Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tears of the Giraffe and The Kalahari Typing School for Men, by Alexander McCall Smith
Tears of the Giraffe and The Kalahari Typing School for Men are the second and fourth in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Somehow, on my last trip to The Cracked Book, I missed the third. :( Oh well! Luckily this is a series that you don't have to read in order to enjoy.
I read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency a year or so ago, and got the second in the series to take with us to Turks & Caicos earlier this summer. Reading Tears of the Giraffe, I was reminded why I had made a mental note to read the rest of this series. These books are super entertaining, and I find myself laughing out loud as I read them. So I had to go out and get the next (or what I thought was the next) book in the series as soon as I got home!
Mma Precious Ramotswe is the Head Detective/Proprietor of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency in Gabarone, Botswana. The series tells of her many adventures in solving sometimes sad, sometimes hillarious cases that people in her community have. As I read these, I find myself longing for the old days, a simpler life. Precious and her friends and co-workers live in a small town in Africa that is very traditional, they have fairly new technology but aren't attached to cell phones and computers like we are. I don't know, maybe I just want to go to Africa. :)
Regardless, Tears of a Giraffe and The Kalahari Typing School for Men were great easy reads that provide lots of laughs, a couple of tears (more in an, "aww, how sweet!" way than a sad way), and some good old fashioned lessons in morality. I highly recommend the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series if you want a good set of books for a beach or pool read!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by JK Rowling
In anticipation of the release of Book 7, I decided to read Book 6 again. In the past, before each release, I’d reread all of the previous books. This time that was gonna be a little too time consuming, and I have the advantage of being able to watch condensed versions of the first 5 books in movie form, so it was just a revisit to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince that was required to prepare.
I was glad I decided to read this one again. For one thing, when it came out I read it in about 24 hours, so that was a long time ago. I forget things. For another, I just LOVE these books! JK Rowling truly has created a magical world that feels like home when I’m reading her books. When the book’s not in my hands, I find myself daydreaming about what Harry and company are up to at the moment. I can’t wait to find those precious minutes to read more.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is mostly a lead up to the grand finale. In Book 5 (Harry Potter and the Order of the
I still haven’t stopped stopping to think and root for Harry a little bit every now and then. And in 8 short days, I’ll get to find out how it all ends. I am on pins and needles.