Terry Pratchett Appreciation Thread

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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:40 pm

Because Discworld seems to have a sizable following here, and because Rincewind and the Nac Mac Feegle have baited here, and because I found a new refernce to Tolkein while reading Mort yesterday... ah, heck do I need a reason?

If you've never read any Pratchett, and are wondering what the fuss it about- go get one, pronto! I'd recommend starting with Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters.

A lot of Terry tyros get confused and try to start with The Color of Magic. There is no such book. It is a ghastly figment of a fevered imagination. The same goes for The Light Fantastic and Equal Rites. They do not exist. Alternatively, they are the work of an untalented fanboy that accidentally got attributed to the Master. Discworld properly starts with Mort.

Thief of Time is my all-time favorite, hands down. It's just... beautiful. TP doesn't always manage to sucessfully blend humor and philosophy, but here he pulls it off.

I can't decide on any one second fave, but the list of candidates includes Wyrd Sisters, Interesting Times, Pyramids, Guards! Guards! and Eric.

How many people on Eater are named after Discworld characters? There's Nanny and Ook, of course, and Agi Hammerthief, and Ridcully- who else?

And wouldn't C.M.O.T. Dibbler be a good baiting character?

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:08 pm

^^I do agree that going back and reading the early books is not much fun now. The characters have progressed so far that seeing Granny Weatherwax (now there's a good baiting character) as a basic village witch or Vimes as a simple guard Captain is now very difficult as we know what they will become.
The City Watch books are probably my favorites and I am hoping that they will make a live action film of Guards Guards.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:12 pm

I started off with Mort many years ago & then read The Colour of Magic - I quite enjoyed it really. Brother in law's a huge fan & as far as I know he has all the books. I've got a fair collection of TP & read a few more which I borrowed. One thing's bugging me & I'm confident someone will be able to help me out here - what was the title of the book where Nobby was found to be a member of the gentry?

Never been able to get into the Nac Mac Feegle stories though.

If I fancy something a bit more eccentric, I dig out my Robert Rankin collection Very Happy

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:16 pm

^^If memory serves and without checking, I think it was Men at Arms and he wasn't really a noble, it was a set up.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

I think that the difficulty people have with the first few Disc Worlds as compared to the later and far superior ones is that Color of Magic and Light Fantastic are clearly fantasy while the later books have drifted into the world of social and political satire and commentary, even though it still takes place on a flat world carried on the backs of four elephants that are riding a space turtle.

Quote:

he wasn't really a noble, it was a set up.

Yes and no. You may want to go back and read that bit at the end again. Wink

edit: corrected my misidentification of animals; apparently I can only think of one animal at a time.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:44 pm

^^I may just take it for my holiday reading next week. For anyone who wants to know even more about the Discworld then the GURPS Discworld RPG books, co-written by Pratchett have even more details in them that aren't in the novels.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:50 pm

^^^^ thanks - I remember now. I've only read that one once. Lent it to someone & never got it back. I'll pick up a copy next time I'm raiding Amazon.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:33 pm

I keep reading Night Watch, The Truth, Thief of Time ( I agree with CY, it's one of the best)

Lords and Ladies has some brilliant bits in it, Going Postal, I found Making Money too similar though, Maskerade, Wryd Sisters , Reaper Man,

Hogfather is in the top 3 as well, including the dvd

Monstrous Regiment is a read once and forget, Sourcery, Moving Pictures, and Music with Rocks, weren't the better ones as well.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:58 pm

Tsnerd wrote:

I think that the difficulty people have with the first few Disc Worlds as compared to the later and far superior ones is that Color of Magic and Light Fantastic are clearly fantasy while the later books have drifted into the world of social and political satire and commentary, even though it still takes place on a flat world carried on the backs of four turtles that are riding a space turtle.

I pretty much read fantasy exclusively, but I just don't think much of his writing style in the first few books. Or the pre-Discworld books, for that matter. There's nothing there to suggest the brilliant author he became. YMMV for his early books (Light Fantastic through Sourcery), but in my experience, 9 out of 10 will hate The Color Of Magic.

I do like Sourcery, which is one of the other ones fans love to hate. I mean, it's not great literature, but I think it's funny, and it has some nice riffs on famous poetry.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Well I love the Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic.
Now this could be because I first read them way back in the 80s ,when Mr Pratchett still had his day job, but they were a good giggle and a change from most of what was available then.
No doubt with all the practice he's had ,Terry's writing style and characters have improved no end over the years.

And he likes cats

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:41 am

I like the death series best. Oh, and the Tiffany ones are great as well.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:15 pm

Night Watch is by far my favorite, and I can see what everyone means by going back and reading the first few ones. I just got my autographed copy of Making Money so need to start reading it.

What I am really waiting for is the Colour of Magic sky one movie to come out on DVD, it will go well with my copy of Hogfather. Smile

Baiting Guru Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2163

The first two books got Two Conkers. You got to live him!!!!

My Favourite books are: Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay and Jingo. Hogfather is also brilliant

What is everybody favorite Character?

