So I read on the bus. Shoot me.
My husband bought me this with some gift vouchers he had. The sweetie. He also bought me the sequel to 44 Scotland Street, so stay tuned!
Heavenly Date... is a collection of short stories, dealing with falling in love, or dating, or simply sex. They are a little more sinister in tone than I am used to, and demonstrate quite well that McCall Smith is one of those writers who studies people and has a lot of experience in human behaviour and emotions. Some are better than others (I'm not mad keen on the one with the angel baby), but it's a good read on the whole. The cover quotes a newspaper review saying that he is "reminiscent of Roald Dahl", and that is actually not a bad comparison. But tell you what I was suddenly reminded of - Ray Bradbury. Granted, different genres, but they share that slightly dreamlike, old-fashioned quality, and the focus on people. Bradbury's science-fiction is never about gadgets.
2 comments:
I just borrowed a McCall Smith-book for my mother, the first in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency-series. She loved it, as I thought she would. It's not as gritty as the Val McDermid-books I've fed her before (McDermid's darker books, not lovely Lindsay Gordon:-)) I've been reading a few of Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warschawski lately. Not great language exactly, I suspect that the Norwegian translator is to blame. Still, I keep turning the pages!:-)
How can you not love McCall Smith? Good choice. :-)
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