Some Hurricane Reading

Well, it's not exactly a hurricane, but it is a tropical storm, and because of it, I got to skip work. I'll probably be skipping work tomorrow too, because this thing just ain't in any hurry to get out of the way. Here's a picture of the storm track:

My poor sister was stuck under it for three days, and her house came close to flooding. Tonight, I'm next.

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Since I've been needing to read something light this week, I took a break on some darker novels and I read The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith (Amazon UK, Canada)

This novel was even more of a delight than the last one. Precious Ramotswe, the propriatress of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency is having personnel issues, and so is her husband (as propriator of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors). Since the cover blurb never even hints at it, it was a fun surprise. Also, Mma Ramotswe's (who is never referred to as Precious by anyone) husband, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, has asked her if he can handle a case.

I think this is what you would call a cozy mystery. It's more about the life of Mma Ramotswe and the people she loves than about solving mysteries. Their problems and how they solve them is the true fun. The mysteries is like icing on the cake.

And of course, these series have the added bonus of taking place in a non-western culture, namely Botswana. These novels are wonderful. I read the whole thing in a day.

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Since I got my urge for a lighter novel out of the way, I may pick up some of those darker novels that I set aside earlier in the week. I rarely set aside a novel permanently, but when said novel has lots of competition from my reading stack, I'm less likely to stick it out.