Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

A Little Background: I recall seeing The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on the book shelves when it first came out in 1998. I somehow passed it by. Last year I decided to pick it up at a book sale. I placed it in the trunk of my car where it stayed and rattled around for quite a while. When I finally got around to actually reading the book, and cleaning out the trunk at the same time, I literally fell in love with it and read the rest of the books. What took me so long?

Book Description: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith

Mma Ramotswe has never had an inclination for sports and she certainly has no interests in football. She has other things on her mind, her very old and worn little white van for example. And yet, she accepts the case of the mysterious “losingist” football team in all of Botswana. Mr. Leungo Molofololo, “Mr. Football” and one of the richest men in Gaborone has taken Mma Ramotswe into his employ to find out what is wrong with his team The Kalahari Swoopers. Once a winning team, they have lately been losing their matches. Although he has a roster of talented players, Mr. Molofololo suspects one of them is sabotaging the team.

At the same time, Mma Ramotswe has a little mystery of her own going on, namely the ominous knocking sound her decades old little white van has been making. Being traditionally built, Mma Ramotswe would be the first to admit that uneven weight distribution may have something to do with the van’s difficulties. But more than that she feels it has to do with some fundamental sickness deep in the engine itself, the tiny white van was sick at heart.

Whilst pondering these weighty issues, Mma Ramotswe’s assistant, Grace Makutsi is dealing with troubling matters of her own. Her fiancé, Mr. Phuti Radiphuti, has unwittingly hired a new employee, Grace’s arch nemesis at the Botswana Secretarial College. V is for Viper or Violet Sephotho; Viper is an adept description of Ms. Sephotho. After just a few days, the glamorous Violet has become the top saleswoman at the Double Comfort Furniture Shop. Grace is concerned, and rightly so, that Violet has her devious sights set on her unassuming fiancé. But what to do?

My Take: Mma Ramotswe, and the other characters inhabiting the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, seem so real to me and the author writes with such reverence of his homeland. To read this book and the series is to be transported to a different way of life, it’s foreign and yet very familiar. I believe, in fact, that it is us, the western world before we lost track of practicing every day kindness and decency. It’s about family about being stewards of the land, and definitely a simpler way of life before technology grabbed a hold of it. I love this series, it has heart and reading them makes me smile.

About the Author:

Alexander McCall Smith is also the author of the Isabel Dalhousie series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and taught law at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland.

You can Twitter and Facebook with the author if you are so inclined!

The author's thoughts on the HBO series

A clip from The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

The Friday 56 - Jane Austen Ruined My Life

It's Friday and you know what that means...time for The Friday 56 with Tonya and Friends!

Here are the rules:

*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find the fifth sentence.
*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here's my entry: Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo

Adam glanced down at my feet. “Too bad there’s no mat with a key under it.”

His offhand comment sparked a memory. I looked toward the yew tree. “I wonder…” I moved toward it. The ancient branches grew almost to the ground. I pushed aside some leaf obstacles and disappeared into the tree’s shadow.

Have a great Friday!

The Friday 56 - Diana, Her True Story

It's Friday and you know what that means...time for The Friday 56 with Tonya and Friends!

There are rules:

*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.

*Turn to page 56.

*Find the fifth sentence.

*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here's my entry: Diana, Her True Story by Andrew Morton

A doctor came and saw me. I told him I was being sick. He didn't know what to say because the issue was too big for him to handle. He just gave me a pill and shut me up.

It was all very strange, I just felt miserable. I knew the bulimia started the week after we got engaged. My husband put his hand on my waistline and said: Oh, a bit chubby here aren't we? and that triggered off something in me - and the Camilla thing, I was desperate, desperate.


Have a great Friday!

Rococo by Adriana Trigiani

A Little Background: I have recently discovered the author, Adriana Trigiani. I have to admit that I had never heard of Ms. Trigiani until recently when I noticed Brava Valentine on the best seller list. That book seemed to be everywhere I looked, even when I wasn’t looking. I went to the library hoping to find it or any of her books and came away with Rococo. Here’s my review.

Book Description: Rococo by AdrianaTrigiani

Remember 1970? If you do, then grab the closest pair of palazzo pants you can find and let’s trip back in time.

A lovely bunch of coconuts reside in Our Lady of Fatina, New Jersey. There is no better way to describe the cast of characters in this book. For Bartolomeo di Crespi or “B” as he is known, there isn’t a home in his corner of the world that he has not decorated to the hilt and tastefully so. But all the accolades in the world will not quell the desire he has had since he was a little boy…and that is…to refurbish and bring a new sparkle to Our Lady of Fatima Church.

The Famiglia: Toot, B’s amusing older sister, divorced for 13 years and still looking to live, as Oprah would say, her authentic life; Christina, B’s widowed cousin who is trying to find a reason to smile again; Two, B’s nephew, feels a need to get his artistic mojo back and wants to quit college; and assorted other relatives near and dear.

The Outlaws: Aurelia Mandelbaum, the richest lady in the neighborhood and Our Lady of Fatima’s chief benefactor, and Father Porporino, the pastor with a big secret.

The Lost Soul: Capri, Aurelia’s myopic 40-year old daughter who has been betrothed to B since birth.

Rounding Out the Cast: Rufus McSherry, the hunky artist; Pedro Alarcon, a stained glass artisan; Edyie Von Gunne, uber-chic international designer.

You’re familiar with the old axion, be careful what you wish for? That is exactly the hot water that B steps into after finally being given the assignment of a lifetime. You can't please everyone and landmines pepper B’s path to success that include the church, the benefactor, the artisans, and even B himself. There’s no turning back now. Listen, miracles do happen.

