Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith

Another diverting look at life for the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Borrowed from Mum, I have finished this in a couple of days on the tube. A nice relaxing way to recover from a day of teaching.

The Girl Who Married A Lion by Alexander McCall Smith

I am trying to make my way through The Life of Teresa of Avila by Herself. It's pretty tough going; although the writing is fairly straightforward, it is quite dense in places, and probably more suited to quiet contemplation than busy tube journeys. So I decided to ask our school librarian for something a bit lighter and easier, and this is what she recommended.

I have read quite a few African folk tales before, and these tales, rewritten and compiled by Alexander McCall Smith (with a "foreward by Mma Ramotswe"), and these were very much in line with my previous incursions. Each story is about five pages long - some much shorter, occasionally a bit longer. Some examples of final lines (I won't tell you which stories they are from, so it won't spoil your enjoyment):

The people said that the uncles should be killed. And so this happened.

Later, when he was chief, the short boy grew taller.

"Your sons are not lions," the uncle said to the boys' mother. "I am glad," she said.

They are hardly morals of the tale, but they are quite humorous, and I have enjoyed reading them. And now - back to St Teresa.