This Months Book is:
Mark Haddon's Whitbread award winning 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'
It can be bought from most bookshops, some newsagent and supermarkets, and of course online sellers such as Amazon.
This Months Film is:
Casablanca
It can also be bought from most entertainment shops, some supermarkets, and of course online sellers such as Amazon.
'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith
Voted, as the cover proudly proclaims 'one of the International Books of the Year' by the Times Lit. Supplement, this book left me with my lamp switched firmly on and my fingers flicking furiously through the pages until the early hours.
Whilst focusing less on the business of being Botswana's only female private detective and more on the life of the central character Precious Ramotswe, McCall delivers a sensitive yet humorous insight into the life of a pioneering African woman.
What I found most surprising was McCall's precision in his writing; few male authors achieve believable, likeable female characters, yet I really cared about this character and through McCall's writing felt firmly transplanted into her mind and life.
This fiction presents Africa in a new light, showing a middle class rather than the usual ruling cruelty against desperate poverty, tribal groups and violent times normally portrayed. As a reader I was able to identify not only with the thoughts and beliefs of Mme Ramotswe but with her day to day activities. Precious Ramotswe is the woman next door, a lady at the bus-stop or somebody who you might meet in your local shop.
This is a book of depth, emotion, humour, beauty, simplicity and growth. It's something you can let your mother or daughter borrow, something which leaves you hankering for more. Luckily, this book is the first of McCall's series. Three other books are currently available with a fifth publication pending. There has also been a collaboration between film companies Mirage and New Africa Media Films to produce 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.'
8/10: Very enjoyable, and not at all what you might expect.
As the site develops more will be added. If you would like to submit a completed review please email it to [email protected]
