I attempted the second Cannonball and failed miserably (seriously – the ancient blog I managed to cobble together for the effort shows that but a single book review ever got posted). I’m finally back to try again, although I’ve lowered the bar to just a Quarter Cannonball in the hopes it will be more manageable. I am the sort of person who buys books in the hopes that perhaps I will someday find a way to read them and this challenge may be the impetus […]
This book is fun as hell and should be read by one and all
“You haven’t really been anywhere until you’ve got back home.” Step right up, step right up. It’s the sequel to the color of magic. It’s the light fantastic! It’s got your terrible puns: “Rincewind, all the shops have been smashed open, there was a whole bunch of people across the street helping themselves to musical instruments, can you believe that?” “Yeah,” said Rincewind. “Luters, I expect.” It’s got your on the nose social commentary Not for the first time she reflected that there were many […]
Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend
I didn’t think this book would be so emotionally difficult to get through. As readers of someone else’s fiction, it’s difficult to remember that there’s a real, down-to-earth, eats-and-breathes human behind the characters and fake world we so fall in love with. Terry Pratchett is himself, and even though Discworld was born from his head like Athena from Zeus, he’s not Discworld or any of the characters in it. In fact, to read his nonfiction is to sit in a very earthly room beside him […]
He’s Not A Hero, But He’s the Best Man for the Job
I would totally read Terry Pratchett’s ink blotter or scribbled napkin, so my opinion on anything Pratchett is probably a little biased. However, “Going Postal” is my all-time favorite Discworld novel, and its one of his best. This is my third read of this book, and since I’m using it for a guest lecture on building an ‘invented’ world, I really paid attention to how Pratchett made the story. It’s just short of brilliant, and I wish I could have seen this man storyboard because […]
I see now what everyone meant about latter Pratchett.
“It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Jingo is an anti-war book in […]
Douglas Adams, Terry Gilliam, and Martin Freeman walk into a bar….
I have long wanted to read this, but the sheer number of volumes in the series was intimidating. I started it last year (or the year before) but was put off by the incessant silliness of it all. Which isn’t to say I don’t appreciate silliness, but I do have to be in the mood for it. And to that point, Terry Pratchett’s voice is unmistakable, here. It is equal parts Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Terry Gilliam, with a splash of bumbling charm that Martin […]
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