Book Review: The Sunday Philosophy Club

To an outsider, it is often difficult to distinguish if one is Scottish, English, Welsh or Irish (for those who come from the Protestant North).

For us, they are all British.

It is only when I started reading Alexander McCall Smith's book on his character Isabel Dalhousie, who is Scottish, based in Edinburgh, did I realize that even if they are British, they are proud Scots as well, with temperaments that are a bit different from their southern fellowmen.

It is always eye-opening when a fiction writer delves on these character studies as well as vivid descriptions of the place, that allows the reader to understand the subtle cultural variances between two groups of people that appear homogeneous to the rest of the world.

Once again, the novel is set Edinburgh, and it's definitely now on my wish list of places to visit in the future! I would love to retrace the steps that Isabel takes as she walks around her favorite city.

Parang I want to borrow nga this style of writing, of using actual street names, and describing actual neighborhoods, this time, supplanted in the more hot and tropical busting city of Metro Manila.

This installment of the Isabel Dalhousie series is more interesting, not only because of the philosophical dilemmas the character presents to the reader, but also because there is a sinister act that happens in the beginning which first, looked like a suicide, but, later on, could possibly be a murder!

That's why I was always turning the page to find out the real score!

Definitely, another agreeable read from Smith!

Older Woman, Younger Man: Quotable Quotes from The Right Attitude to Rain

The book I just finished reading (Alexander McCall Smith's The Right Attitude to Rain) is about a woman in her early 40's, well-off, beautiful and a successful editor of a philosophy journal, who falls in love with Jamie, a much younger attractive man.

Yun lang, Jamie was a recent ex-bf of Isabel's niece, Cat, who has been changing boyfriends in an attempt to find the RIGHT one.

Kaya ayun, the novel has some very interesting hugot lines.

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"To him she was just another friend, nothing more, and one could talk like that to a mere friend. And that, she thought, is my personal tragedy. As long as I am afraid to tell him of my love, to confess it to him, then I shall have to pretend that we are just friends on this level."

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"For each of us, she thought, there is our completeness in another. Whether we find it or not, or it finds us, or it eludes all finding, is a matter of moral luck."

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"When you are with somebody you love the smallest, smallest things can be so important, so amusing, because love transforms the world, everything."

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"Why should I not love him? she asked herself. How absurd that we should deny ourselves something when our moment of life is so brief, our very world is transitory."

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All that mattered, therefore, was that happiness and love should have their chance, their brief chance, in this life, before annihilation and the nothingness to which we were all undoubtedly heading, even our sun, which was itself destined for collapse and extinction, signifying the end of the party for whomsoever was left.

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She did not have to apologize for Jamie; she did not have to apologize to anybody for her happiness.

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Human affairs though, were reduced to monetary calculation all the time, and marriage had traditionally been about money every bit as much as it had been about love.

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'Be prepared to shed tears when you get to my age and you think back on lost opportunities. Somebody asked me to live with.....' there was the briefest hesitation and then, '........with her. I said no, because people would talk.'

'We shouldn't care so much about disapproval', said Isabel. 'But we do, don't we?'

Book Review: The Right Attitude to Rain

The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith brings you to the beautiful city of Edinburgh in Scotland. As you read the novel, the author allows you to be in the city as well, as he describes portions of the city and the pace of life in this capital city.

I will certainly use this book as a guidebook of sorts if I do get a chance to visit this city soon! I could trace the footsteps of the main character as she makes her way in and around her home city.

This is a pretty introspective novel as almost no action happens, and most everything is dependent on the moral judgments and philosophical decisions of the main character Isabel Dalhousie.

The pacing is almost glacial, there would be times you'd be tempted to put the book down, but there are many philosophical musings here that can be used as hugot lines for the more hopeless romantic of persuasion.

Now I understand why writing has to have action and why there has to be antagonists in the story. There is almost no obstacles that bar the way of the main character that the story can be dull and uninspiring, since she practically has everything she wants in life.

However, I plod on reading because I find uncomplicated lives like Isabel same to mine and how I look at life. The less complications, the less drama, the less stress, more happiness. Sadly though, lives like mine and Isabel Dalhousie don't make an interesting read.

Book Review: The Full Cupboard of Life

It's been a long time since I've read the works of just one author over an extended period of time.

When I was growing up, Papa and Mama introduced me to Agatha Christie so throughout grade school, her books were the ones I was reading.

As an adult, there were some authors I like whose novels I'd buy agad when I see them - light stuff from authors like Maeve Binchy and Anne Tyler - among others.

Lately, when Book Sale sold most of the collection of British writer Alexander McCall Smith, ayun, inubos ko na lahat, although I'm not sure if I have all his books in my collection.

Most of his books are centred on this female detective character he created called Precious Ramotswe who is from Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.

The Full Cupboard of Life is the seventh book of his that I've read and the nth one about the adventures of Precious.

It's actually very light reading. I am more interested about how Smith describes the unique culture of Africa and their concepts of community and family. It's also in this book where Precious finally marries Rra J.L.B. Matekoni.

Hillary Clinton had a book called "It Takes A Village" and that title is taken from a concept in Africa that it would take a village to raise a child. It is one of the many beautiful concepts that are truly African in nature - and Smith integrates that into the stories and adventures of Precious.

Book Review: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

I've been shying away from reading heavy stuff for now because I don't want to add stress to my already stressful existence by reading something very serious or heavy. In times like this, one of my go-to authors has been Alexander McCall Smith.

This Zimbabwe-born Scottish author has created a female detective protagonist that would make Africans proud. He has written a set of novels, all set in Botswana, all about the adventures of Mma Precious Ramotswe, a traditionally built African woman who solves detective cases for her clients in Gaborone.

