Larry they sound great. I have them on order.  Oh and Tom, I just got the first five in the Detective series. I'm gonna be a busy girl.

wait till it comes to Netflix, el vee.  And on a rainy Saturday...................you can get it all in. That's my plan.

Lavonne i have not read Women as of yet, will have to put that in my chinaski queue.  so far i've scratched these off his list-
Open All Night, poems
Hot Water Music
Post Office
Come On In, poems

and all winners for me.  Maggie -  i very much share your views on giovanni's Love Poems.  i am half way through and honestly it reads very elementary for me.  quite a contrast from when i saw her read as an undergrad and Ego Trippin oozed down my chin.  i did recently pick up her collection, Cotton Candy on A Rainy Day at a used bookstore in boulder and have much higher hopes!  lawrence

49 pages into No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.  Delightful read so far!

Well, good luck. It's my melomel.

Finished No. 1.  So I knew when she said she couldn't help the schoolteacher find his son, that she would find the son; and I knew when she said she would never marry, that she would marry; and I knew when the child's bone was found that it would not be the bone of THAT child, and yet, and yet, I still cried when the father once again held his son in his arms and I closed the book smiling when she said yes. 

A very good book indeed. I look forward to the rest!

You're right, Lavonne. No tricks, simple-seeming writing style. I can't pin down, myself, what he does that works so well. Glad you got your $'s worth from #1! Tom

Tom. Have you read Little Bee by Chris Cleave?  An absolutely marvelous though sometime terrifying book.  There is the same authentic sounding female african voice telling the story. I recommend it highly.

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Little-Bee/Chris-Cleave/9781416589631

I tried Little Bee but didn't get into it, Lavonne. I am an absolute PAIN when it comes to fiction.

Tom - finished Tears of the Giraffe and am halfway through Morality for Beautiful Girls - I'm hooked. 

Wouldn't this make a fine TV series?

Oh, dear. But there are 12-step programs.

Anthony Minghella made one season for TV in England -- ABSOLUTELY marvelous.

OK - I'm going searching for the DVD.

Got it.  And I only have half of number 5 left to read. I can pretty much read half of one of the books during lunch at work.  Anyway I have the other five on order.  Will wait for number 11 until it comes out in paperback - I want the set to match!

There's a bit of a drop off for me in the last two. Curious to see what you think. Oh, how I wish I could watch the TV episodes again for the first time! I'm jealous. Tom