Blue Shoes and Happiness: Don't Read this Post

I've been reading this book quickly, eager to learn the significance of the title, Blue Shoes and Happiness. In chapter thirteen, the mystery is over. PLEASE STOP READING NOW if you want to be surprised by what happens; read an older post, navigate away from this site, shut down your computer, get back to work, grab a snack--do whatever you must to stay uninformed.

Are you still reading? Okay, but don't blame me for revealing too much. If you've read some of these books you may have surmised that Mma Makutsi, with her penchant for shoes (she already has a pair of green shoes with sky-blue linings), will be involved. She cannot resist a fashionable blue pair "with delicate high heels and toes which came to a point" while out shopping with Mma Ramotswe. In fact, Mma Makutsi is positively smitten by them, decides she must have them, and purchases them. Unfortunately, she tries wearing them, intent on "breaking them in", but they are not suited for her "traditionally built" feet, and cause her pain. She cannot walk in them, and later confesses to her understanding friend and employer, Mma Ramotswe:

"They are a bit small for me, Mma," she confessed. "I think you were right. But I felt great happiness when I wore them, and I shall always remember that. They are such beautiful shoes."
Mma Ramotswe laughed. "Well, that's the important thing, isn't it, Mma? To feel happiness, and then to remember it."
"I think that you're right," said Mma Makutsi. Happiness was an elusive thing. It had something to do with having beautiful shoes, sometimes, but it was about so much else. About a country. About a people. About having friends like this.
~Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith

Blue Shoes and Happiness: In the Company of Snakes and Feminists

Imagine a cobra coiled up at your feet--would you panic? I don't know much about surviving an encounter with a venomous snake, other than to limit sudden movements which could provoke a snake to strike. Blue Shoes and Happiness takes place in Africa--as do all the books in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series--where snakes are a real danger. In the second chapter of Blue Shoes and Happiness, a snake is discovered in the detective agency office, and while the chapter is humorous it's no laughing matter to deal with this formidable creature:

"And remember that they are as frightened of us as we are of them--possibly even more so." (Omed Ramotswe, Precious Ramotswe's late father) But no snake could have been as terrified as Mma Matkutsi when she saw the hood of the cobra at her feet sway from side to side. She knew she should avert her eyes, as such snakes can spit their venom into the eyes of their target with uncanny accuracy; she knew that, but still found her gaze fixed to the small black eyes of the snake, so tiny and so filled with menace.
~Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith

Needless to say, they survive this frightful snake encounter, and Alexander McCall Smith goes on to write the eighth book in this series. Another "frightening" subject in the book is feminism. What does it mean to women and men in Africa, and elsewhere? Is it something to be feared? When Mma Makutsi tells her fiancé, Phuti Radiphuti, that she's a feminist, after he asks her, she unwittingly scares him off, and soon regrets her "careless words". Phuti, who has not had much experience with women, fears that he'll be "swept aside" by this feminism--he even dreams of a giant broom--and be the target of future criticism and derision. Mma Makutsi's thoughts dwell on this matter and what feminism means to her:

"Of course she believed in those things which feminists stood up for--the right of women to have a good job and be paid the same amount as men doing the same work; the right of women to be free of bullying by their husbands. But that was all just good common sense, fairness really, and the fact that you supported these goals did not make you one of those feminists who said that men were finished. How could they say such a thing? We were all people--men and women--and you could never say that one group of people were less important than another. She would never say that, and yet Phuti Radiphuti now probably imagined that she would."
~Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith

A good way to think about feminism and sexism, in my opinion. Will Mma Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti resolve their misunderstanding and head towards matrimony? My fingers are crossed.

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies: Wise Words

I really enjoy the little bits of wisdom in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of books, and find myself subtly nodding in agreement.

"You are right, Mma, " said Mma Makutsi." We have never had so much happen all at the same time. It is better for things to happen separately. I have always said that." She paused to think for a moment before continuing. "At the Botswana Secretarial College they taught us to do one thing at a time. That is what they said we should do. One thing at a time."
~In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Alexander McCall Smith

This may well be the age of multitasking: we text message, participate in computer chats, listen to music, work, do homework and chores, send and receive email, talk on the phone, and more--all at the same time! It's almost a luxury today to do one thing at a time. Do we feel inadequate unless we're doing several things simultaneously? Is there a shortage of time? Of course, sometimes we have no choice. In the case of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi will not turn down business, and for all of us events in life occur randomly and inconveniently at times. As for me, I have three children, so my own life often feels like a three-ring circus. There's always a lot going on at once.

I'm finished reading In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. The seventh book in the series is Blue Shoes and Happiness. I've been waiting to read this one. The title alone makes me smile.