Because of this series of novels, Botswana is one of the countries I would love to visit in the future. I think it's one of the more stable African countries economically and politically. It does not boast of any impressive natural structures but just verifying things that have been written about the country would be adventure enough for me.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Precious finally gets to put a dot into her tempestuous relationship with her very first lover, the wife-beater Note Mokoti. Her assistant, Mma Makutsi, finally finds a husband as well.

A lot of wonderful and crazy things also happen in the story, all reflecting the unique way of life in Gaborone, Botswana - like tracking a van through a desert, or finding out that there are illegal drinking places there as well, and that ballroom dancing is a popular way to meet your next mate!

And that like anywhere in the world, there is prejudice against people who are not locals, like South Africans or Zambians or even the native peoples of the Kalahari Desert!

I have been drawn to reading his books, especially those that are set in Botswana, because the life depicted there is so organic and so different from the urban haze and maelstrom that is Metro Manila.

Yes, I can feel the extreme heat that the book describes, and I'm a bit wary of encountering wild animals like leopards and poisonous snakes. But it's one of those rare novels that feature a place that is not commonly featured by other authors. Only someone who actually grew up there or have lived there, will have the confidence to write about the place and its people and all their unique nuances.

Book Review: The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Visiting Botswana is in my bucket list mainly because I've known so much about the country because of these fiction books written by Alexander McCall Smith, who is actually a lawyer specializing in medical law, whatever that is.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is already the third book I've read about Botswana and in a way, because of Smith's insightful description of the country, one actually feels like you are really treading the busy streets of its capital Gaborone, or getting lost in the bush or finding a way to avoid a crocodile while navigating its rivers.

What makes his books special is that the main protagonist is a woman and a detective at that, and a black African! The book has since become a BB TV show and I was lucky enough to catch it in HBO several years ago.

I prefer the books though because there are some nuances that does not translate well on the big screen, since the focus is more on the action, rather than establishing the mood and atmosphere of the setting.

This is a light read and the detective cases are not so complex and actually involves more of reading human nature and the lead protagonist, Mma Ramotswe, knows a lot about it.

Book Review: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

I only realized now I read three Alexander McCall Smith books one after the other!  The Good Husband of Zebra Drive focuses on the impending marriage of Precious Ramotswe, the lead protagonist of this detective series, to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.  

This book gives you an insight into what modern Botswana women are looking for in a good husband.  What is also interesting about McCall's Smith books is how the lead detective uses common sense and street psychology to ferret out the people doing bad things.  As they say, sometimes, you just need a bit of psychology to figure out the good people from the naughty ones!

Book Review: 44 Scotland Street

Alexander McCall Smith takes a respite from Botswana in this book, and brings us a glimpse of his hometown, Edinburgh, Scotland.  The title refers to the address of Pat, the lead character of the book and all her quirky neighbors.

I thought at first that I wouldn't like this book because of its departure from the usual things Mr. McCall Smith writes, but I was in for a surprise!  His eye for detail and observant nature allows you to see the concerns and problems of his own fellow Scotsmen - and women!  

There's an ensemble here of characters that would seem like a modern bourgeois version of Downton Abbey - there's the rugby hunk, Bruce, the domesticated intellectual, Domenica, and a host of other interesting personnages. Each character here has his or her own concerns - and opinions of each other - and the author allows us a glimpse of his beloved city as well!

This could be a good material for a TV movie or a series as each character can bloom on their own, as the series progresses.

Book Review: Morality For Beautiful Girls

I am now a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith so much so that when I found many of his books for sale at the Book Sale in North EDSA, ayun, inubos ko na lahat. He's actually a professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and only started writing his books in 1999.  Interestingly, he doesn't write like a lawyer - so no gobbledygook-y kind of words in his prose!

He is most famous for The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency and what hooked me on this book turned HBO TV series was that it was set in Gaborone, Botswana - and the lead protagonist is a woman!!  I can only think of two other female detectives that I've read of - Agatha Christie's Jane Marple and V.I. Warsawshki - in a role popularized by Kathleen Turner.

Morality for Beautiful Girls is one of the books in his detective series and once again, it's set in Botswana!  What I like about the book is that McCall Smith allows you to be immersed into a culture and way of life so different from the frenetic urban life we are used to.  Add to that the threat of lions and leopards and a lot of wild animals - this is Africa after all - plus the threat of droughts and lack of water - then you don't just need one evil antagonist to deal with!

It's a very easy and relaxing read and reveals also a lot about how Africans think about life and morality. In a society which is still tightly knit in a family way - morality and being upright is still something people aspire for.  After reading his series of books, going to Botswana is in my bucket list, but the truth is - I don't even know how to begin getting a visa to the country!  Oh well, all things will just fall into place soon!

Book Review: The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith

HBO's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency was one of my favorite TV shows when it was shown here a few years ago.  It starred R&B singer Jill Scott in the titular role of Mma Ramotswe. I loved the show because it was set in Botswana and although it was a show about detectives catching bad people, it was not violent or made you really tense.  It was practically relaxing to watch it!

I learned later on that the TV show was actually based on a series of books by Alexander McCall Smith.  I was lucky enough to buy one of his books in Book Sale and this one was entitled "The Kalahari Typing School for Men".  It's a very relaxing read and it's both funny and entertaining because you see a different Africa here - very polite, very respectful, and definitely poverty porn.

I wish I could find more of Mma Ramotswe's adventures soon in print.  Will be scouring for them one at a time!