trenton in "the Burg" (the Chambersburg neighborhood), which is a lot like the blue-collar neighborhood where I lived as a kid. I grew up with people very like the ones in her series and the way she describes them and the stories she tells about them make me laugh out loud while I'm reading!
Fearless Fourteen continues Stephanie's romp through the wilds of Central New Jersey, including nannying an aging pop star, dealing with the mysterious disappearance of one of her "skips" (who dumps her teenaged son on Stephanie), and romping through the online gaming subculture. Unfortunately, this one doesn't hang together as well as some of the earlier books. Evanovich seems to feel as if she needs to jack up the humor quotient in each book, making them seem more and more far-fetched (not that they were very realistic in the first place, but they're really getting silly now). There are also a bunch of loose ends that are just left dangling. I'd recommend it mainly to existing fans of the series who'd like some entertaining poolside or beach reading.
We're discussing the BBC Lord of the Rings Radio Play on the Movie Discussion - LOTR board.
With caffeine, all things are possible.
The pity of Bilbo will screw up the fate of many.
(This post was edited by Idril Celebrindal on Jun 25 2008, 3:31pm)
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Elberbeth
Tol Eressea
Jun 25 2008, 4:00pm
Post #7 of 24
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I enjoy the Plum series as well
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and frequently find myself laughing out loud. I haven't read them in any kind of order, but it doesn't seem to matter much. I can get through one in a couple of evenings, I wish they were a bit longer.
"There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark."
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Alassëa Eruvande
Valinor
Jun 25 2008, 4:17pm
Post #8 of 24
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They are a bit easy to just blow right through, but you don't even miss anything if you do. I love that Stephanie does her job just as I would do it: as someone who has no business being in that profession but somehow manages to bumble her way through and sometimes get lucky. I would totally be the type to carry a gun in my purse but leave the bullets at home. 
I didn't know the 14th book was out. I'll have to check the library for it. We're about to go on vacation and it's just the book I need! 
And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame.
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 25 2008, 5:54pm
Post #9 of 24
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Having heard so much about the Plum books, a couple of years ago I picked up the first one -- and pitched it away half way through. I didn't crack a smile the whole time. The combination of stupid slapstick (and it gets sillier?!?) humor and sickening violence really turned me off, not to mention that I didn't find a single character to be sympathetic.
I know women will sometimes debate who is cooler, Ranger or Morelli, but I found both of them to be repugnant. In fact, just the first few pages of the book were enough to kill any appeal Morelli might have had. Eeewwww!
But I have many friends, not least here on TORn, who have excellent taste and with whom I agree on many other subjects, who say about Plum/Evanovich just what y'all have said here. So all my opinion proves is that you can't please everyone all the time 
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Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!
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Greenwood Hobbit
Valinor
Jun 25 2008, 10:11pm
Post #10 of 24
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Good grief, that takes me back!
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I saw Silly Wizard almost before they were famous! One of them - Johnny - came to my friend's wedding. Somewhere I have the teeshirt - which doesn't go anywhere near me now, raddled old folkie that I am, but I'm not parting with it. Interesting how the name came to be!
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Greenwood Hobbit
Valinor
Jun 25 2008, 10:16pm
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book was dramatised on British tv recently, and was a delightful evening's viewing. I lived in southern Africa for a while - not in Botswana, Lesotho - and did enjoy the scenery, accents etc in the show, and the gentle approach to the subject, which was a very refreshing change! Am familiar with rooibos tea too.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jun 25 2008, 10:50pm
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I'm really hoping it will come to the US soon.
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Actually, I had hoped it would be on Public Television's "Mystery" series this summer, but apparently not.
To get the most enjoyment out of this delightful series, one should really read the books in sequence. They do backtrack a lot, so you aren't missing much, but it's nice to meet the characters in the proper order.
I like the fact that the characters and setting are completely different from what we're accustomed to, the attitude is always kind and respectful, and the people are entirely sympathetic. "Goodness and kindness are greatly undervalued traits in modern fiction, IMO.
Elizabeth is the TORnsib formerly known as 'erather'
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RosieLass
Valinor
Jun 26 2008, 2:49am
Post #13 of 24
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Yay! Another Precious Ramotswe convert!
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I think I reviewed the latest installment last week. Good good!
This week I'm reading The Camelot Caper, which is a sort of "prequel" to Elizabeth Peters' Vicky Bliss series.
I've heard some people say they like Vicky Bliss more than they do Amelia Peabody, and Peters' latest book supposedly details the family link between the Tregarths and the Emersons. So I'm giving the series a try.
