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Quote-Unquote posted:Small gods is loving brilliant but I don't think it's a great intro to discworld cos it has little to do with literally anything else but the references in it will be totally lost on you without having read at least a couple before. night watch and monstrous regiment are the actual two best ones imo, but you definitely can't read night watch as your first discworld book because you won't get the full impact of it I feel like small gods is a good starter because even though there's stuff you won't get, it's not tied too much to any of the other storylines (except the monks of time) and you get a feel for his writing style/sense of humor
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Mar 12, 2015 22:30
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Thanks for this. It feels appropriate.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:36
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Watching his documentary (for the sixth time) as a sendoff, goodbye Terry. See you on the other side.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:38
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I haven't read it in years but I remember feeling like Small Gods was by far the most important book he wrote. I think it's interesting that some people interpret it as pro-atheism, I always thought of it as a very pro-religion book.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:42
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Just took this for who knows what reason. Funny how few books Douglas Adams released in comparison.  273423-X posted:I haven't read it in years but I remember feeling like Small Gods was by far the most important book he wrote. I felt the same way way about Thud, except about parenthood coinciding with war/peace.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:42
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His importance was unjustly undermined by the fact that he wrote too many books. It's a strange world indeed.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:48
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So when did you exhaust the available paperbacks and start buying the hardbacks? For me it was 1991, witches abroad. I wrote a letter to him in 1993... he replied. :-)
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Mar 12, 2015 22:53
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Portals posted:night watch and monstrous regiment are the actual two best ones imo, but you definitely can't read night watch as your first discworld book because you won't get the full impact of it Yeah, Night Watch is the best one but it's not a good first -- need to be familiar with a couple things for it to have the same impact. Small gods I like as a starter just because it's a standalone, and it's the first one I read that really struck a chord with some of the headier concepts that pterry got (fu past tense) into. It's still an early book but it's the first standalone past the point where he really finds his feet as an author that I'd really recommend (pyramids and moving pictures are both pretty meh). Guards Guards might be a little better starter? not sure though. I just gave a friend a copy of mort 'cause they had it at the used bookstore, then realized that's a really bleak place to start considering the impetus for me buying it again but oh well.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:54
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NmareBfly posted:Yeah, Night Watch is the best one but it's not a good first -- need to be familiar with a couple things for it to have the same impact. This, but monstrous regiment is the actual best one,and it stands on it own feet without relying on fan favorites vetinari vimes carrot. Rincewind is a bitch.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:57
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Night Watch was the peak. After reading that I knew he could only go down from there.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:57
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Interesting times is the only Rincewind book I really like and that's mostly for Cohen and co. 'Lovemaking pipe'
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Mar 12, 2015 22:59
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Fairly passive posted:So when did you exhaust the available paperbacks and start buying the hardbacks? For me it was 1991, witches abroad. I bought Light Fantastic when it was first released in the US, which I believe came out before CoM. Then bought every book from that point on. Once amazon started I was able to piece together that the books came out (at that time) much earlier in the UK so I started ordering them from overseas which is why you see a couple of the British prints in there. Eventually, releases were concurrent. Interesting Times is the first hardback I bought. I don't know if there were other hardbacks printed in the US before. My Witches Abroad says 1st printing. Nothing about a hardback release previously. I am guessing you are speaking of UK releases?
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Mar 12, 2015 23:00
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The Tiffany Aching books are good as well, not least for the Nac Mac Feegle.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:01
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how me a frog posted:This, but monstrous regiment is the actual best one,and it stands on it own feet without relying on fan favorites vetinari vimes carrot. Rincewind is a bitch. this is really weird because that's actually one of my least favorite but now that I think of it I'm not 100% sure why? Maybe I missed something the first time and need a re-read. Might just be that the reveals felt sort of trite but maybe that was one of the points? Also didn't it have vimes in it? Maybe he mostly just lurked. mostly agree in Rincewind, tho Interesting Times was another earliesh favorite. probably just because of the cohen crew tho E Quote-Unquote posted:Interesting times is the only Rincewind book I really like and that's mostly for Cohen and co.  NmareBfly fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Mar 12, 2015 23:01
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oh poo poo this is for real? drat 
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Mar 12, 2015 23:03
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Stoatbringer posted:The Tiffany Aching books are good as well, not least for the Nac Mac Feegle. What is the sound of love? Listen. *** One thing that really sets Pterry apart from nearly any other writer is his endings. Many books just sort of end or tail off. Terry was able to close books in such a satisfying manner that you couldn't help but feel enriched by the 300 pages you had just spent reading.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:05
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how me a frog posted:Watching his documentary (for the sixth time) that sounds miserable
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Mar 12, 2015 23:17
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He's dead but GRRM continues to be morbidly obese with poo poo dick not finishing his books
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Mar 12, 2015 23:18
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Fuuuuuck, I want a hardcover Thud!. That's definitely one of my favorites even if it isn't necessarily a universal opinion.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:26
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Waltzing Along posted:One thing that really sets Pterry apart from nearly any other writer is his endings. Many books just sort of end or tail off. Terry was able to close books in such a satisfying manner that you couldn't help but feel enriched by the 300 pages you had just spent reading. he's the anti-Neil Gaiman?
