Tag: book lust ii

In the Lake of the Woods

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O’Brien, Tim. In the Lake of the Woods. Read by L.J. Ganser. Grand Haven, Michigan: Brilliance Audio, 2011.

This is many different stories rolled into one. It is the story of an abused childhood. It is a vicious Vietnam War documentary. It is a quiet mystery. It is a love-with-abandon story and a tangled tragedy. John Wade is an Vietnam vet who lost the election for a seat in the U.S. Senate. The campaign was a complete disaster prompting John to take his wife, Kathy, to a secluded cabin in Lake of the Woods, Minnesota, so that he might lick his wounds in private. After a week away from the world Kathy inexplicably disappears. Using flashbacks to John’s childhood, college days, tour in Vietnam & relationship with Kathy, John’s psychological history is revealed. As a young child his father taunted him about his weight, teased him relentlessly about his obsession with magic. John learned at an early age to hide his feelings by imagining mirrors in his head, mirrors that reflected the world he wanted to live in and how he wanted people to treat him. In college his obsession with his future wife Kathy was like a sickness. He would spy on her incessantly, claiming he loved her too much to leave her alone. He would not spend hours doing this, but entire days. Then there was Vietnam. His enduring love of magic prompted the soldiers in his company to nickname him “Sorcerer.” This, along with the mirrors still in his head, allowed John to become someone else during the atrocities of war. He believed his violent actions were not his own because they belonged to Sorcerer. Throughout dating in college and during the political campaign as man and wife Kathy and John’s relationship was never on the same page. He spied. She needed space. She wanted children but when she became pregnant he convinced her to abort. He loved the campaign trail. She wanted off it. But did that mean John had something to do with her disappearance? O’Brien introduces a kernel of doubt when he describes Kathy lost in the maze of rivers beyond Lake of the Woods. The boat is missing after all…

My one complaint? The “evidence” involving quotes from wars other than Vietnam. I know why O’Brien did it. He wanted to show that the atrocities of war were not limited to the actions of soldiers involved in the My Lai massacre. It was overkill (pardon the pun).

Reason read: Minnesota become a state in May.

Book trivia: I am shocked this has never been made into a movie. Really. Another piece of trivia – this is the equivalent of an ear worm. I haven’t stopped pondering the possibilities since.

Author fact: There are a few autobiographical elements to In the Lake of the Woods.

BookLust Twist: You can always tell when Pearl loves a book. She either mentions it a few times in one Lust book or she mentions it in all of them. In this case In the Lake of the Woods was found in Book Lust in the chapter called “Vietnam” (p 238), twice in More book Lust in the chapters “Big Ten Country: the Literary Midwest (Minnesota)” (p 28) and “It was a Dark and Stormy Novel (p 128), and once in Book Lust To Go in the chapter “Vietnam” (p 246). Four mentions!

Ariel

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Plath, Sylvia. Ariel: the Restored Edition.New York: Harper Perennial, 2004.

Sylvia Plath wrote with such raw energy and emotion. Her essence is on every page, in every word. Nowhere is that more plain to see than in the collected poems in Ariel. As the last collection of poetry written before her death it is riddled with references to death. That is to be expected from one suffering from depression, on the wrong kind of medicine, and already an attempted suicide survivor. It’s as if death is stalking her, wooing her (case in point: the last line of “Death & Co” is “somebody is done for” (p 36) and “Dying is an art…I do it exceptionally well” (p 15). I chose to read Ariel: the Restored Edition and now that I’ve thought about it I don’t think it’s the version Pearl was referring to (see BookLust Twist). Oh well.

Favorite lines – the first being from Path’s daughter, Frieda, in the foreword, “The manuscript was digging up everything that must be shed in order to move on” (p xiv – xv).

Reason read: Although we are getting to the end of the month April is still National Poetry Month.

Author fact: Everyone knows a little something about Sylvia Plath (Smith College, Ted Hughes, suicide, etc), but what I recently learned was that she was born in Boston.

Book trivia: If you haven’t read Ariel I would suggest skipping the version Ted Hughes introduced to the world and pick up the one his daughter, Frieda Hughes, wrote the foreword for, Ariel: the Restored Edition. It is far more informative.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Cover” (p 237). Oddly enough, Ariel is not a recommendation by Pearl. She merely uses it as an example of a recognizable cover when discussing Alan Powers’s book Front Cover: Great Book Jacket and Cover Design.

