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Post by HokieThea on Jul 24, 2007 8:23:59 GMT -5
I've read 4 of the series now. They are very entertaining, and each book seems to flow into the next, like the author was forced to make the breaks in writing. They're not really mysteries, are they? I am enjoying the soothing stories they tell, but I am still musing over the writing style. It's so simple, and bizarre to me. Almost like a translation. Comments???
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Post by juliab on Jul 24, 2007 11:46:51 GMT -5
I've read 4 of them too. I know what you mean about the writing style. I like it though - simple and unpretentious but entertaining and thought provoking. Almost like an oral history the way it might have been done in Africa in days gone by.
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Post by filly on Jul 24, 2007 17:49:11 GMT -5
Well, the guy who wrote the books actually speaks that way as well. He's a Brit from Africa. He is hysterically funny as well with dry humor. I really enjoy the simplicity and sometimes wish for those days again when I grew up in the country and life was so much easier and slower. Sigh....did I mention I hate the city?  I also really loved the interaction of the people and how honesty and integrity are so important to the main characters. I guess that's what is missing from where I live these days. |
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Post by Bara on Jul 25, 2007 12:08:43 GMT -5
Yes, I think he interprets the simplicity really well.
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Post by Bara on Jul 27, 2007 13:45:32 GMT -5
Does anyone remember, I mean REALLY remember, the days of living in shorts, t-shirts and bare-foot or flip-flops?? When the worst problem in your life was your mother nagging you to tidy your room? (And your boobs beginning to come through, unevenly and hurting like hell! And Mick Jagger not realising that you existed and you would be the love of his life, if only he knew?)
Coming home at dusk, with a dusty dirty bike and when your mum said : 'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?' You said (and meant) 'I dunno...' Then sitting up half the night, developing crap pictures from a home-built camera? And all the posters on your wall, of unsuitable pop-stars?
With your mum hammering on the door, hissing 'SCHOOL tomorrow!' (She knew better than to come in when 'photography' was going on!)
That sort of 11 - 13 era where you were half hairstyles, pop magazines and BOYS - and half dogs, dirty feet and free?
THAT'S the time these books conjure for me.
;D
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Post by Goalie on Jul 28, 2007 6:44:36 GMT -5
I remember those times Bara. Very fondly
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Post by Lynne on Jul 28, 2007 22:14:19 GMT -5
Mick Jagger?!!! LOL!!!! Surely you're jesting!!!! HAHAHA
I received the book recently and should be reading it....um.....does anyone realize how many books I bought this summer? I think I'll read instead of teach next week....LOL
Filly.....when I lived in CA what I hated most was that I met so many people that lacked honesty and intregrity. Granted, that's not CA but it was the peopl I came in contact with....a real eye opener.......and maybe a huge part of growing up. But I still want to believe in people and if that means not growing up then I'm happily satisfied with being Peter Pan.....or.....b/c I'm a girl....Petris Pan....or because I teach science.....Yes! I'll be happy as Petris Dish!
Bara....thanks for the reminder of the dusty bike. And.....(SHAMED) my posters (the non-horse ones) were Shawn Cassidy............HAHAHAHAH
Must read book. Must read book.
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Post by Bara on Jul 29, 2007 5:38:01 GMT -5
LOL! ;D Yes, Mick Jagger ... (where's the 'Big Lip' icon??) I was secretly in loff with Paul McCartney - but it wasn't cool to like the Beatles, you had to be a Stones fan for street-cred. (Who is Shawn Cassidy? Don't you mean David ??  ) Yes, see if you can get into the book. As Thea says, they're not so much mysteries, but they're lovely and gentle. Botswana 'home-spun' wisdom. The reason they conjure up innocent 'running wild' days for me, is that I was living in an even smaller community in rural Africa at the time. As the only white girl within a 60 mile radius, I could go anywhere through the bush on that bike - and I was safe and looked after by everyone. Numerous times, my bike and I were hoisted into the back of a battered pick-up or ox-cart and deposited home Sigh. How Africa has changed. Everyone lives behind barbed wire, now ..  Except maybe in Botswana. |
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Post by HokieThea on Jul 29, 2007 13:33:49 GMT -5
Lynne! Shawn Cassiday is MINE!! You can't have him!! Along with Donny Osmond and Leif Garrett (Actually, have you seen SC lately? He didn't age very well... I guess you can have him now.)
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Post by Lynne on Jul 30, 2007 10:00:11 GMT -5
Thea! What?! I get your "seconds"?
LOL!!! Not David, Bara. Shawn. Yep....Teen Beat. Wow.....I'm old.
I will read the book.....it might be just what I need in the evening once I'm back at school. Is it insane that I look FORWARD to the kids but DREAD the adults that I work with? I need to become a nicer person!!!
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Post by niaru on Aug 21, 2007 11:53:05 GMT -5
ok, I've read 3 of them and LOVE them. I find myself laughing aloud while reading, and at other times, wiping a tear ot two! These books are like refreshing spring water to me. Did you know they are making a movie (shot in Botswana) out of them? Oh, and Filly, I couldn't agree more with what you said I also really loved the interaction of the people and how honesty and integrity are so important to the main characters. I guess that's what is missing from where I live these days. |
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Post by Bara on Aug 21, 2007 12:11:55 GMT -5
Yes. I saw that, Claire!  |
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Post by Bara on Aug 21, 2007 12:13:50 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]He's a Brit from Africa. He is hysterically funny as well with dry humor.[/glow] I BEG your pardon, Filly-dear? And so - Brits from Africa ... HELLO?? And your point ...   |
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Post by filly on Aug 21, 2007 14:05:53 GMT -5
;D lmaorotf |
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Post by Rodger on Aug 27, 2007 19:42:40 GMT -5
I think this is one of the best series I have read for many many years.
Characterization is brilliant.
Description is clear and incredibly human.
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