Alyce at At Home with Books hosts this meme – and it’s one of my favorites. It’s funny – I was going to talk about Frances Hodgsen Burnett’s book The Secret Garden today but Alyce already covered it! So instead I’m going to talk about the first book of a series that I go back to read over and over again (and slowly have started collecting the hardcover copies of).
Alexander McCall Smith hit the jackpot when he started writing this series. I’d never even heard of him until a few years ago when I read a post on Kari’s blog talking about one of the later books. I was fascinated and immediately requested them from my library.
There is something about Alexander McCall Smith’s writing that makes me feel as if I’m wrapped in a warm blanket, sipping a hot cup of tea (African Red Bush even!) and the world around me is slowing down. These are my de-stress books, the books that make me feel that no matter how crazy and stressful life is around me, it is possible to stop and smell the roses. A different picture of Africa is painted in these books – and Africa was never a place I had wanted to go visit until I started to read about Precious and her friends.
If you haven’t read this series I recommend you do so! His other series are charming and wonderful as well. But I always recommend this series as the one to begin with simply because it is the one I fell in love with first. And Kindle and Nook users (not sure about other ebook stores) you can buy the first of this series The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency for $1.99 right now! Such a steal.
What about you? Have you read any of his writing?
I’ve read most of his other books, but I haven’t read his No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I’m thinking I need to try it on audiobook because I picked up a copy of the first book from the library and it just didn’t appeal (I think I was probably in the wrong mood for it).
I makes sense that people would double up on favorites at some point (like today with the Secret Garden) because great books are bound to be loved by many people.
Eventually when I run out of favorites to feature I’m thinking I’ll start including some of my favorite reads/reviews from the past few years that people may have missed on my blog.
You know, it’s funny you say that because the covers really put me off too. I had them checked out of the library for about a week before I finally sat down and picked the first one up. And I loved it almost immediately.
My mom loaned this to me a few months ago–evidently I need to pull it up to the top of the tbr pile.
I’ve only read this one in the series, but I have like 8 of the books in the series. I feel like they are perfect summer beach mystery reads. Thanks for sharing this today!!