#alexander mccall smith

[nobeerreviews]

At night we are all strangers, even to ourselves.

-- Alexander McCall Smith

(Cluj, Romania)

[johbeil]

Mal eben aufs Klo gegangen

und dabei zwei weitere Seiten des vermutlich spannungslosesten Krimis aller Zeiten gelesen. Es ist Seite 43 und noch ist nichts auch nur annähernd Kriminelles passiert. Was haben wir bisher erfahren? Der Verlobte der Detektivin soll für eine Bekannte seiner Verlobten zur Werbung für ein Waisenheim aus einem Fallschirm springen und weiß nicht, wie er sich da herauswinden soll. Er ist kein Typ…

[shortace]

Favourite and most relatable sentence I've ever read in a book: "She had nothing to do (ignoring, for the moment, everything else on the list)."

[crispapples]

This is so funny and so sweet. I didn’t expect to like this book, let alone love it.

“Ranald Braveheart Macpherson looked disappointed. ‘It’s a pity it’s not a body,’ he said. ‘It would have been really exciting to have found a body, Bertie. We could have taken it to school to show people.’

Bertie did not reply. He did not think it likely that his mother would allow him to keep a body in his flat; there were so many restrictions in his life, and that was just one more of them.”

-A time of Love and Tartan (44 Scotland street #12)

By Alexander McCall Smith

I admit this quote is probably better with the context of the whole book, although that probably applies to most quotes. I read this book as a stand-alone, and having never read a book by Alexander McCall Smith it was a pleasant surprise to have enjoyed it as much as I have.

Would recommend!

4⭐️/5⭐️

[auntieblues]

“This was a townscape raised in the teeth of cold winds from the east; a city of winding cobbled streets and haughty pillars; a city of dark nights and candlelight, and intellect.” ― Alexander McCall Smith, The Sunday Philosophy Club

[zippocreed501]

AUTHOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

'Serial novels have an unexpected effect; they hook the writer as well as the reader.'

'Any author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do.'

'Many of my books are written from a female perspective. I rather enjoy the take that women have on the world, and certainly I enjoy the conversations that women have.'

'As a writer I've learned certain lessons. One of them is to be careful about how you put a view, and to bear in mind how easily and readily you'll be misinterpreted.'

'As a writer, you have to realize that people want to like the characters, so you have to be careful to keep them involved.'

Author Extraordinaire Alexander McCall Smith

[cinematic-literature]

The Eternal Daughter (2022) by Joanna Hogg

Book title: The Full Cupboard of Life (2004) by Alexander McCall Smith

[life-in-marigold]

Fictional women to aspire to #2

Precious Ramotswe

From The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Puts people in their place without being unkind or unfair.

Gives Mma Makutsi a promotion even when the Agency isn’t doing well.

Gives people a second chance.

Accepts people who are different, like Puso.

Marries the kindest man in Gaborone.

Doesn’t blame Mr J. L. B Matekoni when he adopts the children without telling her.

Stands up for people who can’t stand up for themselves.

Is proud of her traditional build.

Prioritises tea time.

[poniatowskaja]

Von Igelfeld sat down in the reception room and picked up the first magazine he saw on the table before him. He paged through it, noticing the pictures of food and clothes. How strange, he thought - what sort of Zeitschrift is this? Do people really read about these matters? He turned a page and began to read something called the Timely Help Column. Readers wrote in and asked advice about their problems. Von Igelfeld’s eyes opened wide. Did people discuss such things in open print? How could anybody talk about things like that? He read a letter from a woman in Hamburg which quite took his breath away. Why did she marry him in the first place, if she knew that was what he was like? Such men should be in prison, thought von Igelfeld, though that was not what the readers’ adviser suggested. She said that the woman should try to talk to her husband and persuade him to change his ways. Well! thought von Igelfeld. If I wrote that column I would give very different advice. In fact, I should pass such letters over to the police without delay.

Alexander McCall Smith, Portuguese Irregular Verbs

[sweetcardamom]

I think these are often the best kind of stories. Alexander McCall Smith writes a lot of this.

Not every story is about seeing yourself in it. Sometimes it’s about learning to see other people too.

[milesbutterball]

I must help whomsoever asks for my help. That is my duty: to help other people with the problems in their lives. Not that you could do everything. Africa was full of people in need of help and there had to be a limit. You simply could not help everybody; but you could at least help those who came into your life. That principle allowed you to deal with the suffering you saw. That was your suffering. Other people would have to deal with the suffering that they, in their turn, came across.

[darklingichor]

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, by Alexander McCall Smith

In this one, Mma Ramotswe has a few things to contend with. First is that Mma Makutsi is pregnant, but not wanting to discuss it, even down to taking maternity leave.

And then two cases, one in which a lawyer suspects that the person set to inherit a client's farm isn't who he says he is, and the other a the owner of The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon is getting threats and is being smeared about town.

With our other characters, Mma Makutsi and her husband Phuti have to put up with Phuti's traditional and overbearing aunt trying to dictate how the new baby is handled. Mma Ramotswe's husband, Mr. JLB Matekoni is doing his best to be a more modern husband.

The main theme of this book is the pull between traditional values and more modern ideas and it is mostly determined that a mix of both is best.

I... didn't like this one much. It started off promising, I liked all the stuff with Mma Makutsi having her baby and how excited everyone was. The Solon mystery was interesting an honestly finished up well, the lawyer's case started off sort of dull and then got weird.

I did like Mr. JLB Matekoni's plot line, the bit with the potatoes was so cute!

I'm not sure what the problem was here. It just sort of felt... washed out, if that makes any kind of sense. Compared to the other books, this one just wasn't as rich as feeling. Still, 14 books and only two so-so ones is a pretty good track record!

[mygrowingcollection]

Alexander McCall Smith

[judgingbooksbycovers]

From a Far and Lovely Country

By Alexander McCall Smith.

[boldlymagnificentperson]

12esima: A. McCall Smith, Le lacrime della giraffa, Tea

Da Rosa Ghislandi riceviamo Le lacrime della giraffa di Alexander McCall Smith. A questo proposito Rosa ci scrive: “Un thriller etnico arguto e divertente. <<Con le avventure di Precious Romotswe la prima e unica detective del Botswana, terra di pace e di minimi reati, Alexander McCall Smith ha portato nella sterminata galassia del giallo un tocco delicato come una tazza di tè rosso sorteggiato…

[deepinkletterpress]

January 2024 print of the month is a literary quote by mystery author Alexander McCall Smith.