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Mar 12, 2015 23:28
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spooky girlfriend posted:that sounds miserable Sometimes a dead at heart, blind in mind, dull in feeling person of the the current generation or any generation needs to have a good cry. The documentary does it, every timr. It is a good thing.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:29
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Well poo poo, though I knew how ill he was, this is still sad. I have most of the Discworld books. My brother gave me a bunch ages ago, and after I read one I just kept buying them. They're always a good read, and my copy of Small Gods is falling apart. So you should read Small Gods too. ’There’s no justice!’ THERE’S JUST ME.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:29
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I lent my copy of small gods to a girl I was seeing like 10 years ago and never got it back. Might find a nice hardcover in honour of sir terry
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Mar 12, 2015 23:32
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What did he actually die of? The news stuff has nice comments dressing up his death in the words of his works but no actual cause of death.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:34
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MRC48B posted:Night Watch was the peak. After reading that I knew he could only go down from there. I enjoyed Thud! a lot, but, yeah, I guess. It starts winding down and retreading old ground. Snuff is the last true Guard book, and it just didn't grab me. It was just Vimes, now overpowered as gently caress, rampaging in a situation where he was never in any trouble. It's a problem with a lot of his recurring characters. That's why the Moist Von Lipwig books are such a big stand-out among his later stuff (yes, that's his name, yes, the books are awesome). It's a new character with a new angle and a new dynamic with the old, established ones. Going Postal and Making Money are fun as hell. Even Raising Steam is a pretty good book with him in the lead. Which is good. Because it's the last one.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:36
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how me a frog posted:What did he actually die of? The news stuff has nice comments dressing up his death in the words of his works but no actual cause of death. "Natural causes" Hopefully he went out however he wanted.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:36
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NmareBfly posted:Might just be that the reveals felt sort of trite but maybe that was one of the points? I love Monstrous Regiment and I think the stupid reveal is just a nod to GK Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday (notice how Jackrum is described as an enormous fat man, like Chesterton describes Sunday) . It really felt like a fresh story at a time when every other Discworld book was revisiting the same old characters. Going Postal is great too if you want to see how the information age arrives in Discworld, and see Pratchett do cyberpunk.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:38
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Cuckoo posted:As sad as this is, if he was on year 8 of loving Alzheimer's it's probably safe to say his mind was gone before his body was. IDK man. He hung in there pretty well. I know he had a lot of help, but Raising Steam came out in 2013, and I'd honestly recommend it. There were a lot of really neat callbacks to his older works, too - the biggest all the way back to Reaper Men (back when Death raced the automatic reaping machine). It's not his greatest, but it's far from his worst. Probably above average when you take his body of work as a whole. Blurry Gray Thing fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Mar 12, 2015 23:39
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I know assisted suicide and Alzheimer's don't mix, because my mother has it. She wants to do the same, but can't because if you have the big A, you are no longer considered legally competent. So most countries won't let anyone with Alzheimer's commit assisted suicide, and if a family member helps, they can be charged with murder. So I highly suspect he did kill himself, and the natural causes bit is to protect his family. Really really sad about this, had hoped he might have had another book or two in Him, but at least he didn't suffer the worst Alzheimer's can do. Seen it once with my Grandfather, not looking forward to it with my mom .
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Mar 12, 2015 23:43
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Blurry Gray Thing posted:I enjoyed Thud! a lot, but, yeah, I guess. It starts winding down and retreading old ground. Snuff is the last true Guard book, and it just didn't grab me. It was just Vimes, now overpowered as gently caress, rampaging in a situation where he was never in any trouble. It's a problem with a lot of his recurring characters. No, it isn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd%27s_Crown One more.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:47
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Nanite posted:Really really sad about this, had hoped he might have had another book or two in Him, but at least he didn't suffer the worst Alzheimer's can do. Seen it once with my Grandfather, not looking forward to it with my mom Really, I think it's your duty to not just yourself but your family to kill yourself before your Alzheimer's gets bad. If I was killing myself due to Alzheimer's my note would say "To thine own self be true."
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Mar 12, 2015 23:48
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Quote-Unquote posted:"Natural causes" Good. A man should be a master of his destiny, till the very end.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:49
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Space Butler posted:No, it isn't. I had a feeling we'd get one more. I couldn't get through Raising Steam, though I suspect that was due to reading it on a kindle and getting sick of going back and forth to read the footnotes. So much better when they are on the page. Just ordered it along with Dragons at Crumbling Castle. Hoorah at another Aching book. I wonder if this is the one where she replaces Granny. Would be a fitting farewell.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:50
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And a woman. Nothing in between though, definitely not *kin.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:50
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He was bad @ writing
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Mar 12, 2015 23:50
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serious norman posted:He was bad @ writing how dare you
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Mar 12, 2015 23:53
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serious norman posted:He was bad @ writing You are bad @ posting, gtfo
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Mar 12, 2015 23:53
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serious norman posted:He was bad @ writing Well, he was no Douglas Adams. Assuming you mean of the actual quality of the prose. On the other hand, he wrote like 70 books. I think that is being pretty good at writing, myself. E: also, for US goons. You know how when you go to a bookstore and there is entire shelf of Stephen King books? It's like that in the UK, except with Pterry. Pretty cool.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:54
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serious norman posted:He was bad @ writing Nah. He was good and also funny, I liked his books.
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Mar 12, 2015 23:54
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BillWh0re posted:I love Monstrous Regiment and I think the stupid reveal is just a nod to GK Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday (notice how Jackrum is described as an enormous fat man, like Chesterton describes Sunday) . It really felt like a fresh story at a time when every other Discworld book was revisiting the same old characters. Going Postal is great too if you want to see how the information age arrives in Discworld, and see Pratchett do cyberpunk. That one chapter in GP about the metaphor for hackers/IT techs working the Clacker towers, where some die on the job was so good it could have been a separate short story by itself. (Don't know if spoiler tags are needed, but jic)
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Mar 12, 2015 23:55
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