The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Library Reading: Enjoyment and Memories……….

I just gave a bag of (and by that I mean over sixty) cozy mystery books to my library. I hope that they can use them. While I prefer reading a book that I actually own, I know how much libraries appreciate donated books. Years ago, I never bought a book, and used the library for every book I either read or listened to. But, as I have gotten older, I have become pretty set in my ways……… I don’t like having to take a book back by a certain date.

I think that I mentioned a while ago that we are members of audible.com. Recently, I have found that they are offering a lot of the authors I enjoy…. Reginald Hill, Ellis Peters, Harlan Coben, Alexander McCall Smith, Colin Dexter, and even Ann Granger!  We have been with audible.com for years, and I remember being frustrated by the author list they used to have. I found that the mysteries they carried were not the types I preferred. So, I simply stopped perusing their library. But, now, I can find many of my very favorite authors.

I don’t know much about the “technical” side of the audible.com site, I let my husband take care of that. (I’m sure that I could… if I had to, but he’s not complaining, and neither am I!) But, I do know how to “purchase” our five monthly audible books, and I know how to download them (by clicking a button), and I also know how to put them on my listening device. It’s great!

So, now that audible.com has “my authors,” I don’t have to check out a book on tape from my library. But, I do remember the days when I did get such enjoyment out of those cassettes.

More information about Alexander McCall Smith‘s four (currently!) series.

At the Risk of Repeating Myself…. Alexander McCall Smith is Terrific!

I know that I have previously blogged about Alexander McCall Smith, but what can I say!!! He must be addictive!

First of all, let me admit to going nowhere without my Books on Tape. I listen to my books while driving, and also, while walking to my destination. This morning, for example, I unplugged my car’s device and plugged in my ear phone so that I could listen to my book while walking the distance between my car and my doctor’s office. (If you’re doctor is like mine, you can easily listen to a good portion of a chapter while sitting and waiting in both the doctor’s waiting room and the little examination room.)

I actually find myself looking forward to my time driving/running errands if I am listening to one of my favorite authors. Which brings me to Alexander McCall Smith… I not only enjoy listening to his mystery books (The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency and the Sunday Philosophy Club series) but also his non-mystery fiction. Of  course, I don’t really see his two mystery series as “mysteries” per se, although they do have mysteries interwoven into them… If pressed to describe them, I would say that they are light on the mystery and very heavy on great writing, great characters, great story-telling…. just about everything GREAT!!!

I am currently listening to Espresso Tales, the second part of his 44 Scotland Street books. He wrote the books as story installments for The Scotsman newspaper, and since I don’t get that publication, I am delighted that they put all of the chapters together to form these books. The books follow several Edinburgh characters who live on 44 Scotland Street, and they are truly an assortment of people…. from Bruce  (who just can’t seem to pass a mirror without longingly gazing into it) to Bertie (a five year old saxophone-playing, Italian-speaking, VERY lonely child) to Bertie’s mother Irene (who has been known to translate Bertie’s Italian to suit the situation…. “vacca” becoming “vaccum” instead of “cow”…..)

If you haven’t tried any of Alexander McCall Smith’s books yet…………… do yourself a favor…….. and DO! 

More information about Alexander McCall Smith‘s four (currently!) series.

Summer Cozy Mystery Book Selection….

I was just thinking about my next book selection, and couldn’t quite make up my mind on what I would pick to read. I have been enjoying the audio versions of Alexander McCall Smith’s books so much that I am not sure if I should also start reading his "real books" during the times that I actually read, instead of listen to my books…. times when I am not in my car, or am not doing housework.

There are so many considerations that I take into account when I am picking my next cozy mystery book to read. My current mood usually has the final word about my selection. My husband and I belong to audible.com, so we have access to many books on tape. Actually, we download the books, so they aren’t really in a cassette or CD form. I hadn’t looked at our "library list" on audible.com for quite a while, since I have  recently been relying on my local library for my audio books.

My husband and I have such different tastes in the books we select to read. I usually don’t ever listen to my husband’s selections, which are mostly non-fiction selections, with a heavy emphasis on science and historical events. I just prefer to stick with my very "limited view" that, if it’s not a mystery, I probably won’t want to read it (or in the case of audible.com, listen to it.) At least I have a varied taste in mysteries! I prefer my cozy mysteries, but I also enjoy a good police procedural, and I even toss in thriller mysteries from time to time.

Anyway, my husband hadn’t selected our monthly five book limit, and said that I could go ahead and use all of the selections on myself.  (He is always too good to me!) Of course, picking our five monthly books was difficult  (What a little piggy-wiggy I must sound like!) but I managed to do it rather quickly…

Fortunately for me, audible.com has recently added a lot of books by some of my favorite authors, so I was quite pleased with my selections.

Now I have another book choice to make, since I have just finished my "hard copy book." I know I have said this before, but……… so many books, too little time!

Alexander McCall Smith's Books on Tape…… I love them!

I am currently listening to one of Alexander McCall Smith’s mystery books on tape, and am enjoying it so much that I cannot wait to find more time to listen to it. I am “reading” the second book in the Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency series which features Precious Ramotswe, as she goes through life, solving other people’s problems. I love this series! Mma Ramotswe is a very independent woman, and through her, we see Botswana, and the daily conditions that these African people experience. Truly a wonderful series.

Alexander McCall Smith has written many books, of which I am just being introduced to… The other series that I follow is his series revolving around Isabel Dalhousie, who happens to be a philosopher, thus the series name: the Sunday Philosophy Club. Isabel is another very strong and independent woman.  Although both women are intelligent, strong and self-reliant, the environments that they find themselves in couldn’t be any more different than they are.

When trying to find the chronological listings for these two series, I stumbled across a trilogy that Alexander McCall Smith has written concerning Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. I cannot wait to track these books down! They are not mysteries, but are reviewed as being full of very dry humor, which I happen to enjoy. I have read some reviews about this trilogy  that liken it with my very favorite author’s Lucia series (E. F. Benson).  And as if that isn’t a big enough endorsement, I have also read that Alexander McCall Smith is an E. F. Benson fan.

No wonder I am an Alexander McCall Smith fan!

More information about Alexander McCall Smith‘s four (currently!) series.

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