Terry Pratchett

[atticjnr]

I think you might be thinking of the book 'Wintersmith'? Possibly?

I believe that that book is the third in the set of 3 about Tiffany Aching? That might be why you didn't enjoy it as much. There are two more to read before hand but I do agree that the witches are also brilliant! Nobby and Vimes are great. I was genuinely a bit sad in Men at Arms when

Cuddy dies.

. His relationship with Detritus is brilliant and I really loved reading the parts of the book with them two.

[Kell]

I have just read one i hadn't seen before about a new witch a young one from the 'chalklands' something about winter i think not as good as the trad witch ones but not bad..can't remember the full title sorry.

I think you might be thinking of the book 'Wintersmith'? Possibly?

I believe that that book is the third in the set of 3 about Tiffany Aching? That might be why you didn't enjoy it as much.

It would, indeed, be Wintersmith and yes, it's the 3rd one in that series. It starts with The Wee Free Men and then A Hat Full of Sky follows that. Wintersmith wouldn't be half as enjoyable if you hadn't read the previous two (which are actualy better than Wintersmith, but make Wintersmith better than it would be if it were the only one).

[mirandashell]

I think you definitely need to read the Tiffany Aching series in order. Besides, Wee Free Men is brilliantly funny!

[lyn]

there is a fourth book in the Tiffany Aching series coming out this year.

[Kell]

Yup, it's called I Shall Wear Midnight. I can hardly wait! It's due out in September, so just nicely in time for my birthday.

[Mia]

Did anyone see Terry giving the Dimbleby Lecture this evening? I was still reading and missed it, but I intend to catch it on iPlayer at some point.

 

I saw this, it was very good indeed. Very interesting and full of Terry's humour, with lots of sensible ideas in my opinion.

 

I expected it to be Terry reading it, but that wasn't possible due to his Alzheimers, so it was read by Tony Robinson (Baldrick). Tony did an absolutely superb job. I don't know if he had an autocue (I couldn't see one), but he never even looked down at his notes once, he just spoke Terry's words as if he'd memorised the whole thing. Truly excellent.

 

Terry was also on the One Show tonight. I don't know if he was on to talk about Alzheimers, assisted dying or his writing, as I taped it and haven't seen it yet.

[Kell]

I watched it online and was blown away by it. So moving and filled with his trademark wit and humour. Really, it gives an awful lot of food for thought. I'm one of those for assisted death under exactly the circumstances he describes and think he made some excellent and very sensible suggestions.

[Johnny Carson Whit]

Along with Stephen King Terry Pratchett was one of the main authors that got me interested in reading in the first place.

 

I have not read his work for a few years, even though at one time I used to collect his discworld books. I think maybe it is time to start revisiting Rincewind and the gang.

[Kate]

 

Waterstones Synopsis

Maurice, a streetwise tomcat, has come up with the perfect scam. Inspired by the Pied Piper tale, cat and kid lead a band of rats from town to town to fake invasions of vermin. The rewards to get the rats out of town are plentiful. It works perfectly - until their little con game is sussed.

This is a children's Discworld novel, and number 28 in the series. The star of the show is Maurice, a cat who has learnt how to think and talk like a human. With his new intelligence he teams up with equally intelligent rats to con humans our of money by paying the rat's Pier Piper to get rid of them.

Once again, Pratchett has taken a classic tale and put his own spin on it, and of course, it was a good book. It isn't my favourite, but there were some wonderful moments in the story - like tap-dancing rats and the rat-catches drinking a whole load of laxatives! I liked the rat's names as well - they were just random words taken from discarded packets of food.

As ever, this book was gripping, entertaining and well worth reading. It can be read as a stand-alone book as the only character which features in any of the other books that appeared in this one was Death. Of course, being my favourite Discworld character I was pleased with this!

I enjoyed this book and think that this is a must-read series.

3/5

[Kate]

Waterstones Synopsis:

Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch had it all. But now he's back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck...Living in the past is hard. Dying in the past is incredibly easy. But he must survive, because he has a job to do. He must track down a murderer, teach his younger self how to be a good copper and change the outcome of a bloody rebellion. There's a problem: if he wins, he's got no wife, no child, no future...It is a discworld tale of one city, with a full chorus of street urchins, ladies of negotiable affection, rebels, secret policemen and other children of the revolution. Truth! Justice! Freedom! And a Hard-boiled Egg!

This is number 29 in the Discworld novels and one of my favourites. In fact, I have just noticed that on the Terry Pratchett website, this is voted the number one book!

In this instalment we follow Sam Vimes as he travels back in time to help his younger self in the great battle. I loved this. I really enjoyed both Sam's. The younger is naive and sweet, always thinking about what his Mum would say; and the older is much more cynical but we see a wonderful caring side as he looks out for his younger self.

I thought this was a great novel. It was full of excitement and action. And of course, all of Pratchett's humour. I could only laugh at the way the old force thought. The picket line was a great example of how Pratchett's mind works - pure genius. There is fighting and death and some great villains - and a young Fred Colon and Nobby Nobs. I laughed most of the way through this and was gripped. This is definitely one of the best in the series. Top notch!

[CornflowerBlue]

Does anyone else always wait for the books to come into paperback? I have Wintersmith and Thud in hardback because they were gifts. The rest are all p/b. I'm dying for Unseen Academicals to hurry up and be in p/b, although I was sorely tempted by the collectors' edition.

 

I'm another Vimes fan, I've loved Vimes more and more - I think he came into his own in Fifth Elephant. I love the bitterness and darkness and anger of him.

 

I reckon there's another PhD in the mystique of the law man - Gene Hunt and Vimes alone would make it fascinating.