I love Cohen the Barbarian, Ridcully, Colon and Nobby from the Watch, and of course our Hero Rincewind

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:44 pm

I adore all Pratchett. Even Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. While I warn others that you don't really see the promise of the series until Mort and it doesn't truly hit full stride until Guards! Guards! , I started with book 1 and read more or less in order. I've read them all. I've infected two other people with a serious love of Pratchett, and each started with book 1 when they plunged into the adult novels. One because I thought the kid would take to the light fantasy easier after having tried out the young adult novels, the other because she's nitpicky about reading things in the order written.

The 13-year-old boy really needs to hurry up and grow up and get a job, since he is currently bankrupting me as I spend a small fortune keeping him in the paperbacks so I can talk to him about them.

My favorites are the City Watch series. I'm seriously in love with the way Pratchett writes Sam Vimes in general and specifically his relationship with his wife, Sybil. It's hard to beat the bits of The Fifth Elephant or Thud! where all of the Vimeses are really clacking along on all cylinders.

The near-end in Night Watch made me cry. Bawl, in fact. While still laughing at the absurd picture it painted of what Vimes was willing to do for Sybil. I still cry a little every time I read it. Considering what a hard case I am in that department, that's an accomplishment and a half. The only other books that manage to threaten to reduce me to a soppy mess in the same spot every time is The Little Prince, Small Gods and Thud!.

And I think one of the best things about Terry is that he's honest about how his writing has improved over the years. You can see how he grew as a writer by leaps and bounds by reading the novels in order. It annoys me when other authors (Anne Rice, and to a lesser extent, Rowling) seem to think they're perfect and untouchable, and their writing is so wonderiffic that it can't be validly criticized. Or in the former case, doesn't need to be edited.

I'm now blowing a small fortune on all the audiobooks on Audible so I can listen while running.

Let me tell you, laughing while running is not easy.

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 7:25 pm

Klaasvaak wrote:

What is everybody favorite Character?

I love Cohen the Barbarian, Ridcully, Colon and Nobby from the Watch, and of course our Hero Rincewind

I've been thinking about it... and I can't decide! Each time I think about amazing, icredible character, another comes up in my mind. This one is funny, that one is deep... I'm sorry, but I can't answer your question.

(I have a feeling I know who Nanny and Ook would pick, though Wink

)

Baiting Guru Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2163

I forgot about Death. Door knobs are difficult Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:21 pm

How about favorite quotes? I have so many...

RIDCULLY: Someone's playing silly buggers with us.
BURSUR: I don't think we can play that one anymore- I think we lost the rules to it...

"Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad."

"The hedgehog can never be buggered at all..."

"So they attack viciously while cowardly running away from the taste of cold steel?"

" 'You like it?',said the inkeeper, in the same tone of voice people asked St. George 'You killed a what?' "

YES.

"No running with scythes!"

"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, especially simian ones, for they are not always subtle."

I'm going to have to physically get up and walk to the bookshelf for more.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:18 am

Oh, by the way, I almost forgot...
DEATH is one of my favorite characters. Likes cats.
So do I. Cats like DEATH.
Laughing

They like me too.
And my physical appearance is almost like D., but with some flesh over me bones. Laughing

I don't have such a deep voice, though.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 41

Quote:

What is everybody favorite Character?

Vimes, Death, Angua, all of the Igors, Granny and Greebo.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:46 am

Death and Rincewind.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:18 am

Tsnerd wrote:

even though it still takes place on a flat world carried on the backs of four turtles that are riding a space turtle.

Don't you mean a flat world carried on the backs of four elephants that are riding a space turtle?

Favourite character, definitely Lady Sybil Vimes !!! Behind every great man stands a greater woman. Vimes doesn't want to do anything but eventually he does, she gets her way.

Yes. Embarassed

TS

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:58 pm

Death, Moist von Lipwig and Sam Vimes, Dibbler, and the Patrician. Is Ankh Morpork a character? Also partial to Ridcully, Rincewind, Colon, Nobbs, and various villains.

Favourite books are The Truth, Going Postal (real cracker, that one), Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Small Gods, The Fifth Elephant, Good Omens, Maskerade, and Monstrous Regiment (although the big reveal didn't work for me).

I like the technological development of the Discworld and the economic reality of it.

One I would toss is Eric. I once saw a fan at a convention do a piss-taking skit recreating Eric using a McDonald's happy meal toy and a cabbage leaf, and I'd rather see that again than read the book.

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:18 pm

Quote:

there is never enough shelf space

I got the Rincewind book end from Clarecraft

I lost my silver Death Ring, Sad

the one Pterry can be seen wearing (his the only gold version)

Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:38 pm

I;m going for Sam Vimes and Death ... and Granny Weatherwax as my favourite characters. Although Lu Tze with his Way of Mrs Cosmopolite is also right up there.

When I got a cat 10 years ago I called him Greebo, when I met TP at a book signing a few years back he autographed one of my books to my cat Razz

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:42 am

FABRICATEM DIEM PVNC

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