This week....

I'm reading

This week my reading is taking me to Greece, more specifically to Santorini. I am reading Summer at the Santorini Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin and really enjoying it! I will have the review for this one up later this week.

We had our read on a theme bookclub meeting last week. The theme was Crime: Fact or Fiction and there were lots of interesting books that were read. Here are just some of them. 

My two books were The Thursday Murder Club and The Woman Who Walks in Sunshine by Alexander McCall Smith, which is part of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. The next theme is related to Writers Festivals,  which could be an author you have seen at a festival before or one who is coming to a writers festival soon. That gives a lot of scope for authors. Not sure who I will choose yet.

I'm watching

Last week we watched the finale of Great Kiwi Bake Off. I don't think we have any new Bake Offs to watch at the moment but I think there should be a new Aussie version soon. Hopefully.

I also managed to watch a few movies this week, and they were all very different from each other. The first one I watched was Love at First Sight movie which was based on the book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith. It is a meet-cute rom-com where our two main characters sit next to each other on a flight from the US to London. It also featured Jameela Jalil as an almost fairy godmother like character. It was a lot of fun and just what I need on that particular day!

We met up with some friends for a long lunch on Saturday and during the course of a wide ranging conversation the movie Leave the World Behind based was recommended. This was based on a book of the same name by Rumaan Alam. I don't normally watch this kind of thriller, but it was definitely watchable. I did find the ending very...abrupt. It felt like there should probably be more movie! I did also find it a bit odd that the Obamas were connected with the movie. They were Executive Producers.

I also finally got to watch the French movie The Taste of Things. If you look up the phrase food porn in the dictionary you will be directed to  watch this movie. There is very little dialogue in the first 39 minutes. It is literally a well choreographed sequence of chopping and cooking, the various characters working in sychronisation as an amazing meal is prepared

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: April Showers

Blog Tour: Widows on the Wine Path by Julia Jarman

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in my Kitchen in March

Six Degrees: Lonely Planet: France to Christmas Pudding

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

This week...

 I'm reading

I mentioned last week that I started reading a book because it was calling to me. Unfortunately, a different book started calling my name and so I ended up reading No. 23 Burlington Square by Jenni Keer instead. I really enjoyed it, so no regrets, but now I need to try and fit the other book in.

I also finished reading Relish by Lucy Knisley. I will have a review up for my reread of that book on the weekend.

Now I need to decide what to read next. Should I read  one of my upcoming blog tour books even though I have about 3 weeks, or just a normal review book, whatever I feel like from my TBR list, or one of the 3 library books I have out. Decisions, decisions.

I also finished listening to Richard Armitage whisper sweet nothings in my ear. Actually he was narrating the book Sylvester by Georgette Heyer. Alway such a treat to listen to one of these books

I wasn't sure what to listen to next. However, last week I tried a new post out called Time Travel Thursday and I was reminded that 10 years ago I was reading one of the books in the No. Ladies Detective Agency and so I decided to listen to The Woman Who Walks in Sunshine, the next book for me in the series. It will also count for my Read on a Theme bookclub as well, so I will have read two books for this month.

I'm watching

We finished a couple of things this week. Firstly, we finished Bake Off : The Professionals which is a show that we love.

We also finished watching Masters of the Air, which is the story of the 100th Bomber Group from WWII. After finishing the last episode, we also watched a documentary called The Bloody Hundredth which features interviews with the actual men who lived the story from the TV series.

Last week, we watched the first part of The Three Musketeers, which was called The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan. This weekend we went and watched the sequel, The Three Musketeers: Milady. Interestingly, both of these movies were filmed at the same time. The end of the movie definitely lends itself to another movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a third movie.

Finally, I felt the need for something a bit fun so I watched Irish Wish on Netflix, which stars Lindsay Lohan. It wasn't bad. Here's the trailer.

Life

Last Tuesday night we went to see Pink in concert. This is the third time I have seen her live. The first two times it was in an arena, but this time it was in a stadium, so just Pink, her band and dancers, and 59998 other people! She always puts on an amazing show.

I also did a cooking class for a Maltese Easter treat called Fogilla. I am looking forward to sharing that experience with you all in a couple of weeks.

