Book Description
Introducing Isabel Dalhousie the heroine of the latest bestselling series from the author of the
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Isabel, the editor of the Review of Applied Ethics and an occasional detective, has been accused of getting involved in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business.
In this first installment, Isabel is attending a concert in the Usher Hall when she witnesses a man fall from the upper balcony. Isabel can’t help wondering whether it was the result of mischance or mischief. Against the best advice of her no-nonsense housekeeper Grace, her bassoon playing friend Jamie, and even her romantically challenged neice Cat, she is morally bound to solve this case. Complete with wonderful Edinburgh atmosphere and characters straight out of a Robert Burns poem,
The Sunday Philosophy Club is a delightful treat from one of our most beloved authors.
Download Description
With The Sunday Philosophy Club, Alexander McCall Smith, the author of the best-selling and beloved No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, begins a wonderful new series starring the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie.
Isabel is fond of problems, and sometimes she becomes interested in problems that are, quite frankly, none of her business. This may be the case when Isabel sees a young man plunge to his death from the upper circle of a concert hall in Edinburgh. Despite the advice of her housekeeper, Grace, who has been raised in the values of traditional Edinburgh, and her niece, Cat, who, if you ask Isabel, is dating the wrong man, Isabel is determined to find the truth-if indeed there is one-behind the man's death. The resulting moral labyrinth might have stymied even Kant. And then there is the unsatisfactory turn of events in Cat's love life that must be attended to.
Filled with thorny characters and a Scottish atmosphere as thick as a highland mist, The Sunday Philosophy Club is irresistible, and Isabel Dalhousie is the most delightful literary sleuth since Precious Ramotswe.
Customer Reviews:
Slow pacing, but it grew on me..........2007-10-19
As part of my vacation reading, I decided to take the recommendation of a friend and pick up the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. I had the advantage of starting with the first of the three books, The Sunday Philosophy Club. Since I'm writing this after having read all three, I'm probably inclined to give it a bit higher rating than I might have if I were to have written the review immediately afterwards. The pacing is slow and not focused directly on the main plot line, but the characters grew on me. By the third installment, I was hooked...
Isabel Dalhousie is a single woman in her early 40s, and she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She witnesses someone falling to their death from the upper balcony of a theater, someone who she doesn't know and has never met. But she has a problem leaving things like that alone, and she starts to dig a bit to find out if the death was accidental, a suicide, or perhaps even a murder. Her position as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics journal is indicative of her nature, one that has her debating the merits and moral concerns of everything she says and does. As she gets deeper into the mystery, some unsettling events have her wondering if she might be a target for someone who could also be responsible for the mysterious death she witnessed.
The other core plotline here, and actually the one that seems to dominate the story, is the relationship between her, her niece Cat, Cat's boyfriend (who Isabel does NOT like), and Jamie (Cat's ex-boyfriend who can't forget her and who Cat wants nothing to do with). Isabel sees Jamie as perfect for Cat, and also has a great friendship/confidant relationship with him. But Cat seems to be more drawn to the "bad boy" types, and Isabel wants to break her of that habit...
I suppose being that this is the first book of a series, more time than normal would be spent on character development. That indeed is the case, but almost to the exclusion of the mystery plot. From a pure mystery novel view, it's rather slow. But I did find the characters interesting, enough that I was OK with reading the next two in the series. Of course, I had also hauled all three in my luggage, so I wasn't going to waste the space. :)
I can't compare this to Smith's other works prior to the Dalhousie series, as this is my first exposure to his writing. If I hadn't had the others lined up right after this one, I don't know that I would have continued. And with the perspective of the whole series, I'm happy with the overall effect. But if you're looking at this as a one-time read without plans to continue with the rest of the series, you might not be as happy.
Not bad, just not great.......2007-09-04
THE SUNDAY PHILOSOPHY CLUB is pleasant but middling company that has three problems. For the debut in a mystery series, it does not provide much establishment detail. More than once I checked to see if this was indeed the first volume, not several books down the line when a character's circumstances are taken by granted by a writer and not developed for a reader. Not the least of the details that has gone missing is the organization of the title, to which our heroine, an editor of a scholarly philosophy journal, belongs. She works through the mystery--did a young man fall or was he pushed from the nosebleed section of a symphony hall--largely on her own.
