Date: 19 March 2009 22:11:36
I have begun reading the new No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book. It is the same mix of gentle humour, detective story, social commentary and walk through Botswanan life as all the others. It is a book that gives you a warm glow of satisfaction that, in soem corner of our modern world, there is somewhere that clings to the "old" values and where life is slower, enjoyed and where globalisation is yet to hit.
This is what Dan Brown, and many other writers, should be forced to read to learn how a story should be written, characters expanded and plot crafted. If we had a few more writers of this calibre literature would be in much better state.
Hysteria Today:
1831: The first recorded bank robbery in American history takes place at the City Bank in New York. A few hundred years later and it is the Citibank doing the robbing.
1861: The first Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
1916: The first American air combat mission takes place as aircraft fly in support of troops battling Pancho Villa.
1932: The Sydney Harbour Bridge is formally opened.
1945: General Friedrich Fromm is killed for his part in the July Plot against Hitler.
1949: The People's Council of the Soviet Zone of Occipation approve a constitution, a precursor to the formation of East Germany - a land where women look and sound like men and men run and hide.
1982: A group of wandering Argentines land on the Falkland Island and plant their country's flag.