|
Well I think Pratchett sucks  No, not really  I was into Pratchett back in ye olden days when you couldn't find them in the US. During a class trip to Germany, instead of buying souvenirs I hit the english-language section of the bookstores and got as many Pratchett books (with the awesome cartoonish covers) as my suitcase would hold. Then about a year later they finally hit the New World and the whole collection was in every store, but with crappy 5-minutes-in-Photoshop covers.I didn't enjoy the newspaper book or the postal system book as much, so I'm not expecting Small Gods-level greatness for the money book, but I'll be reading it anyway as soon as I get my hands on it. A bad Pratchett book is still a drat good book. (Except Monstrous Regiments, not even a Vimes cameo could save that one.)
|
#
¿
Aug 13, 2007 10:16
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:50 |
|
|
NastyPBears posted:In Jingo did anyone else think he was doing Lovecraft (when the island first appears and he is talking about weird non-human statues or something, it has been a while) only to be disappointed? I didn't realize it was supposed to be Lovecraftian until much, much later (doh) but there was just too much else going on in that book for it to possibly fit. There is a much clearer take on Lovecraft in, I believe, The Colour of Magic. hlazlo posted:The only Pratchett I've read is Mort. I chose that specifically because of the personification of Death. I've always loved when people use Death as a main character. On that subject, aside from Pratchett's work, does anyone know of any authors who use Death as the protagonist? As someone else mentioned, Neil Gaiman's Sandman series has Death as a character, though she couldn't possibly be any further removed from Pratchett's death (which incidentally is inspired, like so many other Grim Reapers, from Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal). I haven't read it so I'm not commenting on quality, but Piers Anthony features Death in his 'Incarnations of Immortality' series. In TV and film, there's the show Dead Like Me and the film Meet Joe Black. Again, I haven't seen either of these so if they suck don't blame me for recommending them. On the other hand, I will heartily recommend the Joe Estevez film Soultaker, as long as you get the MST3k version
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2007 13:23
|
|
|
Well some of us had to use the special "80s/90s era USA" reading order, which was "Read the books in whatever order you can get your hands on them, why the hell is Pratchett so hard to find in this drat country" When they finally started mass-marketing Discworld in the US I was so happy that I didn't even mind the eye-scarringly bad cover art.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 13, 2007 11:58
|
|
|
Sulevis posted:Oh man. According to the Wikipedia list of Discworld novels, Thief of Time was number 26. We're at number 36 now. It really doesn't look like Pratchett is going back to Death/Susan. If you don't count Eric (illustrated, and about half the size of most other Discworld novels so it always felt to me more like a novella than a proper novel), there was a 12-book gap in Rincewind novels from Sourcery (5) to Interesting Times (17). Even if you do count Eric (9), that's still a pretty decent gap to IT. So who knows?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 14, 2007 10:06
|
|
|
Moist von Lipwig posted:Also, let's cast actors in various Discworld roles! As long as Maggie Smith uses a colder, harder voice than she does as McGonnaggal, she'd be perfect. She's excellent in the Potter movies but I find the voice she uses a bit annoying. Physically she's spot on. The only other person I could see pulling it off really well is Helen Mirren. Also in the category of "Awesome old British people who have a serious disease, nooooo, drat you cruel fate", Maggie Smith is fighting breast cancer right now. 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2008 10:09
|
|
|
Entropic posted:I just finished Jingo, so I'm well on the I-heart-Vimes bandwagon now. Howondaland on the Klatchian continent is the catchall for jungle areas, sort of a combination of South/Central America and the African jungles. Rincewind goes there in Eric and encounters Quetzovercoatal, so it's got a Mayan/Incan vibe. The Hubland seems to be a combination of the Himalayas and the North Pole. I believe the Monks of Time, who are based on Tibetan monks, live there. The Rim seems to be equivalent to the equatorial and South Pacific islands. Llamados is definitely some part of the British Isles. It's rainy and has druids and standing stones. What about Omnia? It's got obvious parallels to the Catholic church but it's set in a desert... maybe a mixture of Jersualem, Mecca and Vatican City?
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2008 10:26
|
|
|
NobbytheSheep posted:I've only seen bits of Going Postal, but I found the Angua bit weird because if I recall correctly, she's quite discreet about changing when there are other people around. Not least because it really freaks people (and Gaspode) out. Pratchett did make a point of saying it wasn't like the movies depict it, it's more of a 'full body sneeze'. I gave it a pass as that whole sequence was really fast-paced and they needed a way to show 'Angua is a werewolf' in about 3 seconds, doesn't give her much time to slip around a corner and change. Otherwise it's just Angua growling a lot, and someone who doesn't know the Watch would just be confused. Like it or not, they can't make these films just for us Discnerds if they're shown on primetime TV. I was annoyed at that sequence for personal reasons though. My son is really getting into Discworld and reading all the books, and when we watching Going Postal he was far enough into Men at Arms to know that something was up with Angua but not what it was yet. I've heard of parents previewing what their kids watch for sex and violence, but now I think I ought to do it for spoilers.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 11, 2011 23:57
|
|
|
Pratchett wasn't known in the US flyover states in the 90s, so my reading order was 'in whatever order I can find them'. I read Soul Music, the one Pratchett book my library carried, and was hooked. After a year or so of fruitlessly checking bookshops and slightly-less-fruitless interlibrary loans, they started to get more popular, with cover design that was clearly intended to ruin Mr Pratchett's good name.  If the queen had seen this, poor Terry would never have been knighted. I mean, seriously, what the crap. (I own all the US terrible cover editions and love them to bits)
|
|
#
¿
Dec 11, 2011 09:51
|
|
|
Did Pratchett age Lord Rust up to an elderly man for Snuff, or was he always that much older than Vimes? I had the impression he was closer to Vimes' age in previous books.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2012 13:38
|
|
|
Mister Roboto posted:Also, has it ever actually been SAID that Sybil is Vimes' age? She could easily be older. Night Watch would contradict this, as Sybil is a teenager and Sam is in his teens or maybe early 20s (can't remember if it says exactly).
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2012 12:54
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 19:50 |
|
|
wheatpuppy posted:Even with modern health care, 50 is really old to be having your first child. In Ankh-Morpork it really doesn't even bear thinking on. In addition to Roboto's comments, Sybil is a Ramkin and they are famous for being 'bred for breeding'. If Ramkin women are better than average at being pregnant*, they can probably pull it off at a later age than other women can. * in whatever way you can be 'better at pregnant', how the hell should I know, I'm a guy. I understand hip size is involved but the details are unclear.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2012 11:05
|
|