According to the author (who recently did a signing locally), they're quite popular in Botswana. He's deliberately focusing on the pleasant side of life, to remind readers that it exists -- he only indirectly touches on serious issues like the AIDS epidemic. As has been said, later books are less episodic. I usually describe them as "slice of life" books --- they really aren't detective books.
I wouldn't want to read a lot of them back-to-back, but they're a very pleasant interlude, and a series I, my mother, and my grandmother all enjoy.
I've read the first Sunday Philosophy Club book, and was underwhelmed, but I found the second one used, at a low enough price to risk it -- I just haven't gotten to it yet.
The Professor von Igelfield books are amusing in their own way, but definitely not for everyone; probably a library or used-bargain read. These are about the misadventures and rivalries of a few German linguistics professors; familiarity with academia improves them, I think.
I also recently picked up 44 Scotland Street, also in the to-be-read queue, but he read an excerpt from the third volume (not yet published in the US) at the signing, and I think I'll like these very much. These are an ongoing series of newspaper columns, feturing a cast of characters living in the same building, so I expect they're more collected vignettes than novels, but the character featured in what he read was definitely amusing.
As for the man himself, very likable -- charming, witty, intelligent. He co-founded the Really Terrible Orchestra in Edinborough, which sounds like great fun to participate in, if not necessarily to listen to. Medical Law professor emeritus from the University of Edinborough.
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Date: 2006-05-08 08:49 pm (UTC)I wouldn't want to read a lot of them back-to-back, but they're a very pleasant interlude, and a series I, my mother, and my grandmother all enjoy.
I've read the first Sunday Philosophy Club book, and was underwhelmed, but I found the second one used, at a low enough price to risk it -- I just haven't gotten to it yet.
The Professor von Igelfield books are amusing in their own way, but definitely not for everyone; probably a library or used-bargain read. These are about the misadventures and rivalries of a few German linguistics professors; familiarity with academia improves them, I think.
I also recently picked up 44 Scotland Street, also in the to-be-read queue, but he read an excerpt from the third volume (not yet published in the US) at the signing, and I think I'll like these very much. These are an ongoing series of newspaper columns, feturing a cast of characters living in the same building, so I expect they're more collected vignettes than novels, but the character featured in what he read was definitely amusing.
As for the man himself, very likable -- charming, witty, intelligent. He co-founded the Really Terrible Orchestra in Edinborough, which sounds like great fun to participate in, if not necessarily to listen to. Medical Law professor emeritus from the University of Edinborough.