The Kalahari Typing School for Men

It's back to school for the kids and hopefully it'll be back to more reading and blogging for me!

I'm looking forward to spending time once again in the company of Mma Ramotswe and the cast of characters in the fourth book in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith. My book arrived in the mail today and I 'm eager to begin reading it. While I don't judge books by their covers--literally--I must say that these books are lovely to look at. I wish I had a decent picture of the inside cover to post. The book designer(s) use African geometric designs and contrasting colors to enhance the visual experience of these books. They are wonderful outside and inside.

Many of us think of Africa as being very poor, people starving everywhere, horribly afflicted by AIDS. While Africa does suffer greatly from poverty and an AIDS epidemic, that is only part of the picture. Alexander McCall Smith shows us another side of Africa, where people own small businesses and actually enjoy life. Far from starving, Mma Ramotswe is "traditionally built". She has her own detective agency in Botswana and forges a unique career in this series of books. An outstanding detective, Mma Ramotswe also helps her secretary in many ways (I won't spoil it by telling you too much) and is the type of employer we'd all like to work for, one who truly cares about people and their success, not just her own well-being.

If you don't hear from me for a few days, you can be pretty sure I'm happily continuing my African adventure with The Kalahari Typing School for Men.

More Summer Reading

One of the best things about vacations is that when there's not that much to do, you really get a chance to read and relax. I finished The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. Guess what? It's another great romance by Sparks. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who might read it, but will just say that there are actually a few important choices to be made. Now I've read all of Sparks' books, except for The Rescue and The Lucky One (out this September).

For a couple of years now I've been hearing about these books by Alexander McCall Smith. To be honest, I didn't really have much interest in them, because I've never been a big fan of mysteries. However, I found a copy of the first in this series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, and am already about halfway through this intriguing book, which features Mma Precious Ramotswe of Botswana, known as Mma Ramotswe. It's not really a mystery per se but a novel about a detective. The real mystery is why it took me so long to give these books a chance!