“Precious Ramotswe “ is Botswana‘s only female private investigator – the main character of the “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith.
I noticed a few years back that Ms Ramotswe and the author’s name were listed week after week on the SF & Bay area California paper back bestseller list. “Precious” just sort of kept catching my eye and I got curious. I discovered that the Botswana detective has a worldwide cult following.
The author was born in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, practiced law in Scotland and when McCall returned to Zimbabwe, he began to write about a red bush tea drinking female private eye – “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”.In this, and the books that followed in the series, our lady sleuth tracks down wayward husbands, missing children and solves village mysteries all the while keeping to the traditions of her culture and maintaining the standards of both Queen Elizabeth and Nelson Mandela (she admires both).
BTW: Directed by the late Anthony Minghella, “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency “will soon come to an HBO screen near you.Produced for the BBC in 2008, “Precious” is played by singer Jill Scott. Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose and Idris Elba from “The Wire” are also in the cast. Should be fun!
Books in the series:
* 1998 .The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
* 2000 .Tears Of The Giraffe
* 2001 .Morality for Beautiful Girls
* 2002 .The Kalahari Typing School for Men
* 2004 .The Full Cupboard of Life
* 2004 .In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
* 2006 .Blue Shoes and Happiness
* 2007 .The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Blonde Faith, is the final book of the popular series, written by Walter Mosley.
We were introduced to Easy Rawlins in Devil in a Blue Dress, 1990. (This was also made into a great 1995 movie with Denzel as “Easy” and Don Cheadle as his explosively, lethal buddy “Mouse”.)
“Easy” becomes a reluctant private investigator in 50’s L.A. and the 10 books span a 20 year journey. What makes the perspective so interesting and different is that in addition to solving “who dunnit” (or, who didn’t) we get a chance to follow the black detective as he maneuvers gingerly thru life making a living, forming relationships, etc. in an often hostile environment.Very entertaining!
The ambitious intentions of the playwright August Wilson, (Apr. 1945 – Oct. 2005), consisted of a play for every decade of the 20th century that would chronicle some part of the black experience in America.Through the use of his great ear for dialogue, Wilson was able to give us some insight into the daily life – both struggles and triumphs – of an assortment of universal characters that his audience could easily recognize.
An ambitious undertaking, but, his huge vision was realized and, btw, it resulted in 2 Pulitzers and a Tony award. He accomplished a lot doing what he loved to do and perhaps more importantly, August Wilson left a powerful body of work that will be read and performed for years to come. Dreaming big has rewards of all kinds.
All 10 of August Wilson’s plays are collected in hard cover with a nice presentation box. Each has an introduction by either an actor, director, or writer familiar with his work.
In 2005, August Wilson completed the ten-play cycle:
Suzan-Lori Parks is an author, award winning playwright and screenwriter. I was going to categorize her as an “over achiever”. But, that’s probably a disservice – she is just doing what she has to do. Doing what matters to her – with excellence.
She won her 2002 Pultitzer Prize for the play “Topdog/Underdog”. I saw this in San Francisco a few years ago and enjoyed this clever, funny and explosive story about 2 brothers – “Lincoln” and “Booth”. You might imagine how it ends, but, it will still shock you.
Like in the Akira Kurosawa’s film “Rashomon” , where the same scenario is told from different points of view, this play illustrates how 2 boys in the same family can remember differently and be affected differently by the same traumatic event. Their perceptions colored their actions and attributed to the way they chose to lead their lives.
(The NYC Public Theater production had Jeffrey Wright and Don Cheadle as the siblings – you can just imagine the power of that duo.)
Ms Parks had an idea to write a play for every day of the year, the result is “365 Days, 365 Plays“ which she wrote between 2002 – 2003. Starting in 2006, they were presented at theaters, coffee houses and auditoriums across the country. Some venues could do a few of the plays, some as short as one page , and other locations could only stage one. However, all were seen before the end of 2007, just as she envisioned.
Most of us were first introduced to John le Carré via the very anti James Bond like spy master George Smiley. “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold”, “Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy” & Smiley’s People” and more. A spy with very human problems and no super power talents. He got things done by thinking.
“The Perfect Spy” another le Carré novel is the perfect spy book. Spies are not necessarily good or bad people, just people without a cause. They don’t know who to root for. Being authentic is difficult – “I’ll be who ever you need me to be”.
Since the end of the Soviet Union, spies have become people with causes, their own. Individualized causes are reasons for governments to be concerned. I am sure to be enlightened once again when I read “Most Wanted Man”
How does he stay so thin?On his Travel Channel TV series, “No Reservations”, author and Chef Anthony Bourdain wanders the world in search of “good” food.He doesn’t use the word “gourmet” – but, he does intone the word “simple” a lot. Plain simple French bistro eats, simple, fiery Indian street food, plain simple family style Italian food, and so on. He feels that the worst thing to be is a “tourist”. We should risk and explore, meet real people and find the good, simple food the natives eat. (It is sometimes unusual/bizarre – rattlesnake in Texas, assorted crunchy critters in a tasty sauce while in Asia, etc.)
In between cigarettes, he explores the sights, appears to eat tons of food as he samples several courses, just about always has a dessert and washes it all down with the local brew, show
after show – but, he doesn’t seem to gain a pound.Is it his metabolism or just the plain “simple” food? If it’s the food, I want what he’s having!
I also enjoy visiting the interesting places Chef Bourdain takes us – a food market in Thailand, the sewers of Paris, a Dacha in Russia, the bars of Iceland and even the wilds of New Jersey. Whether you are an intrepid world trekker or an arm chair/couch potato traveler, “No Reservations” is good fun!
