Product Description

Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur solver of other people's problems, meets an old foe, Minty Auchterlonie, at a birthday party attended by their young children. Ambitious Minty, now the head of a small investment bank, is in trouble with her shareholders. Isabel becomes involved, and is drawn into a murky world of financial concealment. Minty is not the only high-flier in Isabel's life; her niece Cat has just become engaged to a tightrope-walking stuntman. Isabel fears his next job - and the engagement - could end in disaster. Meanwhile, her own boyfriend Jamie has marriage in mind too ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1313 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Following a distinguished career as a Professor of Medical Law, Alexander McCall Smith has turned to writing full-time. He is the author of over sixty books on a wide array of subjects, and his books have been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife.

Customer Reviews

Maybe I'm ungrateful...
I really enjoyed all the previous Sunday Philosophy Club books, and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, but have been a little disappointed by the latest episodes in both series. In this latest instalment of Isabel Dalhousie's life all the usual ingredients are present: Cat has a new unsuitable boy-friend; Isabel interferes (this time on behalf of someone we met in the first novel in the series - Minty Auchterlonie); Isabel defeats the latest machinations of Christopher Dove; and, as ever, Isabel's mind frequently wanders off into philosophical speculation at the oddest of moments. But there is nothing really new, and I'm beginning to feel that I'm reading books that are being written to fulfil a contractual obligation rather than because the writer has something to say. This is still a well-written book - and perhaps if this had been only the second or third in the series I'd have given it four stars, but I feel something is lacking: reading this I was struck that I had no idea what time of year it was supposed to be, and also by how unbelievably cosy Isabel's life is: I'm not after EastEnders (one of the things I like best about Alexander McCall Smith's books is how people do generally manage to sort out their problems with one another peacefully), but it wouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility for Isabel to have to deal with the occasional disagreement with Jamie, or a tantrum from Charlie, or for Grace the house-keeper to need some time off work (or maybe some of Isabel's wealth could have disappeared in the credit crunch). Isabel would be a more interesting character if she wasn't so darn reasonable all the time.
One of the characters in this book is a tight-rope walker. I'm sure any writer who returns to the same characters again and again must find it hard to strike the right balance between livening up a series (and risk alienating readers) by disrupting the world he has created in earlier books, and sticking to a winning formula so long that it becomes stale. I'm afraid Alexander McCall Smith seems to be very much in danger of the latter. Perhaps he hasn't quite fallen off the rope in this book, but I feel he needs to take some risks in the next novel in this series if he wants the Sunday Philosophy Club series to remain interesting.

Is Alexander McCall Smith getting bored with the series?
The Lost Art of Gratitude is the 6th novel in the "Sunday Philosophy Club" series by Alexander McCall Smith, which centre on philosopher and occasional amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie. The book picks up only 2-3 months after "The Comfort of Saturdays" - Isabel and Jamie's son Charlie now being 18 months old.

If you've read the other books in the series you'll know that they feature an assortment of storylines, most of which seem to take a backseat to Isabel's musings on everyday matters. This book is no different. Minty Auchterlonie asks Isabel to help her with a troublesome problem, Isabel's niece Cat has a new and unsuitable fiance, Brother Fox is injured and needs medical attention and Christopher Dove is scheming to force Isabel to resign as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics.

I truly love this series, but I was so disappointed by this book which felt like it was written "by numbers". One of the things that I like most is Isabel's musings on life and ethics. However this time round they felt forced: formulaic rather than intriguing. Also, McCall Smith seemed to have only limited interest in the plotlines. Cat's relationship felt like it was tucked in as an afterthought ("must involve Cat - oh let's give her another problematic boyfriend and we can just wrap it up by Isabel hearing about what happened"). The Minty storyline was given more prominence but then again it felt like he got bored with it in the end.

If you've loved this series as I do, you should still read the book - while disappointing, it's not completely dreadful. However I'd wait for the paperback. If you're new to the series, don't start here! Start with "The Sunday Philosophy Club". It's a series best read in order.

Heart-warming and thought-provoking
This is the sixth novel in The Sunday Philosophy Club Series that follows the life and work of Isabel Dalhousie. It was this series that first introduced me to McCall Smith's books and I'm now a fan of this and the 44 Scotland Street books. The Lost Art of Gratitude starts at the point that ended the previous novel with Isabel living with Jamie and their 18 month old son, Charlie. She still works at home as the editor of a philosophical journal and the story is full of her musings over moral issues and how they are tackled by philosophical analysis. I'm not a fan of philosophy as a discipline, but the author brings the subject to life and meaning for me by using real-life dilemmas experienced by Isabel in these novels. This more esoteric aspect of the novels is woven in a natural way into the day-to-day happenings in her life: a life full of love, happiness and kindness. McCall Smith writes with great charm, sensitivity and understanding of human feelings and has a gift for describing the feelings of women.

As with the other novels in this series the domestic idyll of a comfortable life in a nice area of Edinburgh are enlivened by Isabel being asked to solve a serious problem for someone else. The "problem" in this novel leads to some twists and turns as to who is the villain.

There's an added pleasure in these books if you're familiar with the streets, shops and social structure of Edinburgh that form the back-drop to the books.

Each book stands alone as a good read, but I think there is added enjoyment if you follow the chronological sequence and follow the lives of all the characters from book to book:
Book 1: The Sunday Philosophy Club
Book 2: Friends. Lovers, Chocolate
Book 3: The Right Attitude to ain
Book 4: The Careful Use of Compliments
Book 5: The Comfort of Saturdays