Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia

Putin County:  A Journey into the Real Russia

By Anne Garels

228 pages

The American author, Anne Garels, has been visiting the area of Chelyabinsk, Russia for decades. She writes about the average citizen in the area and how they survive among the local and national corruption and biases towards minorities. The author also explains why many Russians are loyal to Putin, even though they acknowledge his abuse of power.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - 209 pages

This is a collection of letters from the demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood on how best to corrupt a human.
I have never been so glad to finish a book as I was when I finished this one.  It took me nearly a month to finish reading it.  I would start and then put it down.  I could usually only manage to read a couple of letters at a time.  While it was definitely interesting, it is not something I would recommend to most people to read.

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: The New No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel by Alexander McCall Smith --- 257 pages

The thirteenth volume and a great addition to the popular cozy mystery series. Mma Ramotswe, proprietor of the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, has had a recurring dream of a tall stranger waiting for her under an acacia tree. Her assistant Mma Maskutsi and her new husband Phuti Radiphuti are having problems with the builder they hired to build their dream house. Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, the husband of Mma Ramotswe (and the best mechanic in Botswana), is trying to help his recently qualified mechanic, Fanwell, defend himself against a charge of theft, but the lawyer he hired for Fanwell proves to be so incompetent he is more hindrance than help to his client. And Mma Ramotswe's redoubtable friend, Mma Potokwane, has been fired from her job as the matron in charge of the orphan farm for resisting changes proposed by a new member of the governing board.

Then a tall stranger from America appears at the door of the detective agency. He is none other than Mr. Clovis Andersen, author of The Principles of Private Detection, the definitive book that has guided Mma Ramotswe in her work from the beginning, Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi are both convinced that the great detective is the one person who can help them in their hour of need. Clovis Andersen however, seems oddly reticent to help --- at first.

This series combines subtle humor, deft characterization, a firm moral compass, and a wonderful sense of place, simultaneously changeless and changing.