“In My Craft”

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Thomas, Dylan. “In My Craft or Sullen Art.” The Poems of Dylan Thomas. New York: New Directions, 1971. p 196.

The fact that Dylan Thomas needed to justify why he put pen to paper absolutely astounds me. This poem is all about the explanation behind the craft of writing. Why he writes should not need justification. I’d rather hear about what makes him write; what drives him to create.
Can I just say I love the word ‘rage’ in any context? It implies such a raw passion.

Reason read: April = National Poetry Month.

Author fact: Thomas also wrote a book called Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, a collection of sequential autobiographical stories. Not on my list.

Poetry trivia: Dylan’s “In My Craft or Sullen Art” was turned into a knitting. Word for word. Crazy.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Poetry Pleasers” (p 187).
Just a note, because I am proud of this – I am almost finished with this chapter of More Book Lust. Just one more poem and I will be finished with “Poetry Pleasers.” Amazing.

God: a biography

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Miles, Jack. God: a Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

Jack Miles has an interesting concept. In order to write a biography on God he had to first consider him as a character in the Old Testament. He had to analyze the “character development” and bear witness to the relationships between God and the other primary “characters” of the Bible. One has to think of God and Lord as different. God takes on a variety of roles (including animal husbandry counselor). Miles’s philosophy is strong and pragmatically sound, even for an agnostic like me. It works. Somehow, it really works. Others must agree because God: a Biography won Miles a Pulitzer.

Favorite lines, “Our only identity is a lack of identity” (p 22), and “He is not just unpredictable but dangerously unpredictable” (p 46).

Confessional – I didn’t finish this. I got the gist of it after 100 pages. I think that was good enough.

Reason read: Easter has got to be one of the most religious holidays people celebrate. So, in honor of Easter and religion in general I am reading God: a Biography.

Author fact: As a former Jesuit priest Miles is no stranger to religious studies.

Book trivia: As I mentioned before Jack Miles won a Pulitzer for God: a Biography. What I didn’t mention was the date: 1996.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Dewey Deconstructed: 200s” (p 65).

Full Cupboard of Life

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Smith, Alexander McCall. The Full Cupboard of Life

Reason read: In honor of Mystery Month I started this series way back in January. The Full cupboard of Life is the fifth book in the series recommended by Nancy Pearl in either Book Lust, more Book Lust, or Book Lust To Go. I am nearing the end of my time with Mma Ramotswe and her family at the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I started in January with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and now have one more book to read after The Full Cupboard of Life.

When we return to Mma Ramotswe we learn she is still engaged to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. They have yet to set a wedding date. There is no doubt Mma Ramotswe is patient lady! Although, in this 5th installment she is losing faith and dares to ask Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni the dreaded “when” question. It is even starting to weigh on Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni as he dreams about a wedding date.
The one noticeable difference about The Full Cupboard of Life is that, unlike previous books in the series, the plot is not as seamless as the others. Instead of picking up where the reader left off Smith takes the time to bring the reader back to the very beginning of the series, explaining who Mma Ramotswe is and how she came to have the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency in Botswana. He also takes the time to reintroduce us to Mma Ramotswe’s beloved daddy and other early relationships. There is less emphasis on “mysteries” to solve.

Book trivia: The Full Cupboard of Life is  the last book I will read in order in the series. After this I am actually skipping THREE others: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Blue Shoes and Happiness, and The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (does this mean I missed the wedding?). I wonder why Pearl doesn’t include them in any of her recommendations?

Author fact: Alexander McCall Smith is currently on a lecture tour but (unfortunately!) comes nowhere near me. Bummer. I’m a huge fan now.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Ms. Mystery” (p 171). But, of course. As an aside, this was the first book I listened to on cassette and sadly, the tape was a little warped. This listening experience was not as enjoyable as the disc versions.

Hole in the World

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Rhodes, Richard. A Hole in the World: an American Boyhood. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.

Have you ever walked across really, really hot sand in your bare feet? There you are, stinging and ouching all the way across the incredibly hot terrain. But! It’s a pain you don’t want to give up because of where you are and where you going. Your destination is that blissful blanket by the sea and it will be lovely (why else are you there?). You know the pain will only last as long as you as are hot-stepping across the sand. That brief agony is the way I felt about Hole in the World by Richard Rhodes. It was unpleasant reading, even hurtful reading but I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to get to the good part, that blanket, if you will. It’s the story of Richard Rhodes growing up in an abusive household.  I know he heals from his traumatic childhood. I know the abuses he suffered didn’t last forever. There is light at the end of the dark tunnel of boyhood. But, it is a book worth reading. His words haunted my heart long after I put it down.

