Weather-Related Weirdness and More . . . .Books.

Last week we had snow, freezing temperatures, and winter.  Today it was over 85°F with high humidity -- a steamy sort of July-ish day.  I hate the hot, humid stuff.  I can't stand the stickiness of things: clothes that stick, hair that sticks, the contact between skin and desk.  I couldn't stand the lanyard around my neck today at school either, so I wound up taking it off,  and now the key to my classroom is on my desk locked in my room.  I'll have to find the custodian tomorrow to unlock it for me!  It's only early May and already my daffodils and PGM rhodies are gone, the apple and pear blossoms, and forsythia are gone.  I realize for you more southerly readers your spring blooms are long gone.  Usually these items peak around the 2nd week of May up here in the northern part of New England.  So it's definitely an odd sort of spring.

Catching up on some book reviews:



Last Act in Palmyra by Lindsey Davis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is book #6 in the Marcus Didius Falco series, and while I did enjoy it, I didn't like it as much as the earlier book.  It got "draggy" and I never got invested in the 2 mysteries he was trying to solve.  I felt like the characters weren't that much interested either.  With that being said, I love the attention to detail that Lindsey Davis puts into her writing.  It's clear she has done a great deal of scholarly research to paint a realistic picture of life in the first century Roman empire.  I also love her wit!

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And once again, Precious Ramotswe never fails to ease my stress!

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself."  Armed with this advice from her father, and her red bush tea, Mma Ramotswe again brings order and peace to her corner of Botswana.  In this installment, Mma Makutsi's fiance has suffered a horrible accident and has been "kidnapped" by his aunt who is determined to keep Grace away from her nephew.  Mma Ramotswe has been asked by a lawyer in the US to locate a safari guide who is about to receive a legacy.  Violet Sephotho has engineered a swindle, and a friend wants proof that her husband is having an affair.  If more people lived by Mma Ramotswe's philosophy and her late father's advice, what a kinder, gentler place this world would be.

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