A friend gave me a copy Alexander McCall Smith’s The Sunday Philosophy Club. Though I had heard of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, I hadn’t read this author before. I started the book late last Friday and essentially read it straight through to the end.
Isabel Dalhousie is a well off, single, middle-aged Scotswoman. She edits a philosophical review and, from time to time, hosts the title club at her home. She has strong, fond relationships with her niece Cat (who owns and runs a delicatessen) and her housekeeper Grace (the quintessential dour Scot), is half in love with one of Cat’s former suitors, ponders the moral dilemmas of the contemporary world and cannot mind her own business.
In all honesty, the story is pretty slight and is really less about solving a mystery than about showing us who and what Isabel is; it is a character study in a mystery framework and, in all fairness, it is a good one. We wind up liking Isabel, not because she is fearless, perfect or particularly brave, but because she sees and acknowledges her own imperfections and refuses to gloss them over or turn away from them until she has come to an understanding about them and, therefore, herself.
The tone is veddy British and, on the surface at least, placid and serious. However, there’s a great deal going on below the understatement, matters that are both grave and hilarious, offensive and touching.
I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I also can’t wait to get my hands on more of Smith’s writing :)
I did finally finish my Republic hat thanks to Laura’s comment to Monday’s post. As silly as it sounds, it just hadn’t occurred to me to start with fewer stitches. I only frogged back far enough though, to get back to the bind-off point and then, after measuring, bound off enough more stitches to make the hat more...hat-sized. You know, as opposed to its previously all-enveloping nature :)
As written, the pattern is a little shallower than I’d like, so the next hat will have a few more rounds to increase the depth. Also, the garter stitch edge is only just over an inch when it should be 2 inches. I don’t think it looks bad as it is, but I can’t figure out what went wrong there - was I looking at the centimeter side of my tape measure that day when I decided that was enough? Sheesh… Some days I can’t count my fingers and come up with the same answer twice :)
A further note: The link to the pattern in Monday’s post only brings you to a page where the pattern may be downloaded. There are no pictures and the file cannot be viewed on line - you have to download it. Not difficult at all, but certainly an odd way to set things up…
I completed another Long Band Hat. This one is for me though and will go with my crocheted jacket. I had just enough yarn left over from the jacket to make the hat - nice how that worked out, eh?
I believe I’m up for a crochet project and I spent yesterday swatching…
Have a great weekend folks :)
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I love the purple and yellow together! And the flower is a great idea, since you may not always have the perfect button laying around.
Sounds like my kind of book - I’ll look for it!
Love the hats - especially the flower. :)
I’ve read the first 2 f the ladies detection agency and they are both light easy reading (from memory) set in a culture that I know very little about
well, haven’t you been quite the busy one!
i’ll be looking for that book too- i’m kinda down to reading the labels on cans around here lately and a stroll through the pages of powells is always a good antidote for that-
check out the construction of this hat:
http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATThexed.html
quite different and looks like fun to make- i’m telling you, this whole ‘hat thing’ is just contagious- i’m glad there are little cold heads in mongolia that need my output as we have probably had our brief flirtation with real winter here and the one thing none of us really need is a whole hat wardrobe-
stay happy-
(you’d love the Ladies Detection Agency books)
Laura - The colors are definitely a bit...funky - but definitely fun :)
Bron - I think you would enjoy the novel. Introducing you to it would be the least I could do for your introducing me to the Hobbs trilogies :)
Nat - I really look forward to looking up the “Ladies” books and I think there’s at least one more of the “Philosophy Club” books which I will also want to get my grubby little hands on :)
Barb - I think you would certainly enjoy Smith’s books; I’d be interested to hear your take on them :)
It’s unfortunate that there are so many cold little noggins out there in the world but we’ll certainly do what we can to get them warmly covered!
I bought of few of those books for my mother in law. I know she really enjoyed them. Your hats are adorable as always. I may be the mitten queen...but, you are definately the hat queen :)
Maureen - Well thanks - it’s just because they’re so simple and so much fun to play with! I promise you, nothing like your stranded mittens is falling off my needles any time soon :)
