March Read - Spoilers - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

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March Read - Spoilers - The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Dette emne er markeret som "i hvile"—det seneste indlæg er mere end 90 dage gammel. Du kan vække emnet til live ved at poste et indlæg.

1Morphidae
mar 3, 2013, 8:37 am

I'm almost done and really enjoying this book. It's not at all what I expected!

2clamairy
mar 3, 2013, 9:39 am

Can you tell us what you expected? I can't remember what I expected, but I listened to the audio for the first one. I loved the rich accented voice of the narrator and the story just sucked me in. I snagged the book for $1 when I saw it and mailed it to my mom. She loved it so much that I ended up buying the next six books and having them mailed to her, so she read them before I did. I have made it through the first six in the series, and have the seventh sitting here on my 'to be read soon' stack.

3Morphidae
mar 3, 2013, 10:49 am

I was expecting more of a cozy mystery but with an African flavor. Instead, I got vignettes of African life with not a lot of mystery but a whole lot of charm.

4pwaites
mar 3, 2013, 11:24 am

I went to a signing by Alexander McCall Smith once. He said that someone once told him accusingly, "You write happy books."

5clamairy
Redigeret: mar 3, 2013, 12:06 pm

They are happy, but there is darkness and some gritty reality in each one. I've been inspired by this thread to take a break from my current read, and start Blue Shoes and Happiness.

Has anyone read any of his other series?

6Morphidae
mar 3, 2013, 11:37 am

I LOVE happy books.

7pwaites
mar 3, 2013, 12:46 pm

I've read the Scotland Street books, and a few others. Scotland Street and Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency are by far my favorites.

8MrsLee
mar 3, 2013, 1:47 pm

When I first read it, I had the same expectations and delight that Morphy is finding. Also, for some reason, I thought the author was a female. See, I don't read any of the introductions, or things on the cover before I read a fiction like that, I read them after. I was shocked, SHOCKED to find it was a male. I almost felt violated in my feminine "mystic" by him. ;)

I've read all but the last two, I think, and love all of them. I've only read one of the Scotland Street books, and it didn't have the same warm feeling as this series does, but it wasn't a bad book. I have several of his various books on my TBR shelves.

I can't remember, does Precious cook pumpkin in the first book? It sounds so appealing, and yet, I know its limitations! Also, I have tried the Roobis tea spoken of and drunk with great enthusiasm in these books. Let's just say it must be an acquired taste. To me, it tastes more of the barnyard than of a refreshing hot tea.

9hfglen
mar 3, 2013, 1:54 pm

#8 MrsLee, my parents' generation remember Rooibos tea as a wartime substitute for the real thing. Nowadays it's promoted as Caffeine-free, Healthy and Good For You ... come to think of it, you could say the same for castor oil. Some years ago there was uproar in the chattering press when it was announced that the Germans were having a barney with the main producer in Clanwilliam (200 miles north of Cape Town) because of the amount of rat droppings in the export product; it turned out that at that time all rooibos was dried on open concrete floors in the fresh air. Since then they have taken steps to keep the rats out.

Anyhoo, hands up those who perceive that like you, I loathe the stuff.

10GeorgiaDawn
mar 3, 2013, 4:44 pm

I just ordered the first book in the Scotland Street series and Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency series. They will be here Wednesday!

11Marissa_Doyle
mar 3, 2013, 5:21 pm

>3 Morphidae: Morphy, that was exactly my reaction. They are charming and happy books, but I was somehow expecting a little more...something. They're very restful, though.

12SylviaC
Redigeret: mar 3, 2013, 10:09 pm

This is a re-read for me, but it has been years since the other time I read it. I just finished chapter eight, and I'm finding that there's a lot more unpleasantness than I remembered. My overall memory was feel-good, happy, sunshine and fresh air. I'm still getting a lot of that general mood, but with unexpected flashes of darkness.

I'm curious about the honourifics. There have been Mma and Mme for women, and Rra for men. Does anyone know what these stand for, and how they would be pronounced?

13Marissa_Doyle
mar 3, 2013, 10:20 pm

I had assumed the Mma and Mme stood for Madama or Madame...? No idea about Rra, though.

14tardis
mar 3, 2013, 11:22 pm

from this article: http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/no-1-ladies-detective-agency-author-alexa...
"(That "Mma"? It's a Setswana honorific for women, the equivalent of "Madam," pronounced "mah," with a slight hesitation on the "m." Men are addressed as "Rra," pronounced "rar.")"

15SylviaC
mar 4, 2013, 8:12 am

Thank you!

16Morphidae
mar 4, 2013, 8:19 am

I've ordered the next book from the library. I think this is my favorite Green Dragon group read.

