Re”read”, this time on audiobook, June 2019.

I have yet to find an Alexander McCall Smith series that I haven’t dearly loved. I’ve purchased this series in audiobook form from Audible, and the narration is absolutely wonderful! I feel truly transported to lovely Botswana! The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series is like the very best therapy available. If I listen to the audiobooks in the background while I do household chores, I find myself happy and smiling and calm through them. Yes, there are troubles in the world, but most can be overcome or at least mitigated by a cup of tea and a thoughtful meditation while watching the sunset. I love the gentle humanity of these books. After listening to Mma Ramotswe, the balance of the world always seems tilted toward the good. My chores get completed, yet I feel relaxed and happy, as if I’ve just returned from vacation in Botswana!

Per i libri con protagonista la signora Ramotswe e la sua Ladies’ Detective Agency n. 1, uso uno speciale criterio di valutazione. Mi fanno star bene, ci sono pillole di buon senso cosi semplici, c’è un mondo in via di estinzione, fatto di educazione, rispetto per le tradizioni, saggezza, un mondo in cui è rilassante soffermarsi, fa bene al cuore.
Per questo motivo questi libri avranno sempre le mie quattro stelle.

Another visit to comfortable Botswana and Mma Rawotse’s detective agency. This edition centers around separating and rejoining. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni tries his hand at detecting with expected results. Mma Makutsi decides that she need no longer work at the agency and decides to strike out to find another job. Smith amusingly gives her blue shoes a voice. Charlie, the apprentice, wants to quit and start a cab company. The mysteries are the usual simple items. Mysterious deaths at a hospital resolve in an obvious manner. Is the husband of an obnoxious woman cheating? Smith continues to offer an engaging if not very exciting read, soft shoes for the mind

As fully expected by this point in the series, McCall-Smith delivers light and charming reading mixed with insights into ethical dilemmas and human nature. Mma Ramotswe receives what might be her most serious case yet – three different patients at the local hospital have died mysteriously; all in the same bed. Could it actually be murder? As usual, multiple things are going on at once, so we also hear about secretary Mma Makutsi quitting and looking for another job, apprentice Charlie quitting and deciding to start a taxi company, fiancé JLB Matekoni trying to break into detecting, and oh yes, who is stealing from a local business? This installment is actually a little odd, with many characters who are striving to break out of a mold and do something more – but with an overarching message that this might not be a good thing, and that the status quo is comfortable. Or is the message more that home is a good place? Or that a change isn’t always a change for the better? Hmm.

This one moved along a little slowly for me. I did enjoy the addition of some conflict between Mma R and Mma M - it made their relationship seem more genuine. Poor Charlie! He always seems to get into trouble.

Oitavo livro da deliciosa série AN1MD. Cinco estrelas de puro entretenimento, nada mais que ótimos momentos de leitura tão aconchegante quanto uma xícara de chá... de roibos se possível.
Como sempre nada de tão extraordinário na agência, mas foi tão legal ver o Sr. J.L.B. Matekoni dar uma de detetive lidando com uma cliente rude.
O caso das mortes no hospital teve um desfecho delicado.
Fiquei com muita pena de Charlie, o aprendiz mais velho e sua malfadada Agência Número 1 de Táxi Para Mulheres.
E me levou a pensar o day off de Mma Makutsi que, tendo finalmente um dia todo para si, sem trabalho e outras obrigações, ficou sem saber o que fazer com tanto tempo livre que acabou fazendo... nada! Isso sempre acontece comigo.



Histórico de leitura
01/05/2017


"Muitas vezes encontramos pessoas fazendo o oposto do que elas realmente gostariam de fazer. Havia guardas de prisão gentis, enfermeiras nada amigáveis, professores ignorantes e inúteis..."

"As pessoas geralmente concordam, ser melhor que a esposa acorde antes de seus maridos."

This was a satisfying addition to the Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series. This could also have been titled, "Nearly Everyone Tries Something New and Discovers That Happiness Is Already At Hand." Charlie starts a new business with predictable results, Mr. J.E.B. Matakoni tries his hand at detection, and Mma. Makutsi explores freedom. One of the attractions of these books are the ruminations on how people act, their motivations, their sheer variety. But the thing I like best is the narrator! It is a joy to listen to these books!

Ok, we're up to the 8th installment of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, it's pretty review-proof and/or just not a whole lot to say other than it's another perfectly pleasant literary trip to visit some perfectly pleasant friends (well, Mma Makutsi tends to get a bit crabby at times.

This time around I almost was creating a No. 1 Ladies' drinking game. Mention of Mma. Makutsi's 97% score at Secretarial School? Drink! Reference to Mma. Ramotswe's how-to book Clovis Anderson's "The Principles of Private Detection"? Drink! A woman being described as "traditionally built"? Drink! And to send us over the edge... any mention of tea drinking (and make it a double if it's bush tea)? Drink! Drink! Drink!

Readers know exactly what they're getting when they open one of these books, so it is hard to find any quibbles or, on the flip side, muster up any extra excitement. I'd still say this was an above average installment with a lot of the regulars getting their own little subplots. 3.5 stars, but with the usual guilty pleasure/literary palate cleanser round down to 3 stars.

Sixth read: I can’t believe I’ve read this book now six times

Mma Ramotswe is at it again, solving crimes, wrestling with the complicated nature of people, loving her beautiful Botswana, and always, always, drinking her bush tea.

In this installment, we find her locking horns with her secretary and co-detective, Mma Makutsi, assigning detective jobs to her husband, Mr J B L Matekoni, and discovering even more deeply, what happiness really is.

The detective aspect of the series is wearing thinner and thinner and that is something you either like or not. I don't mind necessarily, but I was somewhat annoyed by the predictable storylines of Mr JLB Matekoni's adultery case and Mma Makutsi's impetuous decisions. Either the characters are allowed to evolve and reach beyond their current habits, or the story needs offer more to chew on. Why is Charlie's predicament so foreseeable, for example? Surely people learn from their experiences and grow. Why does everyone have to stay the same? Surely that's not a challenging view to take as a writer?

It took me a while to finish this book because I did not find it quite as engaging as usual.

Objectively this is not a bad book… Also objectively, that is not a great sign at the start of a review. The atmosphere created by always having a kettle brimming with bush tea on, sparse yet helpful shady acacia trees and a comforting found family dynamic that intermingles coworkers, acquaintances and couples is one that I appreciated deeply. That atmosphere is also the only reason this got more than two stars. The A plot of detective work is not essential to this book at all, it is barely noticeable for the large majority of the book and instead we spend chunks of the novella deliberating on useless information about how roads meander into bushland. As you near the end you then have a rushed conclusion to all points that (for the sake of no spoilers) simply is dissatisfying. Nevertheless, if you want a quick read that makes you feel like you’ve just spent a mildly rambling lunch talking to a cousin who lives in Botswana & tangents endlessly whilst story telling but sets a good scene (and has a really sweet anxious husband) - sure, read it. Did help me out of a reading slump tho! The book ‘Good Omens’ can get screwed for shoving me into that slump head first.