The Full Cupboard Of Life (#34)

With my 2007 Reading Challenge winding down, there will likely be an increased frequency of book-related posts as I play "catch-up" before now and December 28th (full disclosure: I started the challenge on 12/29/06... close enough!), when this now moot "challenge" officially ends. 

And this book should just do wonders for current 2nd Place vote standing for Best GLBT Entertainment / Gossip Blog... reading a novel, with a perceived target audience of middle-aged women, written by an old-ish English guy... and to make matters worse, this is the 5th book in the series!   Granted these books are instant bestsellers, so who knows maybe it will be the Alexander McCall Smith fag-hag voting block that pushes me over the top.  Voting ends Dec 17th (good gosh, another week of this!?!).

So yes, my latest book is The Full Cupboard of Life by Alexander McCall Smith which is the 5th in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series... which continues totally sound like something my "inner child" would get beat up on the playground for if he was found reading it.

But as I will say over and over, the books continue to be quite charming and, dare I say, there is not a more charming protagonist out there than detective Mma (Precious) Ramotswe.  Though of any of the installments thus far, this was by far the lightest in the detective department... more focused on the personal progress of Mma Ramotswe and her fiance Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni (if you've read these book, you must refer to the characters by their full title and name). 

The relative absence of detective work is fine.  It is the little life lessons and cast of characters that are the draw/appeal of these books, not the mystery aspect -- and me thinks fans of that genre would be disappointed by these books (well, at least when it came to the mystery part... I can't imagine too many folks not being won over by Mma Ramotswe).  So, continuing my repetition (and okay, rationalization) about this series, while it kinda is... it really is not a Botswani version of Murder, She Wrote.

I have created a category for Alexander McCall Smith which includes all the books I have read in this and other series.  While it may appear I am apologetic about reading these books, I will fully and gladly admit they are always a pleasant diversion -- a quick, easy, and palate-cleansing reading experience.

2007 10K Reading Challenge:  + 196 pages (Total Pages: 11105 pages)