17SylviaC
mar 4, 2013, 11:31 pm

I'm finished now. I liked it a lot, enjoyed the characters, pace and atmosphere, but I don't have any great urge to read more of them. I think that's more because I'm avoiding any series, rather than due to any failing of the book.

18reading_fox
mar 5, 2013, 5:08 am

#5 "Has anyone read any of his other series?"

Yes. They're very different. I've only read the first ones and didn't get on at all. Equally rambling but without any of the charm that makes LDA such a happy book. OH however much prefers them. That's people for you.

As a series I began to get a bit bored. I've read as far as 9 I think, and it's now up to 13 or so. I probably do need to re-read them at some point.

19clamairy
Redigeret: mar 5, 2013, 8:30 am

#18 - I understand. I've found I can't read them back-to-back. Actually there are very few authors I can read back-to-back. The seams start to show, if you know what I mean. I hate seams. :oD (I don't mind being manipulated as long as I can't tell it's happening.)

20katylit
mar 8, 2013, 8:13 pm

I do love this series. I got both my sisters hooked on it too. So much so, that one sister went to a McCall book signing and got Blue Shoes and Happiness signed for each of us. Great fun. This is one series I have in both audio and dead-tree versions, I have enjoyed both experiences equally.

I love Mma Ramatswe's love of her "daddy" and their relationship. I thought it very dear.

I have tried Rooibos tea a number of times, trying to like it, but, nope, just not going to happen. Blech!

21MrsLee
mar 8, 2013, 11:53 pm

Has anyone here watched the TV movies made of the books? I don't think the series lasted very long, but I loved it.

22pwaites
mar 9, 2013, 10:22 am

21> I also love the series! It is the only TV series that we have on DVD.

23ronincats
mar 9, 2013, 11:40 am

I just finished the book and found it charming. The love of Africa and the Botswana people is so palpable, and yet not blind. I find myself surprisingly uncomfortable, however, that it was written by a white man, no matter that he grew up there and has been involved in legal and musical support there as an adult. Is that silly of me? It is not that he failed to do his black female justice--she is a marvelous character.

24MrsLee
mar 9, 2013, 2:26 pm

#23 - I wondered the same thing, but then I read somewhere that the series is a best seller in Botswana, so apparently they don't mind. Really, a good author brings his characters to life, if the author has a feel for them, then race or gender shouldn't matter. I think my reaction is more amazement that a person can get to the depths of anyone other than themselves.

25hfglen
mar 10, 2013, 2:11 pm

#23 FWIW, when I was an undergraduate at Witwatersrand Uni, the Prof of African Languages was a white man called Desmond T. Cole, who had grown up in what was then Bechuanaland. He was also a fully-fledged Motswana.

The story had a delightful ring of familiarity and authenticity that made two minor slips stand out. One was about halfway through where Mma Ramotswe is thinking about the local spring flowers -- no, Mma, your aloes flower in midwinter, not springtime with the others named. And later on Mochudi unaccountably moves from the east (where it is) to the west side (where it isn't) of the main road northwards from Gaborone. But every other landmark mentioned in the story is correct, and can be found on a Gaborone town plan or map of southern Africa. Wonderful!

I may well pick up others in the series from the library; I think they have some.

26SpicyCat
mar 11, 2013, 5:10 am

I enjoyed the book(s). I think the love of Botswana comes through, and i loved some of the descriptions. I liked to that it shows real life, not just the Africa of the wildlife shows.

27majkia
Redigeret: mar 11, 2013, 7:35 am

25 - Thanks for that background! Not a part of the world many of us are familiar with.

28hfglen
Redigeret: mar 11, 2013, 2:14 pm

Thank you, majkia. The unfamiliarity can, of course, be rectified ;-)

I wonder if one day we should consider a read of one or two of Herman Charles Bosman's Marico stories, to give a view of the "other" side? (Marico is about 200 km / 120 miles east-by-south of Gaborone, and Bosman's farmers were almost completely uneducated, very narrow-minded and yet bush-wise and not without a soul.

ETA:

" I know why you are all here. You are all here because Flip du Preez told you I am the biggest liar in the Marico. That is not so. I, Schalk Lourens, am the greatest storyteller in the Marico ... " Delivered, please, in the most guttural Seffrican accent you can manage.

29hfglen
mar 12, 2013, 2:12 pm

By the way, concerning the muthi "murder" that underlies some of the later chapters.

I suspect most urban people in southern Africa would react the way Mma Ramotswe and J.L.B. Matekoni did, at least in public. Nevertheless, muthi murders still happen, more often than one may wish. One hit the local newspapers a week or 3 back, as tends to happen here (in KZN) every month or 2.