Favorite dangerous line, “I was tickling a dragon’s tail” (p 170).

Reason read: April is National Child Abuse Prevention month.

Author fact: Richard Rhodes went on to write The Making of the Atom Bomb for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Book trivia: Heads up vegetarians and animals lovers! There is a decent-sized section dedicated to the description of the slaughter of farm animals. It’s graphic and detailed but nothing disturbed me more than when Rhodes is forced to kill a cat.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “A Holiday Shopping List” (p 116).

Domestic Manners of the Americans

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Trollope, Frances. Domestic Manners of the Americans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949.

Frances “Fanny” Trollope disliked Americans for their lack of “domestic manners.” In other words she didn’t know how to embrace culturally differences. One man’s rude belch is another man’s generous compliment to the chef. But, Frances Trollope didn’t see it that way. The American accent grated on Trollope’s ears. She found the living conditions deplorable as well. Pigs running wild in the streets of Cincinnati bothered her but she conceded that if it weren’t for the pigs the street would be overrun with food rubbish! She longed for England’s refinement. One has to keep in mind the era as well. America was trying to be as backwards from British rule as possible.
Favorite line, “…before the end of August I fell low before the monster that is forever stalking that land of lakes and rivers, breathing fever and death around” (p 178). I like the sheer monstrosity of it all.

Reason read: Frances Trollope was born in the month of March. I also read Fanny: a novel by Edmund White at the same time. Was it worth it? Not sure what I was supposed to get out of that exercise, so I would have to say no.

Book trivia: Domestic Manners of the Americans inspired Edmund White to write Fanny: a Novel.

Author fact: Domestic Manners of the Americans was Frances Trollope’s first book.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “”Two, or Three, Are Better Than One (p 226).

Widow for One Year

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Irving, John. A Widow For One Year. Read by George Guidall. New York: Random House Audio, 1998.

While meandering at times A Widow For One Year follows the life of Ruth Cole. In Part One it is 1958 and Ruth is only four years old. The plot doesn’t necessarily focus on Ruth at this point but rather on her Long Island parents – their endless grief over the accidental death of their teenage sons and the bitter end of their tumultuous marriage. Ruth’s father is a celebrated author of books for children, a closet alcoholic and a raging adulterer. He wants to divorce Ruth’s mother, Marion, but he first needs to make sure he’ll win the custody battle over Ruth. Given his drinking (he can’t even drive due to too many dui arrests) and sexual conquests outside the marriage he needs Marion to have an indiscretion of her own to level the playing field. Enter Eddie O’Hare, a sixteen year old high school student from Philips Exeter Academy. Ted hires Eddie to be his writing assistant for the summer but really Eddie is supposed to seduce Marion. It’s Eddie who I like the best in this part one. He plays the fool perfectly (oh, but what a sweet and pretty fool). Unwittingly he is a pawn for both Ted and Marion.
In Part Two Ruth, at thirty-six, is an accomplished writer living in New York. The section begins with the very same Eddie O’Hare. He is in town to introduce Ruth at one of her readings. While their paths cross only briefly at this point in the story Ruth is enlightened by Eddie’s memories of her mother. She begins to see her parent’s divorce in a whole new perspective. Before leaving for a European book tour Eddie gives Ruth a murder mystery he thinks was written by Marion. While in Amsterdam Ruth is witness to the murder of a window prostitute from the red light district.
This sets in motion Part Three which, in the beginning, focuses mostly on the murder of the prostitute from five years earlier. The lead chief inspector has a conundrum. While he was able to solve the murder he now wants to find the witness. The story jumps back fill in the story of the prostitute (which could have been a whole separate book). I don’t want to spoil the end except to say it’s nice that Irving brought the story full circle.

Favorite lines: “There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep” (p 151). Don’t you love the image of that? Another favorite line, “I appear to have an old disease to share” (p 324).

As an aside, Ruth’s attitude about her American fans reminded me of how Natalie Merchant reacts to autograph signings and picture taking with her American fans. Both Ruth and Natalie are more comfortable with their European fans.

Reason read: John Irving celebrates a birthday in March, on the 18th…or so I’ve read on LibraryThing.