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Read on a theme bookclub

Time Travel Thursday 

Blog Tour: The Bordeaux Book Club by Gillian Harvey

Weekend Cooking: Ready, Steady....Cook

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith

In the life of Precious Ramotswe - a woman duly proud of her fine traditional build - there is rarely a dull moment, and the latest instalment in the universally beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series there is much happening on Zebra Drvie and Tlokweng Road. Mma Ramotswe is experiencing staffing difficulties. First, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni asks to be put in charge of a case involving an errant husband. But can a man investigate such matters as successfully as the number one lady detective can? Then Mma Ramotswe has a minor falling out with her assistant Mma Makutsi, who decides to leave the agency, taking her near-perfect secretarial skills with her.

Along the way, Mma Ramotswe is asked to investigate a couple of tricky cases. Will she be able to explain an unexpected series of deaths at the hospital in Mochudi? And what about the missing office supplies at the local printing company? These are the types of question that Mma Ramotswe is uniquely well suited to answer.

In the end, whatever happens, she knows she can count on Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, who stands for all that is solid and true in a shifting world, and there is always her love of Botswana, a country of which she is justifiably proud.

I always enjoy reading The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, and this book, which is the eighth in the series following on from Blue Shoes and Happiness, was no exception. There was a lot going on in the agency and the Tlokweng Road Motors, and there are lots of staff developments in this book as well.

Mma Makutsi is now an engaged woman, but she is still as opinionated and headstrong as ever, but now it is beginning to upset some people. to the extent that both Mma Makutsi and Mma Ramotswe are beginning to feel it in their own relationship. Staff upsets are the last thing that is needed given how busy they are at the moment, but maybe this was just a matter of time. The question is can Mma Makutsi find a glamourous new job, and how will the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency cope without her superior secretarial skills.

In addition, Mr J L B Matekoni has decided that he wants the chance to investigate a case, and so when a client drops by when no one else is around he decides that he will investigate the case of the unfaithful husband, and Precious very graciously allows him to do so, despite her own misgivings, and he does do quite well. Mr Matekoni has his own staffing issues when one of his apprentices wants to leave in order to start his own taxi firm.

In the meantime, there is also the case of the missing stationery items at the local printing firm, and also the case of the mysterious deaths of three people, in the same bed, at around the same time within weeks of each other at Mochudi hospital.

The biggest positive for me in this book was that there seemed to be a bit more character development in the secondary characters in this book than we have perhaps seen in previous books.

The biggest disappointment, although that may not be quite the right word, was with the main mystery in this book, and that is the one about the deaths in the hospital. The only reason I say that is because as soon as Precious started talking about the case, I knew exactly what the outcome was, because I have heard the story before. It is, I think, maybe something of an urban myth. It was still enjoyable to read, but there was certainly no surprise at the outcome for me.

All in all, another fun read. Now I just have to wait for the next one! Good thing Alexander McCall Smith is so prolific!

Rating 4/5

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

In this latest installment in the internationally best-selling, universally beloved series, there is considerable excitement at The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. A cobra has been found in Precious Ramotswe’s office. Then a nurse from a local medical clinic reveals that faulty blood–pressure readings are being recorded there. And Botswana has a new advice columnist, Aunty Emang, whose advice is rather curt for Mma Ramotswe’s taste.

All this means a lot of work for our heroine and her inestimable assistant, Grace Makutsi, and they are, of course, up to the challenge. But there’s trouble brewing in Mma Makutsi’s own life. When Phuti Radiphuti misses their customary dinner date, she begins to wonder if he is having second thoughts about their engagement. And while Mma Makutsi may be able to buy that fashionably narrow (and uncomfortable) pair of blue shoes, it may not buy her the happiness that Mma Ramotswe promises her she’ll find in the simpler things—in contentment with the world and enough tea to smooth over the occasional bumps in the road.

I really love this series - it's such a fantastic way to spend a pleasant few hours, lost in Botswana, sitting in the shade with a cup of bush tea.

The thing about these books is whilst things happen, they are like a series of little events as opposed to a couple of huge story arcs. Amongst the issues that are of concern to Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi this time around are a doctor who appears to be providing incorrect medical advice to his patients, a bad feeling at the wild life refuge, a blackmail scheme, Mma Ramotswe going on a diet and some very nice, but ill fitting blue shoes.

What McCall Smith is so good at is taking really small events, and making them really entertaining little episodes, that are usually extremely entertaining. They can be unusual, as in the case of the cobra which got into the office of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, or everyday, such as where Mma Ramotswe laments the skills of drivers in modern Gaborone. Whatever the case, each episode is given to us with a full measure of wit and charm, served up with a side of the heat, sounds and smells of Africa.

Very enjoyable read!

The books in this series are:

The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency
Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness

Rating 4.5/5