The second problem is that for those who like their puzzles with lots of switchbacks, deceptive red herrings and the like, the plot is pretty wispy. The third problem is, we have come to expect much from the author of the First Ladies Detective Agency series and this does not measure up to that achievement. That series creates an airtight and thoroughly realized world in modern Botswana, whereas The Sunday Philosophy Club moves around the contemporary, professional class of Edinburgh, Scotland without digging into history or culture to any degree. The Botswana stories have Mma Ramotswe, not perfect but thoroughly lovable. Isabel Dalhousie is not as funny and can be a tad judgmental, especially about her niece's love life. Isabel's housekeeper, Grace, steals all the scenes she's in.
The book does have its good moments. Philosophy is laid out rather accessibly and conversationally and the author pokes fun at scholarship that takes itself too seriously. I suspect the BBC could flesh this out into a nice television series.
Yes, philosophers can be fun!.......2007-06-08
This series is not likely to have the wide appeal of the Precious Ramotswe books, because Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher and an intellectual, and given to rumination on moral philosophy in particular. This will either irritate or delight you - it delights and interests me if I'm in the right mood and is only occasionally a bit much. Isabel's allusions to poetry, art and music are often thought-provoking, witty, and sometimes just plain fun! But if your desire is a good clean plot with no such clutter, these books will probably not be your cup of tea.
Isabel witnesses a young man's fall from the balcony of a concert hall and is driven by the memory and her sense of moral obligation to investigate the story behind his death, with the sometimes reluctant aid of her housekeeper Grace, her niece Cat, and her bassoonist friend Jamie. Along the way we meet a variety of characters - Cat's new boyfriend Toby, the young man's flatmates, an insensitive journalist, an investment fund manager, a predatory merchant banker who is compared to Lady Macbeth - and we observe the Edinburgh art scene as well as the world of insider trading. Many false leads develop, but at the very end the person responsible confesses the truth to Isabel and her persistence turns out to be a blessing.
The emotional fallout from Isabel's failed marriage and the subplot of her attraction to Jamie, a most attractive younger man (unfairly rejected by Cat because he is too eager to please, hence unexciting), continues into the second book in the series, Friends, Lovers and Chocolate, and provides romantic interest. Descriptions of Edinburgh institutions, fictional or actual, are fun -- the Really Terrible Orchestra (which is a real orchestra to which McCall Smith belongs!), the fictional articles which Isabel edits for the Review of Applied Ethics (i.e. "Truth Telling in Sexual Relationships"), the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (this could be real...) Edinburgh is almost a character in its own right - Isabel describes it as having become "synonymous with respectability...[which] was such an effort though...the story of Jekyll and Hyde was conceived in Edinburgh...and made perfect sense there." Isabel intends to write an article "In Praise of Hypocrisy" but had not gotten around to it by the end of the second book. Will it turn up in the third?
Isabel Dalhousie is not Precious Ramotswe in a kilt.......2007-05-11
Isabel shares some traits with Mma Ramotswe. She is a single woman of independent means who values the cultural traditions that she sees being eroded all around her. "The Sunday Philosophy Club" is also like The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (Today Show Book Club #8) in being an unusual type of mystery story. However, that's only the similarities. There are many differences.
Unlike any of the Botswana stories, "The Sunday Philosophy Club" begins like a traditional detective story, with a accidental death. Isabel Dalhousie sees a young man fall to his death from the top level ("the gods") at the opera house in Edinborough and can't get it out of her mind.
Isabel is in her early forties (not old these days) but has the affect of an older woman. Her best friend seems to be her full time housekeeper, and their favorite subject is how things are going to hell in handbasket.
But beneath Isabel's slightly dotty, eccentric exterior boil some strong human feelings that would be foreign to Miss Marple or Mma Ramotswe. It's Isabel's inner life that keep this from being a genteel set piece.
I also very much enjoyed seeing Edinburgh through the eyes of a lifelong resident. Based on what little I know about McCall Smith, this would seem to be his most personal series in the sense of his own habits and habitat.
