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Fifth Elephant down. Now on to The Truth, and indeed the second shelf in the bookcase!

Definitely heading into my “most read” territory here, timelines wise. Thankfully, post Last Continent the books are all of excellent quality.

On this re-read of Discworld, I’m still surprised that Piss Harry of Ankh-Morpork didn’t turn up until so relatively late in the day.

Still a belter of a character though. He never really plays a central role anywhere. But he can be read as a manifestation of the Morporkian Entrepreneurial Spirit. Literally turning Muck into Brass with some ecologically friendly Herculean recycling and repurposing.

Bought a biography of Clive Barker today, massive hardback thing that you could kill a small cenobite with. It's making me want to dig out a few of his classics...

The Thief of Time

In which The Auditors of Reality decide time needs to end, and with it all change. Hijinks ensue, and we spend a decent amount of time with Lu-Tze and Miss Susan.

Always remember Rule One!


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The Terminator Omnibus, Vol 2

Second and final of the collected Dark Horse comics. Easily 30 years later, and it still holds up.

As I’ve mithered about in the past, that the Terminator, Predator and Alien franchises floundered on the big screen whilst comics of this quality were regularly churned out really, really irritates me.

Sure, a Comic just doesn’t have the same creative and budgetary constraints as a movie. All you need is an interesting story further exploring the central premise. But to see such interesting ideas generated, and then not adapted elsewhere is incredibly frustrating.

started in on a translation of a serial novel called Corpse Recovery Diver
it starts with a kid who's with his grandparents out in the sticks getting targeted by a water ghost before
the local specialist helps redirect it to the ones who actually wronged it
from there the story so far has been the kid learning more and more about
the supernatural, or the unclean as the story tends to use, while also slowly
showing the kid is less normal then initially expected
the timeframe of the story is nonspecific, but feels like early 80's china, if not
perhaps earlier

Someone earlier in the thread was reading Dashiell Hammett so I picked up a nice faux-leather bound copy of his 5 novels.

So far I've gotten through Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, and The Maltese Falcon. The last is so close to the film beat for beat I wonder if the screenwriter had to do any work at all, aside some cutting some of the longer dialog (for ex. the audience really doesn't need a full description of all the texts and authors Gutman researched to verify the falcon is authentic).

As others said Hammett's writing has good pacing and really feels like a more modern style of writing than expected for the time. I'd highly recommend.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Discworld addresses the Pied Piper, in the first Discworld novel aimed at younger readers.

It’s a pretty decent, if shortish read. Lots of fun ideas and enjoyable.

Night Watch

This I think was a watershed moment in Discworld’s history. It unites Samuel Vimes, Lu Tze, and, erm…Samuel Vimes. There’s some pretty nasty stuff going on here, and whilst the humour is there it’s more considered and subdued as PTerry tackles some unpleasant themes, including secret police, disappearances and tortured confessions.

A truly phenomenal entry, and one which would see tales set in Ankh Morpork shift gears somewhat. As I’ve said before, this is what makes Discworld so compelling. As PTerry grew as a writer, so did the world, become ever more complex and nuanced.

I am still hammering through that Peter Straub novel.

The guy has some great purple prose, but tends to meander. He has a hard time finding his point and the story is almost "dream-like".

The Wee Free Men

First in the five book Tiffany Aching sequence, and it’s superb. Again it’s aimed at younger readers, but more young adults than children. And still a perfectly good Discworld tale.

More importantly, that series breathes new life into the Lancre Witches. With Granny and Nanny being established as incredibly powerful and highly competent, the pivot to a young Witch of similar potential learning her way by Doing feels like the best way that neck of the Discworld Woods could’ve gone.

I found the ultimate comic book today. The prequel to Section 31!

It's called Emperor Born, and I have no frigging clue what's going on. I am totally lost and don't recognize anyone in it.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The Wee Free Men

First in the five book Tiffany Aching sequence, and it’s superb. Again it’s aimed at younger readers, but more young adults than children. And still a perfectly good Discworld tale.

More importantly, that series breathes new life into the Lancre Witches. With Granny and Nanny being established as incredibly powerful and highly competent, the pivot to a young Witch of similar potential learning her way by Doing feels like the best way that neck of the Discworld Woods could’ve gone.

I haven't read the Tiffany Aching books. I'm sort of keeping them on standby in case of some sort of life emergency that requires previously-unread Pratchett to cope with it. If I've not read them yet, it's still something I have to look forward to at some point. I'm not ready to have read all of his work yet.