Author fact: John Irving was not an author Nancy Peal included in her “Too Good to Miss” chapters. Too bad because he should have been. He has written some amazing stuff.

Book trivia: The 2004 film adaptation of A Widow For One Year was “A Door in the Floor.” Note to self: put this on my movie list.

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Wayward Wives” (p 232). I think Pearl got it wrong. Yes, the wife is wayward but her situation is completely more understandable than her husband’s. I think her husband is despicable. But, another thing: the book isn’t really about the wayward wife or husband.

Kalahari Typing School for Men

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Smith, Alexander McCall. The Kalahari Typing School for Men. New York: Anchor Books, 2002.

You don’t have to read the first three Mma Ramotswe books in order to enjoy Kalahair Typing School for Men but I think you would enjoy them better if you did. In the fourth installment of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency the plot continues to move away from solving mysteries (as it had been in Morality for Beautiful Girls) and the emphasis is placed more on character development. To bring you up to speed: Mma Precious Ramotswe is Botswana’s only female detective. She is engaged to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and together they have adopted two children, a brother and sister, but still haven’t set a wedding date. It seems Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni is content to stay engaged for an indeterminate amount of time. Mma Ramotswe has two cases of interest. One is a gentleman wishing to repair his not so sterling past. He wants to make amends for a series of wrongs he has done as a youth. The other mystery is a typical marital woe of a woman thinking her man is cheating on her. The title of the story comes from Mma Matakutsi’s side business of starting a typing school for men.

Now that I am actually reading I have a few favorite lines, “That was the trouble with people in general: they were surprisingly unrealistic in their expectations” (p 5) and “We do not care about other people’s hats in the same way these days, do we? We do not” (p 158).

Reason read: to continue the series (started with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) in honor of Mystery Month in January. Note: up until this point I have listened to the series in CD. I appreciated Lecat’s narration and pronunciation. For example, if I had read the series from the beginning I wouldn’t have known that “Zebra Drive” (where Mma Ramotswe lives) is pronounced Zeb – bra Drive and not Zee – bra Drive.

Author fact: You just have to check out the videos on Alexander McCall Smith’s website. He is quoted as saying he is very fond of Botswana and he wrote the Mma Ramotswe series as a tribute to the country. (see link on Morality for Beautiful Girls book review).

Book trivia: This is the fourth book in the series. Next up is The Full Cupboard of Life.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Ms. Mystery” (p 171).

Fanny

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White, Edmund. Fanny: a Fiction. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

Here’s the premise: Frances Trollope is already famous for publishing Domestic Manners of the Americans, a no-so flattering account of American society. She now sets out to write the biography of friend and feminist, Fanny Wright. Edmund White produces Fanny’s biography in manuscript form and I have to say it would have been a clever twist to present this as a reworked manuscript. Trollope’s notes to self, musings, and edit ideas would have been more effective had they been published as handwritten notes in the margins, scribbles, and parts crossed out. Instead, Trollope’s musings are in line with the text and somewhat distracting. As it is, Trollope spends more time justifying her Domestic Manners and recounting her own family’s trials and tribulations than she does on Ms. Wright’s memoir. It’s cleverly written.

Line I liked, “I had been so absorbed in the brilliant company…the look of the elegant company, that I had completely forgotten the sad reality of me” (p 44).

Reason read: Frances Trollope was born in the month of March and this was listed as a “companion” read in More Book Lust.

Book trivia: I found it really cool that Edmund White dedicated Fanny to Joyce Carol Oates.

Author fact: Edmund White has his own website here.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Two, or Three, Are Better Than One” (p 226).

UPDATE: Another index error in More Book Lust! Fanny: a Fiction by Edmund White is also mentioned in the chapter “Just Too Good To Miss” (p 133) of More Book Lust.

Brushed By Feathers

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Wood, Frances. Brushed By Feathers: a Year of birdwatching in the West. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 2004.

On the very first page of Brushed By Feathers you are warned by Bob Righter, “Be careful when you read this book – your life could be forever changed.” You could just become a bird watcher is what he meant. Somehow I doubt that. After growing up in the migration path of thousands of the flying species and having to endure the rapture of the many Audubon societies that have flocked to my hometown I don’t think I could become one of them. I don’t know what it is about some birders but they lose all sense of reality when witnessing a rare or even an infrequently seen bird. On one occasion my husband and I were marveling at the storm pounded surf, worrying about a boat that bobbed too close to the shore. A group of birders thought we gaped at a pair of herring gulls screeching over a dead crab.

