Makes me a bit homesick for a place I've never been.

Maybe I didn't like it quite as much as the previous one, but still, it is always wonderful to visit Botswana and lose myself in the world of the tiny white van and 97%, of Seretse Khama and the old Botswana morality. The intertwining plots perhaps had the common thread, this time, of vanity and pride: Mma Makutsi's statement about being a feminist nearly derailing her engagement (or so she thinks!), Mr. Polopoletsi's attempt to solve a problem on his own, Mma Ramotswe's diet, and of course, the blue shoes of the title.

My favorite bit of this book was the scene where Mma Ramotswe speaks with the American tourists at the game park. I actually got weepy, and since I listen to these books on my mp3 player while running, I am sure I looked very funny jogging down the path with tears streaming down my face.

I think one result of reading these books is that I am now unable to think of large people as "fat" - they are "traditionally built," if you please!

Oh! How I just love this series! I am sure that literally anyone could find something to admire and savour about these books. They are so enjoyable. I hope they carry on for the foreseeable future. Sometimes, all you need is the comfort and this series has that in bucketloads. I remember seeing a couple of episodes when they made a television show from one of the books and it was great too. AMS is a writer I find immersive and every single story in this array of novels is absorbing. Bravo!

The only other book in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series I've read is the first one and so perhaps I should have waited to read books number two to six before jumping straight to the seventh in the series. However, I couldn't resist buying whatever was available when I went to the book store yesterday and in any case, I have maintained a rich tradition of reading books out of order.

It goes without saying that reading this one was as enjoyable as the first one, the warm Botswana sun a welcome relief from the dank darkness of the other mystery novels I've been reading lately. Although, I don't know if this is strictly a detective story; it seems so much more. In this book, Precious Ramotswe, joined by the trusty Mma Makutsi and the very pleasant Rra Polopetsi tackles blackmail, witchcraft, overpriced medicine and dieting. There are loving references to food and spectacularly named people like Phuti Radiphuti (I wanted to speak the name out aloud every time it appeared). People in Botswana must have the most wonderful names, they're like little songs.

In this book too, Alexander McCall-Smith brings out the poetry of the everyday. The book engages you because it captures life as it actually is, with both little comedies and little tragedies, things insignificant and profound. The last few pages are characteristic of this, they talk about fruit cake and the traditionally built, but McCall-Smith chooses to end the book with such moving words: "And in her mind's eye she saw the winding paths of Mochudi, and the cattle pens, and the small walled-off plot of ground where a modest stone bore the inscription, Obed Ramotswe. And beside the stone there were wild flowers growing, small flowers of such beauty and perfection that they broke the heart. They broke the heart."

It doesn't matter that the book is about people who - on the surface - are different from you. I've never been to Africa and I'm not traditionally built but I find it easy to connect to the characters and look at them as they are, not as detectives or mechanics or even just Batswana. Yes, they are from a foreign land, but they are also like people you might meet on your own street. I love the basic goodness of the characters. They are certainly not without failings but, and this is the important thing, they choose to do the right thing, they choose to overlook sadness and defeat and focus the good.

When I first flipped through the book, moving past the blurbs, one caught my eye partly because it was from someone other than the usual writers that write these things, but also because I though the review captured the secret to the success of the series. This is what the bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers had to say, and I agree: "I highly recommend them if you like to be happy."

There is only one thing wrong with this series in my opinion: that is that there appear only to be 9 books! Despite rationing myself to reading these interspersed with various other reading matter, to eke out the supply, once I begin reading one I can do so in one or two sittings, and find it impossible to restrain myself to reading a section or a chapter at a time.
This is partly due to the contruction of these books. Instead of each story or chapter tackling one particular investigation, the cases of the agency, the business of the garage and the private concerns of the small community of people who work under the combined roof of the two businesses, the garage and the detective agency: Mma Ramotswe and J.L.B. Matekoni, the couple who own the two businesses, Mma Makutsi working for the agency, the two apprentices for the garage, Mr. Polopetsi working for the garage but sometimes also for the agency, the two children Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni was persuaded to adopt, and Mma Potokwani from the orphanage, and now too Phuti Radiphuti - all are interleaved and intermixed, in the way life is not full of clean distinctions between work and family life.
AMS treats the phsical happenings and the thoughts and hopes and worries of the group of people with equal gentleness and in this volume even one of the mechanics who has been a shadowy sketch before, begins to blossom into a human with frailties, fears and dreams.

Why would one not wish for more of such easy, satisfying reading, whether under blue equatorial skies or merely escaping the grey, rainfilled ones of Western Europe?

Mma Ramotswe and Mma Maketoni continue to sleuth and contemplate life in Botswana. We are joined by a new character at Tolkweng Speedy Motors, a Rra Polopetsi - part garage assistant/part detective. In addition, Mma Maketoni now has a fiancee. The apprentices continue thier antics and girl chasing, the ladies contemplate shoes and weight, and Rra JLB Maketoni continues to work on engines.

I did not find this selection as engaging as some of the others. The various sub-plots were slow to develop and the resolution to the "mysteries" rather uninspiring and without context. One day Mma Ramotswe is trying to figure things out, nothing makes sense, no leads and the next day it's all come together and problem solved over bush tea.

It was a bit of a struggle to continue to pick this one up and finish it.

I'm in Botswana again, so it had to be the next in the series for my travel reading. Another fun read on the exploits of Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi and Rra J.L.B Matekoni here in Gaborone. These books are great wherever read, but being in Botswana always adds that extra back drop to really bring it to life in my head.

Not as good as the previous _In the Company of Cheerful Ladies_ but still quite enjoyable. I know I say it each and every time, but these books make me so happy. I love the peacefulness and the sense of humanity and civility engendered by Mma Ramotswe and the cast of characters. They all seem so gentle.

This book seemed to have more "waxing philosophical" passages than some of the previous books - I enjoyed it, of course, but it brought a slightly different tone.

I think this is my favorite title in the series - it's perfect. I loved the title _Morality for Beautiful Girls_ as well, but this one is the new favorite :)

It contained the right amount of mystery and I felt so much warmth reading the passages and Mma Ramotswe's view on life.

Another simple, gentle writing specimen from McCall Smith, the storylines of the characters have moved forward, but not as much as I would have liked. Looking forward to the next in series, hopefully that will have more action. As always, I loved the Botswana imagery, tid bits about the culture, the moral dilemmas faced and specifically in this one, the question of feminism and body image. You can't help but fall in love Botswana and her people!

CAWPILE 6.29

This series hasn't really aged well :(.