The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
by Alexander Mccall Smith
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Author: Alexander Mccall SmithEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2007-08-07
ISBN: 037542301X
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Reviews of The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
Book Review: The philosopher mom
Summary: 5 Stars
The latest book in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series takes a deeper look at protagonist Isabel Dalhousie as a person with intense attachments to her new baby and her musician lover but who is still struggling to approach life with the objectivity of a philosopher. Isabel finds that this is not always an easy act to balance. While some of the most enjoyable parts of this continuing story revolve around Isabel's personal life, author McCall-Smith has thrown in an interesting mystery (softcore) and a little intrigue that gives the book some snap and energy.
The reader can easily get the impression from this series and the Mma Ramotswe books, that McCall-Smith may be using the two female protagonists as alter egos to get at some basic ethical issues that bug him and plague most of human kind. Isabel Dalhousie's mulling of daily moral issues is the basic structure on which all else in the books hang. I find this enjoyable for the most part, though I can understand why other readers could see it as off the point at times.
Overall, this book and its predecessors are the purest form of mental comfort food. I feel great for days after reading these books and always look forward to the next one in the series.
Summary of The Careful Use of Compliments: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel
A Message from Author Alexander McCall Smith Three great places to visit in Scotland: The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, EdinburghThis gallery, housed in an extraordinary red sandstone building topped with spikes and twirls, contains a pictorial record of Scots over the ages--the handsome, the deluded, the unfortunate, the inventive--they're all there. Falkland Palace
A lovely little palace in lush countryside, where the father of Mary Queen of Scots turned his face to the wall and predicted the end of the Stuart dynasty. The Isle of Muck
You reach this charming little island on a tiny boat. There is nothing to do on the island but to contemplate its beauty--and its name. Note to readers:
I would like to thank you for all your support. If it weren't for the encouragement this has given me, my long conversation with Mma Ramotswe would have ended far earlier. As it is, I feel that we still have quite a bit to hear from her - as we do, too, from Isabel Dalhousie, heroine of my Edinburgh novels, and all the denizens of 44 Scotland Street. Each of these series will have a new novel written this year, and I am also planning to revisit the three German professors of the Portuguese Irregular verbs series. I was in the United States in the spring this year and will return in the Fall. These visits give me the chance to meet many readers of these books, so if we have not yet met, perhaps we shall do so before too long. And if we do, please do not hesitate to give me your views on what should happen to the characters in the future: all (reasonable) suggestions gratefully accepted! --Alexander McCall Smith
Isabel Dalhousie is back, in the latest installment of this enchanting, already beloeved, best-selling series.
In addition to being the nosiest and most sypathetic philosopher you are likely to meet, Isabel is now a mother. Charlies, her newborn son, presents her with a myriad wonders of a new life, and doting father Jamie presents her with an intriguing proposal: marriage. In the midst of all this, she receives a disturbing letter announcing that she has been ousted as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics by the ambitious Professor Dove.
None of these things, however, in any way diminshes Isabel's curiosity. And when she attends an art auction, she finds an irresistable puzzle: two paintings attributed to a now-deceased artist appear on the market at the same time, and both of them exhibit some unusual characteristics. Are these paintings forgeries? This proves to be sufficient fodder for Isabel's inquisitiveness. So she begins an investigation... and soon finds herself diverging from her philosophical musings about fatherhood onto a path that leads her into the mysteries of the art world and the soul of an artist.
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