Having said all that, I loved Wood’s book! There are certain books that appeal on a level beyond words, sentences and chapters; books that feel good in the hands or evoke some kind of deep down feeling. While Brushed By Feathers didn’t turn me into a birding fanatic I was moved by it by appearance alone. With its journal-like pages and illustrations it is a book that goes beyond simple content. Its presentation is near perfection. Had it been bound with a soft cloth cover, one that would feel good in the hands, I would have said this is one book to hold onto – literally.

I also loved the presentation of the content. Each chapter is a different month of bird watching in the Pacific northwest region of the Unites States (Wood lives near Puget Sound). Wood begins each chapter with an overview of the sights and sounds one might expect to find during that particular month and then chooses a bird to detail (eagle, hummingbird, etc). She adds personal stories to connect with her audience and not be completely didactic. Also included in the beginning of each chapter is a checklist of the new birds  introduced each month with room for notes about each species.

I guess my only complaint would be that it’s very specific to the area in and around Puget Sound and Whidbey Island. If I ever get to that part of the country I’ll know what birds to look for!

Most interesting line, “During the non-breeding season, the section of a songbird’s brain that controls singing actually shrinks, making ti unable to sing, even if the urge arose” (p 167). Okay, I did not know that.

Reason read: Oddly enough, I heard that February is bird feeding month. Not watching, but feeding. Go figure.

Author fact: Frances has her own website here. It’s pretty cool.

Book trivia: Brushed By Feathers has beautiful illustrations. Wood is responsible for those as well.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “A Holiday Shopping List” (p 116). Pearl would have given this book to an avid bird watcher. I hope he or she lives in the northwest!

Tears of the Giraffe

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Smith, Alexander McCall. Tears of the Giraffe. Read by Lisette Lecat. Prince Frederick, Maryland: Recorded Books, 2003.

If you read No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency you will appreciate the fact that Tears of the Giraffe picks up right where No. 1 Ladies left off. Someone on another review site called this next book in the series “utterly seamless” and I couldn’t agree more. At the end of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has just proposed to  Mma Ramotswe and surprisingly she accepted despite having refused once before. Tears of the Giraffe starts off with the happy couple planning their life together, downsizing their maid staff (which doesn’t prove to be a simple matter), deciding who moves into whose house, obtaining an obligatory engagement ring…But it isn’t long before the story resumes Mma Ramotswe’s detective work. The very first case is an odd one. An American mother has come back to Botswana looking for her adult son who had disappeared from a farming commune ten years earlier. While she had thoroughly looked for her son ten years ago (when he first went missing) the recent death of her husband from prostate cancer has renewed the mother’s need for closure in all aspects of her life. It’s this case that threads through the entire book. The rest of the cases are small and are solved quickly. Tears of the Giraffe really focuses more on character development. Mma Ramotswe’s secretary has a bigger part as does Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. In an interesting twist Mma Ramotswe makes her secretary a partner in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni makes Mma Ramotswe a mother. I won’t say anything more than that.

Reason read: This continues the story of Botswana’s number one ladies detective, Mma Precious Ramotswe (started in No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) in honor of female mystery month being in January.

Author Fact: According to the back of the cd case Alexander McCall Smith has written over 50 books. I’m really disappointed I won’t be reading Forensic Aspects of Sleep. As an insomnia that one sounds fascinating to me.

Book trivia: This is the second book in the Mma Ramotswe series and deals with Mma Ramotswe on a more personal level.

BookLust Twist: From both Book Lust to Go and More Book Lust. Book Lust To Go includes it in the chapter called “Botswana”  (p 42) and More Book Lust mentions it in the chapter “Ms. Mystery” (p 170).

Good-bye, Chunky Rice

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Thompson, Craig. Good-Bye, Chunky Rice. Georgia: Top Shelf Productions, Inc., 2003.

First and foremost this is a graphic novel of indeterminate length (no, I didn’t count the unnumbered pages). Chunky Rice is a shy little turtle who likes Motown. Deciding he has had enough of his rooming house existence he sets out for an ocean adventure, leaving behind his good friend Dandel the deer mouse. Initially, while this comes across as a simple graphic novel about a few animals, conjoined twins and a sea captain with a horrible childhood, soon it becomes apparent that everyone in the plot has a profound story to tell; one of loss and love and desires. It’s sweet in a disturbed way.
There you have it. A short review for a short book.

