Why should the color of one's skin matter?

With the main characters in this book being black and African, and the cadence and accent that they would have being substantially different than that of a white South African, I would have preferred a narrator that would be a closer match. (Yes, I know that the characters would be very unlikely to be speaking English at all. Beside the point, at least from MY perspective.)

An example from another book we're reading this month -- the Peter Grant character would be unlikely to be as compellingly persuasive were the narrator white. Certainly, I can't imagine anyone doing it better than Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

I am not saying that Lisette Lecat doesn't do an excellent job. I have only listened to short samples at this point, but she did sound like she at least got pronunciations correct as well as I can judge. That being said, she didn't sound like Mma "Precious" Ramotswe as MY ear expected.

The problem is that for most audiobooks is you get one person reading. If that person does voices, you won't get what you expect for most of the characters. The only way to get it the way you want is for the audiobook to be read by a cast. When I listen to an audiobook, I don't check the skin color of the person reading.I check if I can enjoy the reading. If I can, it's a go. If I cannot, it's a stop. But skin color doesn't matter.

I love the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I'm four books into the series and still enjoying each book as much as the original. I love the setting, I love the characters and I love the gentle humour and the atmosphere. Though they're definitely 'mystery' as far as genre goes, they're usually not really that much of mysteries per se. They do always have a mystery, or two, or three, but they're often sort of side plots that are interspersed in the everyday living of life.

I've listened to the audiobooks on a few so far and Lisette Lecat is very good. I don't think I knew what colour her skin was but regardless I think she does justice to the books and is very pleasing to listen to. As far as Mma Ramotswe's voice, I will always think of it as Jill Scott's, who plays her in the television adaptation. That series is excellent - one of my absolute favourites - and it is such a pity it only lasted one year so far simply because its producers happened to die. As baseless at it might be, I'm still holding out hope that they'll get the series going again at some point in the near future. If any of you read the book and enjoy it then I strongly suggest to also try the television series. It's a real treat.

O.o The Weinsteins aren't dead. The show was canceled, and they were still looking for a new home for it as of 2012. Apparently, they never found one, unfortunately.

Both Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella unexpectedly died the year it was made or thereabouts. They were the original executive producers and it was Minghella's passion project especially.

Well, for whatever reason it didn't get an additional season, it's a sad shame. It was, as sun surfer points out, an excellent series and captures the books well.

I've already read all but the last couple of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, but I'll happily circle back to re-read the first book. I remember being enchanted at the time. It will be good to see how well it's stood up on a re-read.

I've gotten The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency from Overdrive and I'll be starting it later on today. I think it's going to win.

I believe that this vote was in error and we should hold it again with ALL of the correct information. It turns out that The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a short story collection and not actually a novel. This was never mentioned when it was nominated or voted for. So I call for a new vote.

Jon, do you never get tired of tilting at windmills? :) When have we ever had a new vote?

Amazon says it's a novel. Goodreads says it's a novel. People here had about ten days to do their due diligence on the book before deciding to vote for it. I don't really see your point, but I guess we all make our own fun.

Now me, I suspect it's not really my kind of thing, but I'm willing to give it a try. If I'm lucky, it'll be the fun read that it has been for so many others.

I found the first story to be a bit of fluff. The second is a slog so far. It's not actually a novel, it's a short story collection.

Well, maybe it ties together later on. Some novels are more loosely constructed than others.

But this isn't a novel. It's a short story collection.

:surrender:

Never surrender. :)

Seriously, this all ties together into a novel, IMNSHO. Is the novel composed of multiple vignettes? certainly. As for whether you will enjoy? I'm not sure. I know I did the first time around, and I'm hoping it's still true. Part of that enjoyment was that it was so very evocative of the Africa I had visited, even though we never got to Botswana. Part of it was growing to love the characters and watching them mature and change.