Although I still prefer the No. Ladies Detective Agency series, I will look for the sequels to "The Sunday Philosophy Club". As a strange, non-spoilerish footnote, the club never actually meets during the course of the book. We never even find out who the members are, only that Isabel is the organizer and that they have trouble getting together. Perhaps all will be revealed in the next instalment.
Great Insight into Human Behaviour.......2007-05-10
While McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie mysteries are not quite a gripping as the Ladies #1 Detective Agency Series, they provide the same keen insights into the human psyche. Not your typical murder mystery, the books actually challenge the reader to think forward to human actions and reactions. I enjoy reading these books because they stretch my brain far beyond the entertaining, if somewhat thin, mass market mysteries that I often read. I highly recommend all of McCall Smith's books!
Average customer rating:
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Does Class Matter?: Colonial Capital and Workers' Resistance in Bengal, 1890 - 1937
Subho Basu
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Workplace
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ASIN: 0195665996 |
Book Description
Focusing primarily on the politics of jute workers in Bengal, this study explores the interaction between workers' politics, nationalist movements, and the colonial state at various levels in the period between 1890 and 1937.
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Does Class Matter: Social Stratification and Orientations in Singapore
Tan Ern Ser
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 981238829X |
Book Description
This book provides a comprehensive portrait of class structure, dynamics, and orientations in Singapore — understood as a new nation, a capitalist and emerging knowledge economy, a largely middle-class society, and a polity with a strong state — at the turn of the new millennium. It introduces a wide array of recent data on a broad range of topics relating to social stratification in Singapore: class structure, political participation, political alienation, national pride, welfarism, success values, unionism, social mobility, the digital divide, and the sandwich generation. To capture the lived experiences of people from different social classes, thereby complementing the numerous tables presented, the book also profiles six case studies of individuals or families, highlighting the challenges they face and the options they possess.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from New York Times Upfront, published by Thomson Gale on November 28, 2005. The length of the article is 2368 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Does class still matter? It's harder than it once was to tell a person's class in America. But in some ways, class still plays an important role in our lives.(NATIONAL)
Author: Janny Scott
Publication:
New York Times Upfront (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 28, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 138
Issue: 6
Page: 10(6)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Does size matter?(class room size should be reduced) : An article from: Phi Delta Kappan
Heather-Jane Robertson
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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ASIN: B000FCW3EE
Release Date: 2006-04-11 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Phi Delta Kappan, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2005. The length of the article is 2240 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Does size matter?(class room size should be reduced)
Author: Heather-Jane Robertson
Publication:
Phi Delta Kappan (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 87
Issue: 3
Page: 251
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Achieving Excellence in Guest Service
Josephine Ive
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
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Binding: Paperback
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Hospitality, Travel & Tourism
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ASIN: 1862504849 |
Book Description
"We are your typical boomer nana and papa," say authors Kathryn and Allan Zullo, "younger, healthier, wealthier, and better educated than our grandparents. We are more active and less formal than our own parents were at our age. We no longer fit the traditional image of our elderly kin." That description signals the need for a new kind of grandparenting, a role that The Nanas and the Papas fills to perfection.This completely reworked and updated version is now half again as large as the original. "Most boomer grandparents work hard and lead vigorous, often stressful, lives where time is a precious commodity," say the Zullos. The Nanas and the Papas helps grandparents relieve the stress of grandparenting and make the most of limited time.Top grandparenting experts cited throughout the book tailor their guidance and recommendations to fit the boomer sensibility, covering topics such as:o How to define the grandparenting role for a new generationo The latest trends in child careo How to work in harmony with your children and their spouseso High-tech grandparentingo Ways to make the most of time alone with grandchildreno Grandparenting and the single-parent householdo Grandparents caring for their own parentsFilled with expert advice, The Nanas and the Papas provides a smooth transition into grandparenting and sets the stage for successful relationships and experiences for the entire family.
