La felicidad es un té contigo

Perfect for building vocabulary

The title of this little beach-read makes it sound like a tale of friendship or maybe a little romance. The english title is "The Altogether Unexpected Disappearance of Atticus Craftsman" which makes it sound like a cheerful little cozy mystery. So which is it?

It is a light, breezy little bit of each, but mostly it is a gentle comedy of manners making fun of uptight upperclass brits and chaotic, inept spaniards in almost equal measure.

Short chapters, lots of descriptions, uncomplicated style, moving along a brisk pace and entirely paint by numbers. That is meant as a compliment.

From a learning point of view all that predictability made following along easier (one less thing to worry about). The short chapters meant I could get through one whenever I had 10 minutes free.

More importantly, the uncomplicated style meant I never struggled with the grammar, and while there was an immense vocabulary with a painful to admit number of words with which I was unfamiliar I rarely, very rarely, found I couldn't figure the meaning from context. Who knew that araña was a chandelier? Me, for one, but it took me less than a beat to recognize.

This isn't my genre. Not even a little. But I'm glad I found it.