Well, if my reading challenge was supposed to motivate me to read more, it appears to be working. While this is the 3rd "review" of the year, I am already reading my 5th book of 2007... now 75% of the books I have read thus far have been under 300 pages, so I should temper any horn tooting.
So after finishing my last book largely about the Sudanese civil war and genocide, I figured it was probably a good idea to lighten things up a bit. Alexander McCall Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club seemed to be a good fit. For my regular readers, McCall Smith is an author you have seen pretty often around here. Last year, my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to see what all the fuss was over Smith's series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. That was the point of no return. Title protagonist Precious Ramotswe quickly won me over and I devoured the next two installments in fairly quick fashion (the fourth book in the series is currently sitting on my "to be read" shelf).
So, in order to not "run out" of books in that series I decided to give on of Smith's The Sunday Philosophy Club series a try (and he has yet a third... 44 Scotland Street!). Now, while I think Smith really has a knack for book titles, the first one in the series always seems to be pretty darn corny sounding (one big reason I hesitated reading these books in the first place). But, with No 1 Ladies and Sunday, if you can get beyond that you are in for a treat.
I have a difficult time writing about the No. 1 Ladies series, because there really isn't much to say. The books are not deep or thought-provoking pieces of literature, the prose isn't poetic or awe-inspiring... and I make a point to not just regurgitate plot lines in these "reviews," so what's left to say?!
While there are similarities between the two series (spunky female protagonist with a quirky female employee/friend who acts as foil), there is enough different that you don't just think you are reading the same story... just transferred from wiles of Africa to the cosmopolitan setting of the United Kingdom. While I wasn't about to "cheat" on my Precious, Sunday's Isabel Dalhousie slowly won me over. While No 1 Ladies has those little life lessons along the way, Isabel as editor of fictional "Review of Applied Ethics" similarly serves up moral dilemmas that the reader can vicariously participate in as well.
So, expect more McCall Smith books in 2007. They have become my "go to" options after a "tough" book, feeling under-motivated in the reading department, or just to cleanse my literary palette. Now I just have to get over my lingering embarrassment about reading them (in public that is!). The back-cover blurb from The New York Times calls it "the literary equivalent of herbal tea and a cozy fire." Now, if that description (and a quite accurate one!) doesn't extract every ounce of testosterone from my body I don't know what would. But they are quick, enjoyable, and entertaining... so any "wimpy" labels be damned!
2007 10K Reading Challenge: + 244 pages
Damn and double damn you! I'm almost finished book number 2, which admittedly I only started 2 days ago, and now I've 3 more to go to catch up.
Sheesh!
It did work to my advantage that I took a book with me to the Dr's surgery yesterday where the wait was so long that I read over 100 pages, and I'm certainly no speed reader.
I've got a few more lined up, looks like I'm going to be reading on the treadmill, bike, and elliptical now to even attempt to be in the running (so to speak) ;)
Good work!
Posted by: Craig | Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 01:35 PM