Customer Reviews:
Anecdotal at best...........2005-12-23
I'm desperately searching for grandparent guide that isn't a collection of heart-warming or otherwise sacchrine messages about how life changes when you have a grandchild. In particular, I want a guide that is about new guidelines for taking care of a baby, one that takes into account the fact that doctors', psychologists', and other experts' advice has changed from 30 years ago when the new twenty-first-century grandparents were raising their own children. Things like -- put the baby to bed on her back, not her stomach; how to use time-outs; don't feed the baby peanutbutter or put sunscreen containing PABA on him before a certain age...and so on. I'd hoped that "A Boomer's Guide to Grandparenting" would offer an overview of such changes, but aside from a page and a half of useful information, it is, unfortunately, a series of anecdotes about how the new generation of richer, healthier, and all-around cooler grandparents feel about their grandchildren. (Predictably, they feel about the same as grandparents have always felt -- thrilled.)
Book Description
Boomer grandparents are healthier, wealthier, more youthful, and better educated than their own grandparents. They are redefining the image and role of grandparenting while discovering one of life's most rewarding joys-the bond between grandparent and grandchild. Finally, here's a grandparenting guide that caters to their special demographic and place in American society. Some topics include defining your grandparenting role, dealing with your adult children, and long-distance grandparenting.
Customer Reviews:
Great Reference Book!.......2003-04-07
We never thought we'd fit into the the old stodgy grandparent mold, so this book was a must-have for us "boomer" grandparents. Very informative and easy to read.
Are you guilty?.......2002-01-13
If you have incredible guilt over the way you raised your children or have amnesia about that experience, this is the book for you. The authors seem to assume that we all fit the stereotype of 60s boomers and need to remake ourselves as grandparents. From a quote on p 19, "Through grandparenthood, we are now convinced that we have a reprieve, a dispensation from God. We have another chance to help rear children." Isn't the role of rearing the children that of the parents?!
There are some useful insights in this book, but they are few and far between. Find the book in a library and turn to the resources in the appendix.
Best Grandparenting Book I've Seen - New Hampshire reader.......1998-10-29
The Nanas and the Papas is the best one-stop-shopping book on grandparenting, whether you're a baby boomer or not. It's loaded with great tips and advice applicable to both nuclear and blended families. The real-life anecdotes are excellent. This is a very well researched book that covers all the bases. The Zullos have done a thorough job.
Easy to follow - great reference.......1998-10-27
A friend told me of this book she had received as a gift for her 50th birthday. I was thrilled to see that finally there is a book for us "younger grandparents"
A Definate Winner!!.......1998-10-20
What a GREAT book! Helpful, informative, and entertaining as well! Add this one to your Christmas list of gifts for the grandparents in your life.
Book Description
Grandparenting is one of the greatest joys in life. Most “grandboomers” are young, active, and anxious to be involved in the lives of their grandchildren. However, grandparenting in the twenty-first century is often complicated by long distances, family breakups, and remarriage. Based on solid evidence from the experts combined with inspirational – and sometimes funny – real-life stories from grandparents, parents, and grandchildren, Intentional Grandparenting provides readers with ten child-centred principles to guide their decision-making as modern grandparents. At the heart this approach is the notion of intentional grandparenting, a process for planning ahead and taking deliberate action to be the kind of grandparent you want to be. The authors identify the challenges and offer practical, parent-friendly advice to help boomers become happy and effective grandparents. Written in an accessible and engaging style, Intentional Grandparenting is at once entertaining and informative.
Books:
- The Twilight Zone Companion
- The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood
- This Side of Heaven
- Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates (Harvest Book)
- When Blanche Met Brando: The Scandalous Story of "A Streetcar Named Desire"
- Wong Kar-wai: Auteur of Time (Bfi World Directors)
- Wong Kar-wai: Auteur of Time (Bfi World Directors)
- Woodworking With the Router: Professional Router Techniques and Jigs Any Woodworker Can Use
- Writing the Romantic Comedy
- 505 Unbelievably Stupid Web Pages
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Friends, Lovers, Chocolate: An Isabel Dalhousie Mystery
44 Scotland Street
The Right Attitude to Rain (Isabel Dalhousie Mysteries)
Blue Shoes and Happiness (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Book 7)
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency)
