The first instalment was ok, this one was possibly better as far as the storyline goes, but I've worked out what my problem is with this series. I don't like Isabel Dalhousie. So I think that in future I'll stick to the Ladies Detective Agency and Mma Ramotswe. ( )

I didn't think I was going to try any more Isabel Dalhousie books, after not enjoying the first one too much... but when book bingo calls for me to read a book "set somewhere you have been"... let's be real, I'm always going to want it to be Edinburgh. And Alexander McCall Smith's writing style is a sort of siren call for me. So I decided to give the second book in the series a try.
I liked a lot of it. But ultimately, I guess I am still warming up to Isabel, and I'm not sure if I'll come to like her more in future books or not. She's a bit too ivory-tower for me. A bit unrelatable, a bit aimless? Although I've gotten used to AMC's philosophical, meandering style (and I relish it!), it just feels cranked up to a very high level with Isabel. And, so far, I do feel like she meddles too much in other people's quandaries, from purely philosophical motives. It just doesn't quite land for me. But I'm more willing to try another book in the series, just because I do enjoy the writing so much! ( )

I don't have too many opinions on this. It pretty good, the mystery wasn't terrible but not super-interesting either. Isabella's crush on Jamie is getting weird, but at least she's aware of it so that's nice. :P

There was some parts that kinda made me cringe though, like the part where a girl said her teacher made inappropriate comments against her and the book basically seemed to say that girls are always making these kinds of things up. Ugh, no. The "but what's to say she didn't lie?"-line at the end didn't make up for like one page of dwelling on it first...

But still, a quick fun read, that's always nice! ( )

Un nuevo hecho inesperado aparece cuando su sobrina Cat se toma unas vacaciones en Italia e Isabel acepta suplirla en el delicatessen que aquélla regenta.
Ahí, Isabel conocerá a un cliente al que recientemente le han hecho un transplante de corazón y al que no dejan de visitar extraños recuerdos que parecen pertenecer a otra persona y que pondrán a prueba el racionalismo de Isabel. Pero, a pesar de todo, siempre habrá tiempo para pensar en sus propios interrogantes: la amistad, el amor y, cómo no, la tentación.

Isabel Dalhousie returns with more philosophical musings, ethical dilemmas, and anxieties over love and friendship. Her niece, Cat, is here again, along with Jaimie, who pines for he and Cat to reunite but satisfies himself with the friendship of Cat’s aunt, much to Isabel’s secret delight. Crime isn’t so much a factor in this tale, but there is plenty of questionable sleuthing and a fair bit of distraction.

I didn’t find this second offering in the Isabel Dalhousie series to be as satisfying as the first, though it was still enjoyable. The philosophical issue on which the action turns — the location of memory — doesn’t easily generate the kinds of moral probing that Isabel is better equipped to deal with. Or perhaps I was less interested in the other characters — Ian, the heart transplant recipient, and Tomasso, the potential liaison of either Cat or Isabel. But I do enjoy the numerous philosophical references, the citing of Auden, and the affection for Scotland that Isabel and, through her, McCall Smith evince.

Gently recommended. ( )