The Finer Points Of Sausage Dogs

Starring the brilliant but bumbling Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs is a wonderfully entertaining showcase for [Alexander McCall] Smith's award-winning wit. Invited to lecture in America, von Igelfeld envisions a visit to California or New York. Instead, he finds himself at the University of Arkansas. Still, in von Igelfeld's view, one American state is very like another. An expert philologist, von Igelfeld prepares to deliver a talk on verbs, until he makes a grim discovery - he has been mistaken for a German master of veterinary science who has recently passed away. One man at the reception is quick to point this out. But von Igelfeld explains that since Germans are so efficient, they sometimes publish obituaries before a person's demise. Before long, he takes the podium and faces an attentive crowd expecting to hear some fine points on the nature of sausage dogs. (back cover of audio book)

The Finer Points Of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith tells of the humorous adventures of Professor von Igelfeld, an intellectual snob and social misfit. During his adventures in this book, he experiences situations with sausage dogs; a co-worker's revenge and continuous rivalry; religious leaders in Rome; relics that get misplaced; a reporter; and a lecture cruise that does not meet his satisfaction. Smith's humor is clearly shown through the words and actions of his characters. And von Igelfeld finds that his words and actions will often return to haunt him in ways he least expects.

I found this book mildly interesting and occasionally I did find myself laughing (and groaning) at the antics of the main characters. However, The Finer Points Of Sausage Dogs was more of an entertaining diversion during my commute to work this past week than a book that held my attention throughout the entire reading. I really liked the narrator (Paul Hecht) and I appreciated the fact that this book had more than one story to be told about the foolish misadventures of a character that didn't have a clue about the real world. Even though this book is part of a series based on the character of Professor Dr. von Igelfeld, I think I will be satisfied with reading just this one for the time being.

A Caribbean Mystery

Miss Marple woke early. Like many old people, she slept lightly and had periods of wakefulness which she used for the planning of some action or actions to be carried out on the next or following days. Usually, of course, these were of a wholly private or domestic nature, of little interest to anybody but herself. But this morning Miss Marple lay thinking soberly and constructively of murder, and what, if her suspicions were correct, she would do about it. It wasn't going to be easy. She had one weapon and one weapon only - and that was conversation.
Old ladies were given to a good deal of rambling conversation. People were bored by this, but certainly did not suspect them of ulterior motives. It would not be a case of asking direct questions. (Indeed, she would have found it difficult to know what questions to ask!) It would be a question of finding out a little more about certain people. She reviewed these certain people in her mind. (p.38)

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie is a Miss Marple Mystery that was light and fun to read. While vacationing in the Caribbean, Miss Marple becomes acquainted with the other people also enjoying the quiet, slow pace of the small resort run by a young couple. One particular older gentleman, Major Palgrave, is known for his long stories of his past adventures in many foreign lands. One afternoon while telling Miss Marple about a husband who murdered his wife, he looks up and makes a horrible, shocked face as if he saw the murderer. The next morning, Major Palgrave is found dead in his bungalow. Was it his high blood pressure or murder? Miss Marple has her suspicions and decides to watch and listen while she talks with the other vacationers at the resort.

Of all the books I've read over my many years of reading, I have never picked up an Agatha Christie mystery. I'm glad I finally had the chance as I thoroughly enjoyed it! A Caribbean Mystery was a murder mystery at its simplest, which is why I found it such a good read.

And I have to admit... I could hear Angela Lansbury's voice as I followed Miss Marple's conversations while she was solving the murder mystery!

The Quickie

Mistake, I reminded myself.
It had all been a terrible mistake. Quick as lightning, just as deadly.
I looked out at the red-eyed police heading back to their cars. That I was fooling them burned like battery acid in my stomach, but I tried my best to believe it was the best thing for everyone under the circumstances.
What result could have been better? I thought. The dehumanizing, demoralizing tabloid circus that was the truth?
...
My eyes were dry as I turned the engine over.
There was one good thing --- undeniable --- Paul and I had been given a second chance. (pp. 170-171)

The Quickie by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge is a fast-paced page turner with many twists to keep the reader guessing what might happen next. Lauren catches her husband Paul with another woman and decides her best revenge is to have a one night stand with a co-worker that has been flirting with her. What happens after a couple of hours of passion will change Lauren's life forever. Now she has to find the truth and make some tough decisions about her life, job, and marriage because of that truth.

I found The Quickie a very exciting book and I would compare the storyline to a line of dominoes: push one domino, then the next falls, then the next, then the next. Just as Lauren finds one new detail, something else is discovered which changes her perceptions of the truth about what happened the night of her impulsive decision to have a quickie in revenge for her husband's indiscretion. Each new twist adds to the plot and makes for a book that I definitely recommend to others.

Little Earthquakes

Four very different women navigate one of life's most wonderful and perilous transitions: the journey of new motherhood.

With her trademark warmth and humor, Weiner tells the story of what happens after happily ever after. (back cover of audio book)

Little Earthquakes written and read by Jennifer Weiner is the story of four women's expectations before, during, and after motherhood. The women are very diverse and come to be very good friends after unexpected events draw them together. Their thoughts, ideas, and expectations of babies, husbands, family and careers dramatically change as they struggle to "have it all" after childbirth. Cute, humorous, and enjoyable to listen to, Little Earthquakes was a fun read and I recommend it to others. However, I do feel that it will have its greatest appeal to young women and mothers due to a plot that primarily revolves around husbands and babies.

The Hundred Secret Senses

"... Everything with mind and heart together, use hundred secret sense."
"What do you mean, secret sense?"
...
"How can I say? Memory, seeing, hearing, feeling, all come together, then you know something true in you heart. ... You use secret sense, sometimes can get message back and forth fast between two people, living, dead, doesn't matter, same sense." (p. 102)

The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan begins as a story about two sisters but ends as a collage of stories about loyalty and love between people of the past and present. Olivia was quite young when her dad announces on his deathbed that he has a daughter that he left behind in China before he came to America. His dying wish is to have her join the family. Kwan arrives but is much different than Olivia expected. Kwan tells many secrets and stories of the past, many that include ghosts that Kwan sees with her yin eyes. Even as adults, Kwan continues to tell these stories to Olivia. When Olivia and her husband Simon's marriage begins to fall apart, they are offered an opportunity to travel to China. It's an opportunity that Kwan insists that the three of them accept so that she can return to her village. However, as events unfold, Olivia soon realizes that Kwan's secrets and stories have more truth to them than she ever expected.

Over the many years that Olivia spent with her half sister Kwan, she never learned to truly appreciate her sister or the love and loyalty that her sister showed her. She never understood the meaning behind her sister's continual story about Miss Banner that was told over the years. And she never understood why the yin world was so important to her sister. Olivia never appreciated or understood Kwan until they travelled to China.

I think Kwan intended to show me the world is not a place but the vastness of the soul. And the soul is nothing more than love, limitless, endless, all that moves us toward knowing what is true. I once thought love was supposed to be nothing but bliss. I now know it is also worry and grief, hope and trust. And believing in ghosts --- that's believing that love never dies. If people we love die, than they are lost only to our ordinary senses. If we remember, we can find them anytime with our hundred secret senses. "This a secret," I can still hear Kwan whispering. "Don't tell anyone. Promise, Libby-ah." (p. 358)

I have read Amy Tan in the past and was excited to read The Hundred Secret Senses. It was not the story I expected, but I definitely enjoyed the book and recommend it to others.