The book also includes a few family favorite recipes. Here's...

Bartolomeo's Hot Chocolate

1/2 Cup cocoa

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 Cup dark brown sugar, packed

2 Tablespoons confectioner's sugar

1-1/2 Teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/2 Teaspoons coconut flavoring

4 Cups whole milk

Fresh Whipped Cream

1 Cup heavy cream

1/4 Cup confectioner's sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

4 Cinnamon sticks

Mix the cocoa, flour, brown sugar, confectioner's sugar, vanilla extract, coconut flavoring, and milk in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until dry ingredients disolve. Using a whisk, blend well until it steams. In a bowl, whip the heavy cream, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff. Por the minture into 4 mugs, and top with a dollop of whipped creame. Use one cinnamon stick per mug as a stirrer.

My Take: O-M-G, the last time I was in Brooklyn visiting my Italian cousins was back in early 19 – well the date isn’t important! Never mind that the book takes place in New Jersey, there doesn’t seem to be any difference when it comes to family. This lively tome is all about the drama, love, faith, eccentricities, scandal, weddings, babies, ex-husbands, lovers, heck there’s even a Cinderalla story thrown in, that go along with being part of la Famiglia. I loved this book. It makes me want to head to the closest Festa Italiana and get myself a fresh cannoli. I swear on my godmother’s braciole and stuffed artichokes, I will be checking out the rest of Ms. Trigiani’s books.

Meet the Author:

Adriana Trigiani grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia and attended Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She was a writer for The Cosby Show and its spin-off series A Different World before beginning on novels.

In 2001, Trigiani published her first novel, Big Stone Gap. That was followed by three sequels along with other stand alone books including Rococo.

Trigiani is hard at work on a movie version of Big Stone Gap and Very Valentine has found a home at Lifetime Television.

You can visit with Adriana at her website, Twitter and Facebook.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

The Friday 56 - Tea Time for the Traditionally Built

The Rules:

*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.

*Turn to page 56.

*Find the fifth sentence.

*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.

*Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall

She finished her tea and began to walk back into the house. There is plenty of work for love to do. Yes. There was breakfast to be made, and letters to be answered, and the problems in clients' lives to be sorted out.

Dead and Gone

A Little Forward: When the Twilight books were at its peak, someone in the office suggested Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series. While at the Friends of the Library book sale, I happened to find book six in the series, Definitely Dead. I found it to be a creative, interesting and a fun read.

Book Description: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Here’s the story of a lovely lady who had a panther for a brother, a collie for a boss and a vampire for a boyfriend (sung to the Brady Bunch theme). Ok, so this review is not about Marcia, Marcia, Marcia but rather an unusual tale of a girl with the uncanny ability to read people’s minds. She can’t help it, people just tune in to her frequency and broadcast like crazy.

Sookie Stackhouse lives in the Louisiana township of Bon Temps and works at Merlotte’s, a local bar. This sleepy little backwater, along with the rest of the world, is about to get its socks knocked off. Like the vampires before them, Were people (those with the ability to change to animal form) are about to come out of the proverbial closet. In conjunction with a TV broadcast, Sookie’s boss Sam plans his own startling transformation into a collie in front of his patrons at Merlotte’s.

Initially it seemed that the startling revelation went well enough until Sookie arrives at work the next day to find a mutilated body of a young female Werepanther nailed to a cross in the parking lot. Not only does Sookie have to deal with this gruesome crime, she is pursued by FBI agents who want to use her special telepathic talents. And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, there are dueling vampire boyfriends and an all out fae war on the horizon. Oh, yes, did I forget to mention that Sookie has just found out she is part fairy?

Sookie will have to pull it together if she is to survive long enough to figure out who killed the young Werepanther and who is responsible for the attempts on her own life as well.

My Take: With the focus on Were creatures so prominent in this book, I couldn’t help but be reminded of an old 1942 movie Cat People. There wasn’t much in the way of special effects back in the day so you had to envision everything in your mind and we all know what a fertile place that is!

I’m not sure if I’ve grown tired of this genre or if it is just this book. I found it a little disjointed, darker than usual, and the whole Bill/Eric/Quinn boyfriend situation a little frustrating. Who is it going to be Sookie? Well despite having voiced some doubt, I know I will more than likely be following up with Sookie in her latest installment, Dead in the Family, to be published in May. I happen to like the girl.

Meet the Author:

Born in Mississippi, Charlaine Harris now lives in Magnolia, Arkansas and is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for over twenty years. After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris launched a lighthearted series featuring Georgia librarian Aurora Teagarden. In 1996, she released the first of the much darker Shakespeare mysteries, featuring the amateur sleuth Lily Bard. Then came the Sookie Stackhouse fantasy series which also brought HBO knocking at her front door.

Read a great article about Charlaine here. You can Twitter and also Facebook the author. Ms Harris is also a member of The Femmes Fatales.

The Friday 56

I found this great meme hosted by Storytime With Tonya and Friends and thought I might enjoy the fun!



The Rules:

*Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find the fifth sentence.
*Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Post a link along with your post back to Storytime with Tonya and Friends.
*Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Here is my first foray into The Friday 56...

...it's Dead and Gone, the 9th in the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. Stay tuned for a review of the book soon.





There was a traditional cross erected in the employee parking lot, back by the trees where the gravel gave way to dirt. A body was nailed to it. My eyes scanned it, took in the distorted body, the streaks of dried blood, came back up to the face.

Happy Friday!