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The Comfort of Saturdays (Sunday Philosophy Club 5) | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexander Mccall Smith
Creator: Hilary Neville
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Category: Book
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £7.59
You Save: £8.40 (53%)
New (23) from £7.59
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 22189
Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.1 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 1405503483
EAN: 9781405503488
ASIN: 1405503483
Publication Date: October 2, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A pleasurable read that makes you think November 14, 2008
Bluebell (UK)
I've really got into this series, of which this book is the fifth, and look forward to further instalments in the life of Isabel Dalhousie. She is such a likeable and honourable character that you want things to go well for her. McCall Smith writes convincingly and sympathetically about her feelings. I've never been a fan of philosophy, but the author manages to interweave moral conundrums naturally into the story such that it makes one think about the issues. I find the Philosophy Club series (and his Scotland Street books) an antidote to the crime fiction that I also enjoy as the former portray the nicer side life. An added pleasure is the descriptions of familiar streets and shops in Edinburgh. I would recommend that readers start at the beginning of the series as each book partly relies on the back-story of the previous one(s) and you do get more out of this fifth book is you know the full background.
I noticed that there is another book by the author called "The Comfort of a Muddy Saturday", which from the blurb is the same story as this book of approximately the same name.
 Not the best in the series, but still worth reading October 31, 2008
Julia Flyte (Seattle)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Comfort of Saturdays is the fifth book in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series, which feature Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and occasional amateur sleuth. I should say at the outset that I adore this series. Isabel is a very likeable character with lovely little observations about life and its everyday moral dilemmas. But having said that, this is the book that I have liked least in the series to date. It felt like Isabel spent too much time thinking and not enough doing, to the detriment of the book's momentum.
The story picks up a year after "The Careful Use of Compliments". Isabel and Jamie's son Charlie is now 15 months old. One thing that felt wrong to me as a mother was Isabel's relationship with Charlie, which seemed very functional. She spends so many hours fretting about Jamie - does Jamie love her? is he happy? is she at risk of losing him? how can someone so beautiful want to be with her? - while she seems far less interested in her own son.
The book opens well. Isabel is asked to investigate the circumstances behind a doctor's disgrace over a medical scandal. At the same time, Jamie has developed a friendship with a mysterious composer by the name of Nick Smart. However it felt like McCall Smith lost interest in both of these storylines, which get pushed to the back and never get fully resolved. Instead we spend a lot of time with Isabel and her insecurities. For the first time we see sides of Isabel which are not very appealing: for example she harbours a grudge over a loan that she has made and is quick to pass judgement on Eddie's girlfriend based on the way she looks.
Despite all of this, McCall Smith is still a lovely writer. I always feel a little lighter in spirit after reading his books. The Edinburgh settings are captivating and Isabel has an original and refreshing take on life.
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