Spooks/MI-5 question

Specifically, how are they related, or are they just always mentioned together, and is there a viewing order with the two.

Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

This is the second of Smith’s books featuring Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s No. 1 lady detective. I’m not sure how well this book would read on its own. In a lot of ways, these books are pretty much the definition of a comfort read, which would normally mean that you don’t need any other books to follow along, but Tears of the Giraffe seems to assume a familiarity with Mma Ramotswe’s past and relationships.

There are fewer stories in this book than in the first. Instead, the book is largely focused on Mma Ramotswe’s relationship with J.L.B. Matekoni, the man in her life, what his life is like, the aspirations of Mma Makutsi, her assistant, and the case of a woman whose son disappeared over a decade ago. So really, there isn’t time for much ‘Random Tidbit About Botswana #462.”

Mma Ramotswe and her cast remain an absolute delight. On the detective front, I find it interesting that she’s more concerned about doing what she believes to be right than what’s legal, and that she often laments that there isn’t a book on detecting that tells you how to do what’s moral. I have to wonder, though, if some of the misconceptions the characters have in the books are true of Botswanans, or if they were added for “flavor.” For example, in the first book, Mma Ramotswe discusses Agatha Christie as a lady detective, instead of as a writer of mystery novels, and here she discusses Freud’s theories as his saying that there is something wrong with boys loving their mothers, without seeming to be aware of the kind of love Freud was talking about.

( spoilers )

A brief break from reading In the Hunt:Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural

So, Jacob Clifton of TWOP, you say female presence is strong and prominent in Supernatural because the important female characters and relationships are used as reflections of men and their relationships? That killing them gives them presence and power as long as we know a bit about them first? That Lilith is a strong and powerful female presence because she "perverts" (your word, not mine) the relationship between the Winchesters by separating them? This is my response to your defense of the portrayal of women in Supernatural:

spn_womens work - luminosity & sisabet

I am amused, though, that it follows up Mary Borsellino's essay that objectively addresses how women are portrayed and given/not given agency in terms of how the series can be viewed as reclaiming the genre's masculinity that it "lost" with Buffy. That's actually the only interesting essay so far. Not because of the subject matter, but because it's the only one that wasn't pure praise or character defense. *more to come when I finish the book*

(no subject)

I...I...one of these essays just implied that vampires seeking redemption was something new and unexplored until SUpernatural toyed with it for a whole episode.