Terry Pratchett
writes a good workmanlike book well written and well paced- Unlike other books of it’s type I haven’t had to skim through ten paragraphs of meaningless and boring dialog (or, in the case of that crapulous twit Rand, 57 PAGES) and there is the occasional little flash of utter brilliance- a brilliant concept or turn of phrase that makes the book worthwhile just for it,alone. And there have been, at least in the first several books, anyway- multitudes of those little pieces, which I’m sure are slightly different for each person Mort, for instance, contains no less than six, that I can think of. I’m happy to have put my hands on this big pile of stuff, and it will make internet withdrawal much less than otherwise.
Actually, that’s not true, I’d rather be doing absolutely anything but surfing, but it’s the default activity when I’m bored.
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I maintain several well stocked Pratchett shelves in the library here, and a fair handful of megabits worth in the Nook as well.
Agreed…. The diamonds amongst the scruff are worth every minute, and even the scruff is better than many other things I could be reading.
Og,
A heaping helping of Pratchett…great way to spend a weekend.
I think you are going to appreciate the Patrician, and Death.
This is a case of reader’s envy, I can never read Pratchett for the first time, again.
Hunter
Alaska
You’re just now reading Pratchett for the very first time?
“You son of a bitch! You goddamned lucky son of a bitch!”
By the way, Pratchett used to write PR for British nuclear power plants.
There’s not much he doesn’t know about the ins and outs of the English language.
(You can see some of that experience in Thief of Time
Oh you are in for such a treat as you get deeper in the series.
The stories focusing on the city watch are some of the best. I actually bought a second copy to keep in my car bag for any unforeseen time on my hands.
BGM
Trolling for Randroid abuse again, I see.
Pratchett rocks.
I just started on the discworld books this weekend.
You are right about the funny little phrases. One I just read that sticks in my mind – “Inhabitants never…enquired about one another’s business because curiosity not only killed the cat but threw it in the river with weights tied to its feet.”
Pratchett is one of my all time favorite authors.
You are going to LOVE Commander Vimes :)
I can read Terry Pratchett’s “Watch” and “Tiffany Aching” and David Drake’s “Hammers Slammers” series of books over and over again, enjoying them as much each time as I did the first time through. If you don’t have it, be sure to get a copy of Pratchett’s “The Last Hero”; an great story and the illustrations are amazing.
I second “The Last Hero”.
Don’t neglect his “young adult” novels starring Tiffany Aching, starting with “The Wee Free Men”. At least, I think they have been marketed as young adult.
Wait until you meet “Wee Willie”.
These are all good and I think you have them all … so far. I think you will greatly appreciate Death and you will love Sam Vimes. And you will want to bitchslap Susan Sto Helit, just on general principles. The witches are fun, too. The pictsies are the greatest!
Happy to see so many Pratchett fans… there are very few over here!
on of my favorite exchanges in DW (The Light Fantastic), between the head of the school of magic and the chief astrologer about the coming end of the world where A’Tuin would dive into a nearby star….
“People would Panic?”
“Fairly briefly, I’m afraid.”
First book of his I read was “Night Watch”. We could use a lot more of Commander Vimes type around here