Il piacere sottile della pioggia

About halfway through this book, I thought to myself, "Is anything ever going to HAPPEN, or do we only get to read about Isabel Dalhousie's anguishing over philosophical questions?" Not that there's anything wrong with that. I think I am as concerned with moral issues as the next person and maybe mor Leggi tutto

Обичам как пише този човек. Как разказва на пръв поглед незначителни, скучни истории, но успява да вмъкне в тях толкова мъдрост и хумор. Усещането от тази книга е като това от приятен дъждовен следобед, които прекарваш у дома в приятна компания или с книга в ръка. Leggi tutto

Aristotle was wrong. When he wrote “Why is it that all men who are outstanding in philosophy, poetry and the arts are melancholic”, he reckoned without Alexander McCall Smith, an author whose expertise in these fields is matched, if not exceeded, by his frivolity. The character of Isabel Dalhousie r Leggi tutto

Rating: 3 disappointed stars of five The Book Report : Isabel Dalhousie, moral philosopher and newly reawakened lust-pot, entertains her American cousin and her husband in this third installment of the Sunday Philosophy Club series of novels. Much happens, all of it spoilery, but one big thing occurs Leggi tutto

In creating the character of Isabel Dalhousie, McCall Smith has given us a heroine who is very real and someone I for one am able to identify with (it may be because I am 40!). It is possible that a younger reader may not appreciate her life, her thoughts and her actions as much. However, this is wh Leggi tutto

In this third installment of the series featuring the Edinburgh philosopher, Isabel Dalhousie’s cousin Mimi arrives with her husband, Joe, from Dallas for a visit. Mimi introduces Isabel to Tom Bruce, a wealthy Texan who has recently become engaged to Angie. But Angie seems much more interested in I Leggi tutto

Far and away the best of Smith's Isabel Dalhousie novels, IMO. They're branded as mysteries, but they're not really. The first two had more of a "figure out what really happened" kind of vibe, but this one focuses more Isabel's life and personal search for happiness ("How Isabel Got Her Groove Back" Leggi tutto

These books help me through tough times. There have been times, like when my husband was abruptly laid off the Friday before Obama's first inauguration, and then interviewed and interviewed for jobs, and kept coming in #2 of 2, that I would go in the bathroom and just cry and cry while I ran water & Leggi tutto

This review breaks my cardinal rule of no spoilers. It is the first, and hopefully the last, time I will ever have to do that in order to adequately explain part of the reasoning behind my review. I have warned when the spoiler is coming and made the text of it white in an attempt to not ruin the bo Leggi tutto

The Right Attitude to Rain is the sort of novel which readers will either love or loathe. If you value action and despise what you see as overly thinking about what in Isabel Dalhousie's philosophical journal is called "practical morality" -- moral issues in our everyday lives -- this book, like the Leggi tutto