The Double Comfort Safari Club
There is a moment that capsizes me. It’s when I read a phrase or paragraph that so perfectly captures what I’ve always known, but rediscover as though it is a new truth through the author’s description. That click makes me say Yes!, Of course!, or How did you know?
Here’s what I’m talking about:
Some kind people may not look kind. They may look severe, or strict, or even bossy, as Mma Potokwane sometimes did. But inside them there was a big dam of kindness, as there is inside so many people, like the great dam to the south of Gabarone, ready to release its healing waters.
And this:
…this woman, moved by some private sorrow as much as by the words being spoken, cried almost silently, unobserved by others, apart from Mma Ramotswe, who stretched out her hand and laid it on her shoulder. Do not cry, Mma, she began to whisper, but changed her words even as she uttered them, and said quietly, Yes, you can cry, Mma. We should not tell people not to weep—we do it because of our sympathy for them—but we should really tell them that their tears are justified and entirely right.
A Living Pencil 
Yes. Everything you listed is why I revel in these particular characters, these stories.
I love how I learn and grow with a character, as each book is read, and become very fond of their idiosyncrasies. (I am grateful to spell-check; pretty sure I could not have managed that last word!)
Having just read two in a row by Alexander McCall Smith (#5 and #6), I’m detouring into a melancholy and beautiful book by a talented Swedish author. It’s very good, but … I already miss Mma Ramotswe.
Ah, dear Carol..I am in the same place with summer reads that nourish and feed. While mine are light and almost border on chick lit, one particular author has been giving me that “large dollop of satisfaction [and] a sob of grief.”
Your fondness of McCall Smith’s series is tempting me to continue in it. I’ve only read one or two, and even copied some quotes from them. With my bulging books-on-the-shelf already that I feel obligated to read first, I am tempted to use some PBS credits and collect AMS’s books to read in time.
~Janie
Susan…….did you mean Scottish instead of Swedish? 🙂
No, I left the comforts of AMS to dip into Linda Olsson’s “Sonata for Miriam” – which is a lovely book – and I’m immersed in it. But it’s particularly sad (and beautifully written) – and did I mention *sad*. I think I will need a dose of Mwa R. when finished 🙂
Putting “Sonata for Miriam” on my list……..Sounds alluring.
I should add, Linda Olsson’s “Astrid & Veronika” is outstanding.
You capture so well what I love about her, too, and her books. It has been far too long since I’ve visited with her!
I just finished reading one of AMS’s children’s books The Mystery of Meercat Hill which has Precious as a child character and she is a kind child, too. love and prayers, jep