This one must be early in Peters' authorial career, because it's definitely not up to Amelia Peabody standards. The plot is silly, the characters unconvincing. I suppose she might be spoofing the potboiler brand of fiction, but I'm not an expert, so I couldn't say.
"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brains."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brains."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."
- A. A. Milne
http://mallika.vox.com/
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jun 26 2008, 7:50am
Post #14 of 24
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Elizabeth Peters' books are a mixed bag.
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As you note, a lot of her early work is pretty poor. She really hit her stride with the Amelia Peabody books, but I actually like her later Vickie Bliss books better.
Elizabeth is the TORnsib formerly known as 'erather'
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Penthe
Gondor
Jun 26 2008, 10:47am
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It was recommended to me by a well-read colleague. Brilliant. The narrative was great, but I think I would rather have moved in with some of the characters and just hung about with them drinking wine and yarning for the next fifty years or so. They are some of the most loved characters I think I've ever read about. Wonderful.
Also read Love and Money, by Anne Mann. It's the most recent Quarterly Essay, on how society can balance the economic drive of the market with the need for family care. She had some really interesting thoughts, and raised some important issues, but it didn't quite come together for me. I think she missed some issues I'd like to hear discussed.
Also read tales from outer suburbia by Shaun Tan. Like his illustrations these short stories are slightly whimisical, slightly sad and quite odd. Not bad for an illustrator, with some genuinely lovely or arresting moments scattered through. The picture of all the neighbourhood dogs sitting on appliances and furniture watching a bad man's house burn down is inspired.
And I love Precious Ramotswe as well. I wish she was me.
No improvement is too small or trivial to be worthwhile.
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 26 2008, 2:01pm
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According to Watkins, Johnny was only about 12 years old when he first started playing with them.
I got to hear Andy M. Stewart once several years ago, but I never heard Silly Wizard as a group. In fact, all my albums are on cassette and sitting in my closet -- I need to bite the bullet and buy them in CD so I can listen to them again.
* * * * * * *
Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!
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Greenwood Hobbit
Valinor
Jun 26 2008, 9:44pm
Post #17 of 24
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folowing my friend's wedding, he had his leg in plaster but still insisted on trying to dance! Do fish out those tapes and revisit the music - it's good stuff. Another Scottish band with a wild streak is Wolfstone. Some of their vocals are a bit weak, I think, but their instrumentals are storming.
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Greenwood Hobbit
Valinor
Jun 26 2008, 9:46pm
Post #18 of 24
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I think people will be charmed by it. Hope it reaches you soon.
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Greenwood Hobbit
Valinor
Jun 26 2008, 9:48pm
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I never did read all the books
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but watched all the tv shows, and my friend got me involved in the fandom surrounding them.
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Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 26 2008, 9:55pm
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Wolfestone is one of my favorites!
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Although I think their later albums lost a lot of energy. But "The Prophet", to name just one of their earlier songs, is brilliant.
* * * * * * *
Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!
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RosieLass
Valinor
Jun 26 2008, 11:15pm
Post #21 of 24
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I read some more at lunch today. The plot is ludicrous and the characters (espesh our hero and heroine) are imbeciles. Sheesh.
I'm discovering that a lot of writers aren't very good when they first start out. Which is unfortunate, because sometimes I don't bother going on with a series and potentially miss some very good books.
"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brains."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brains."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."
- A. A. Milne
http://mallika.vox.com/
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Annael
Immortal
Jun 27 2008, 12:59am
Post #22 of 24
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is also called red or rooibos tea (I believe it's pronounced "roy-bosh") and it's widely available in the US. I'm enamoured of Stash Tea's Madagascar Vanilla Red and Republic of Tea's Good Hope Vanilla Red; either one is delicious with milk or half-and-half in. The vanilla flavor makes it sweet and I don't add anything else. It's almost as good as hot chocolate! I drink at least two cups of it a day.
Our similarities bring us to a common ground; our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other.
- Tom Robbins
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NARF and member of Deplorable Cultus since 1967
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jun 27 2008, 7:23am
Post #23 of 24
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What plant is it made from? Really tea (some specific variety), or another herb altogether?
Elizabeth is the TORnsib formerly known as 'erather'
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Eowyn of Penns Woods
Valinor
Jun 27 2008, 5:19pm
Post #24 of 24
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Probably more than you wanted to know...
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but great info about it can be found here.
Personally, I'm very fond of the Good Earth brand's Sweet & Spicy blend.
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