I’ve not read the last one so far for the same reason. But I’m gonna on this run through.

Not to sound too grim, but I’d intended it as mt death bed book. But given my Dad went suddenly and unexpectedly, there’s no guarantee of a death bed.

Crispy78 wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The Wee Free Men

First in the five book Tiffany Aching sequence, and it’s superb. Again it’s aimed at younger readers, but more young adults than children. And still a perfectly good Discworld tale.

More importantly, that series breathes new life into the Lancre Witches. With Granny and Nanny being established as incredibly powerful and highly competent, the pivot to a young Witch of similar potential learning her way by Doing feels like the best way that neck of the Discworld Woods could’ve gone.

I haven't read the Tiffany Aching books. I'm sort of keeping them on standby in case of some sort of life emergency that requires previously-unread Pratchett to cope with it. If I've not read them yet, it's still something I have to look forward to at some point. I'm not ready to have read all of his work yet.

I've got those and Rising Steam still on the to-read-pile for similar reasons!

Same here, I just can’t bring myself to read the Shepherd’s Crown despite loving Discworld, too many emotions.

I actually recommend the Tiffany Aching books to people as a good way to start with Discworld, as they’re a bit more accessible and also somewhat standalone.

It’s oddly comforting to know other people have the same high opinion of a book series.

Oh that's reassuring, thought I was being a bit weird. Glad it's not just me!

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
It’s oddly comforting to know other people have the same high opinion of a book series.

One of the reasons I got a second look from my now-Wife, is that I listed on my profile that I had a full set of Pratchett books. As both being fans, that seemed to get me a date

Crispy78 wrote:
Oh that's reassuring, thought I was being a bit weird. Glad it's not just me!

He sold over 100 million books across 43 languages. It would be weird if you never found anyone who liked his work!

 Flinty wrote:

Crispy78 wrote:
Oh that's reassuring, thought I was being a bit weird. Glad it's not just me!

He sold over 100 million books across 43 languages. It would be weird if you never found anyone who liked his work!

He means more about the "not wanting to read the last book/s" part rather than the actual liking of the series itself.

I can also recommend his collections of short stories, like Dragons of Crumbling Castle.

They’re from his earliest days as a writer, but the wit and charm is there.

I still remain one of the few people I know who's read his "Dark side of the Sun" book - which is odd when he even has at least one edition with cover art by the same guy that did the majority of his Discorld cover art (you know the good art not those black minimalist ones)

Monstrous Regiment

A fairly stand alone Discworld novel, but a really fun read. Oh, and William De Worde of The Times.

Vimes, Angua, Reg Shoe and Buggy Swires cameo from the Watch, but the rest is all new characters.

As is often the case with Discworld, complex and nuanced themes are again effortlessly tackled. This time on the futility of war, the flimsiness of gender roles, and even how advances in media changed the public perception of war during the Vietnam Conflict, after a fashion.



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Surely it can’t be long before Discworld novels are added to school curriculua?

I mean, when I was doing my exams, the books were dreary, hand wringing;y worth borefests. Buddy. Empty World. Z for Zachariah. Not books I’d ever choose to read for myself. And not even very good books.

But Discworld? They teach you stuff. Including how to think.

Well, I said to myself there's no way Robin Hobb was going to top the Liveships Traders Trilogy, but now I've finished the Tawny Man Trilogy and the ending left me in tears. I've never had a book hit me like that before. I'm glad I still have 7 books left of Realm of the Elderlings, I expect I'll be devastated when I finally finish.

I'm sensing a book hangover incoming. Gonna need at least a few days to digest that before picking up something else. Someone in my writing group suggested Dragonbone Chair so I might tackle that before getting back to Robin Hobb.

 Overread wrote:

 Flinty wrote:

Crispy78 wrote:
Oh that's reassuring, thought I was being a bit weird. Glad it's not just me!

He sold over 100 million books across 43 languages. It would be weird if you never found anyone who liked his work!

He means more about the "not wanting to read the last book/s" part rather than the actual liking of the series itself.

Apologies! Total misunderstanding!

 Overread wrote:
I still remain one of the few people I know who's read his "Dark side of the Sun" book - which is odd when he even has at least one edition with cover art by the same guy that did the majority of his Discorld cover art (you know the good art not those black minimalist ones)

You can add me to the list.

Actually it's been so long since I read his sci-fi I'm going to have to start them tonight!