 

I'm so selfishly gutted that Pratchett has Alzheimer's -not just on his behalf, but also because I don't want the Discworld books to stop coming.

[Nienna]

Did anyone see the Going Postal adaptation on Sky1? I don't have access to the channel but the first part was on on Sunday/Monday and I'm interested in seeing what they've done. I saw the adaptations of The Colour of Magic and The Hogfather and didn't think much of them (especially TCoM - even Rincewind was way off!) so was hoping this one is a bit better, but I'll have to wait a while to see 'em!

[Vanwa]

@Cornflower:

 

Usually I prefer hardback editions of any work by any author. But considering the sheer number of Discworld novels, I tend to only pick up the paperback editions.

[BookJumper]

It's funny actually, I'm tendentially a paperback person but am slowly building up a hardback Pratchett library, because the mass market paperbacks in circulation are just so horrendously fragile. I suppose there's the trade B/W ones, but they would look silly beside the leather editions of the first 18 (of which I have 5), and besides I feel the need to boycott these so-called 'adult' covers - such a silly concept.

[lyn]

I'm waiting for the paperback of Unseen Academicals too.

 

I don't know if I want to see Going Postal. when you read the books you imagine how the characters are in your own mind. then when someone puts them on the screen they are quite different. it's almost always disappointing.

[Kell]

I've not watched Going Postal yet, but when I was reading, Richard Coyle is very close to what I pictured for Moist Von Lipwig, so I was overjoyed when he was cast inthe role. I'm also looking forward to seeing what Chares Dance makes of his role as The Patrician - I think he's a pretty awesome choice, personally.

[Raven]

Richard Coyle is very close to what I pictured for Moist Von Lipwig

 

That's provoked an interesting question in my mind, so folks:

When you read Discworld novels, do you see the characters as real flesh and blood people, or do they have a comic-book feel to them?

The reason I ask is that - possibly because of the Josh Kirby covers that the books had when I first started reading them - I've always envisaged slightly cartoonish characters in my head when I read the Discworld novels, and I'm wondering if anyone else does as well?

[Nienna]

When you read Discworld novels, do you see the characters as real flesh and blood people, or do they have a comic-book feel to them?

 

Glad someone else does this! I definitely envisage them as cartoons. As well as the Kirby covers, Terry tends to write them as quite exaggerated characters, both physically and in personality, so I guess this lends a hand in making them very colourful and story-bookish in my head.

[Cookie]

To me all the wizards look like something from the Simon the Sorcerer game!

[Nienna]

To me all the wizards look like something from the Simon the Sorcerer game!

 

I remember those! They were great. Did you (or anyone) ever play the Discworld point-and-clicks? My idea of Rincewind came from them - I played them before I'd even read any of the books!

 

They also turned out to be ridiculously hard. o_O

[Kylie]

When you read Discworld novels, do you see the characters as real flesh and blood people, or do they have a comic-book feel to them?

 

I think they must be slightly cartoonish in my mind, or maybe just very exaggerated flesh and blood. I guess I only get vague images.

 

I think that's why what little I've seen of the TV adaptations doesn't seem to work. It all seems wrong, but it's not necessarily that it's being done wrong, if you get what I mean.

[Cookie]

I remember those! They were great. Did you (or anyone) ever play the Discworld point-and-clicks? My idea of Rincewind came from them - I played them before I'd even read any of the books!

 

They also turned out to be ridiculously hard. o_O

 

Funnily enough I was talking to my sisters OH the other day and he said he used to play them and that they were really difficult!

[Kell]

I think they must be slightly cartoonish in my mind, or maybe just very exaggerated flesh and blood. I guess I only get vague images.

 

I think that's why what little I've seen of the TV adaptations doesn't seem to work. It all seems wrong, but it's not necessarily that it's being done wrong, if you get what I mean.

Have you seen the animated adaptations of Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music? They were done by Cosgrove Hall and are very good. I have to admit, though, I prefer the idea of live-action adaptations - I just wasn't very impressed with Hogfather or Colour of Magic. I'm hoping I'll enjoy Going Postal more.

[Kate]

They are cartoonish in my mind too! And I listen to them as opposed to reading them. I love it that way!

 

Here is my review of Thief of Time:

 

Synopsis:

Time is a resource. Everyone knows it has to be managed. And on the Discworld that is the job of the Monks of History, who store it and pump it from the places where it's wasted (like the underwater - how much time does a codfish need?) to places like cities, where there's never enough time. But the construction of the world's first truly accurate clock starts a race against, well, time for Lu Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd. Because it will stop time. And that will only be the start of everyone's problems. THIEF OF TIME comes complete with a full supporting cast of heroes, villains, yetis, martial artists and Ronnie, the fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse (who left before they became famous).

This is number 26 in the Discworld series - another one I read out of order. Since reading this novel I have read over a dozen other novels, and as I sit here to write the review, this does not jump to the front of my memory. This is a shame because I love Pratchett's novels, and this is the first time that I can't fully remember the novel.

There are many things I do remember however: I loved Ronnie. The idea of the fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse made me laugh. I liked all the Horsemen to be honest. It made me laugh that while Death was trying to round them up they couldn't be bothered to ride out, and that their wives were holding them back. Genius!

Of course, I love Death. Every time I meet him in a book I laugh. I liked that Granny Ogg got a mention - I always enjoy the witches. And I love Susan, especially her interactions with Death. She always seems exasperated with him, she reminds me of a reluctant, moody teenager.

Like I said, I don't really remember the story but the characters do stick out and I think that is important. For me, this is the weakest Discworld novel and that is a shame.

[Raven]

^ You are reading them out of sequence.

 

Thief of Time is better read before Nightwatch (in publication order) as the latter has some set-up in the former. Nightwatch is certainly the better book, but Thief of Time is good as well.