Best “comic book square”: “On second thought, rather than gaining significance, my environment is suddenly drained of it.” I also liked how Chunky came alive when he heard Motown on the ship’s radio. His dancing was pretty cute.

Reason read: This book is all about love in the unconventional sense. I read it in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Author fact: Thompson worked on comic books before writing his own graphic novel. I think that seems obvious.

Book trivia: Good-Bye, Chunky Rice won the Harvey award.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called “Graphica” (p 104).

Joy of Cooking

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Rombauer, Irma and Marion Rombauer Becker. Joy of Cooking. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1964.

This red and white thick-bound book was a staple of my mother’s kitchen when I was growing up. It sat on a kitchen shelf in my childhood home. It sits there still. It is even more grease stained, dog-eared and much worse for wear (I think I started the degradation when I took a crayon to it when I was two); yet my mother would never dream of getting rid of it or updating it for a newer, shinier or cleaner edition. Her reason? This is the ultimate cookbook for every occasion, every season and every reason. The dirtier the page, the more well-loved the recipe. With Rombauer and Becker you simply can’t go wrong. On ever page there is a wealth of information from entertaining to grilling. From setting the table to eating lobster. Soup to nuts as they would say. Even though the methods are a little dated and the illustrations are a little cheesy it’s a classic. I love the extensive knowledge about the foods we eat, the foods we heat, the foods we keep…My favorite has always been the place setting illustrations.

Reason read: My birthday (last Saturday) always brings about a sort of reminiscing about childhood and this was definitely something that tugged at the heartstrings of my childhood.

Author fact: Marion Rombauer Becker no longer had her mother by her side when she revised and reorganized the 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking.

Book trivia: Originally copyrighted in 1931 Joy of Cooking saw at least 35 reprintings. Couldn’t they have figured out after the, say, twentieth reprint that the thing was a hit and that they should reprint a whole mess of them all at once? Surely there could have been an exception to the rule!

BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Dewey Deconstructed: 600s” (p). Interestingly enough Nancy Pearl made a point to say she wasn’t talking about the most recent edition of Joy of Cooking but doesn’t explain why. She does make special note of the recipes for oatmeal cookies with orange peel and baked macaroni and cheese.

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

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Smith, Alexander McCall. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Narrated by Lisette Lecat. New York: Recorded Books, 1998.

As soon as you meet Mma Precious Ramotswe you realize she is a force to be reckoned with. As Botswana’s first female detective she spends most of her time solving mysteries by using her intuition and her ability to read people. She is a good judge of character so while she isn’t always solving major crimes like murders, she is making individual lives better. Take the very first case for example, “The Daddy.” A man claiming to be a woman’s long lost father moves into her house and starts to take advantage of her generosity. The woman has reason to believe the man is an imposter and goes to Precious for help. Precious tells the man his “daughter” has been in a terrible accident and needs a blood transfusion. Only he can supply the blood needed…and that the procedure is highly dangerous so there is a good chance he will not survive. BUT, he will save his daughter! Precious knows a true father will lay down his own life for his only daughter while a perfect stranger will not. Sure enough, the imposter admits he is a fraud and is run out of town. The list of “mysteries” solved grows longer and as a result so does Mma Ramotswe’s reputation. She becomes the number one detective agency for Botswana. The types of mysteries Mma Ramotswe solves range from deadly serious (the disappearance of a young boy) to the downright silly (a father doesn’t want his young daughter seeing boys). Probably my favorite cases are the latter because the daughter pulls a fast one on both her father and Mma Ramotswe but I also liked the time when Mma Ramotswe has to steal back a stolen Mercedes Benz and return it to its rightful owner without anyone knowing how it all happened.

Reason read: January celebrates the female heroine of mysteries. This is the first book in a very long series. I will be reading five more.  I can’t wait to read some of the others.

Author fact: Alexander McCall Smith looks a little like John Cleese to me. I have no idea why.

Book trivia:  Interesting fact – I heard that HBO made a series out of the books. That’s cool. Now I wish I subscribed to HBO!

BookLust Twist: Nancy Pearl must love this book. It is mention in all three “Lust” books: Book Lust (in the huge chapter called “I Love a Mystery” (p 123)), More Book Lust (in the chapter called “Ms Mystery” (p 170)),and Book Lust To Go (in the chapter called simply “Botswana” (p 70)). I have to admit I agree. This was a great book!