Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | FICTION MCC | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | FICTION MCC | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
A New York Times Bestselling Author From the creator of The No. 1 "Ladies' Detective Agency" comes a hilarious and heartwarming collection of stories about the trials, tribulations, and delights of dating. These varied tales teem with more of the exotic settings, vivid characters, irresistible imagination and delicious insightfulness into the human condition that have become McCall Smith's trademark.
Author Notes
Alexander McCall Smith was born on August 24, 1948 in Zimbabwe. He was a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, but he left in 2005 to focus on his writing. He has written over 60 books, including specialist academic titles including Forensic Aspects of Sleep and The Criminal Law of Botswana, short story collections including Portuguese Irregular Verbs, and children's books including The Perfect Hamburger. He is best known for the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. He also writes the Corduroy Mansions, Isabel Dalhousie and 44 Scotland Street series.
He has received numerous awards, including The Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library Award and the 2004 United Kingdom's Author of the Year Award. His book, The Full Cupboard of Life, received the Saga Award for Wit in the United Kingdom. In 2007, he received a CBE for his services in literature.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Smith, author of the bestselling The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and some 50 other books, nimbly examines the mysteries of dating in this captivating collection. The stories, which take place in various locales-Africa, Australia, Italy-and in periods from the 1950s and '60s to today, explore the timeless, intricate dance of love and courtship, and make wise, often compassionate observations. In the lovely title story, a young woman summering in Tuscany has an assignation with an angel ("It may be unusual in other places, but here, there seemed nothing extraordinary about it") and finds herself pregnant with a miraculous child. In the arch "Intimate Accounts," the protagonist, a jaded psychiatrist, noting that "terrible things can happen on dates-traumatic things-which can trouble people to the very depths of their psyches," helps a narcissistic patient discover that his best date might be with himself. Two members of a "dating [service] for fatties" share a comic dinner in "Fat Date"; two wealthy Swiss singles make friends with the younger generation and learn the joys of sharing in "Wonderful Date," while in "Maternal Influence," a young man mollycoddled and emasculated by his mother, "the Mayoress," finally takes a stand when he meets a girl he likes. Smith's nine stories, with their light humor and touching moments, should inspire smiles and sighs in tenderhearted readers everywhere. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Guardian Review
If you like Alexander McCall Smith (and millions do, especially in America, where his No 1 lady detective Precious Ramotswe's fan club is threatening to outnumber Miss Austen's), I see no reason why you shouldn't enjoy these breezily inconsequential stories about relationships. Personally I enjoyed them more for their exotic settings - Italy, Africa, Australia, Switzerland - than for the people milling about in them. They're a mixed bunch: a Swiss septuagenarian chocolate millionaire contemplating marriage to an equally rich septuagenarian chocoholic femme du monde ; a feisty young woman from Sydney accused of feeding her boyfriend to the crocodiles; a mixed-up young man in Bulawayo, who prefers sport to his wife - hang on, isn't that normal? McCall Smith is such a prolific writer I sometimes get the feeling that he switches his laptop to autopilot, and off it chugs over the same old ground. Happily for listeners, Anton Lesser, whose voice constantly teeters on the verge of tragedy, gives the stories a much-needed injection of soul. Caption: article-audio24.3 If you like Alexander McCall Smith (and millions do, especially in America, where his No 1 lady detective Precious Ramotswe's fan club is threatening to outnumber Miss Austen's), I see no reason why you shouldn't enjoy these breezily inconsequential stories about relationships. - Sue Arnold.
Booklist Review
Smith departs from his successful mystery series (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, et al.) with a collection of offbeat stories about dating and love. The author's fondness for globetrotting settings is once again in evidence, with the tales taking place in various European countries, Australia, and, of course, southern Africa (the mysteries are set in Botswana). Some of the stories are curiously peculiar (in "Nice Little Date," a rock star, intending to seduce a teenage girl, finds instead she's a boy); some are darkly funny (in "Far North," a date goes so awry that the guy's death is a relief, even it means the woman goes to jail); but all of them remind us of why dating is such a precarious endeavor. Smith's characters possess the quirkiness of Hiaasen creations; just imagine them on an episode of Blind Date. For love stories without the sap, you can't go wrong here. --Mary Frances Wilkens Copyright 2003 Booklist
Library Journal Review
From the author of the hugely popular mystery series featuring Precious Ramotswe and her No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency (The Kalahari Typing School for Men) comes a totally unrelated collection of short stories first published in Great Britain in 1995. As the title implies, the stories center on dates and/or relationships and take place in various countries and time periods. The longest of the stories, "Bulawayo," is about a young man living in Rhodesia in the late 1950s whose marriage is failing because he is a homosexual. In "Fat Date," an overweight couple who met through a dating service for fat people ends up hitting it off after the man gets stuck in his chair at a restaurant, and his date comes to his rescue. In the title story, "Heavenly Date," a young woman gets impregnated by an angel whom she has asked to join her for a picnic in the Italian countryside. The many fans of the author's mysteries will likely be disappointed by this strange collection of stories because they don't focus on the same character or story line of the series that made him popular. One suspects that the publisher issued the collection just to capitalize on Smith's success. Recommended for libraries where the author's name recognition will create demand.-Karen Core, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
