50 books...
20) Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett
The problem with Pratchett is this: he doesn't write "sensible" books. Sensible books come neatly divided into chapters - little bundles of the story with slight breaks in between. This makes life a little easier for the reader, who presumably has other things in life to accomplish, such as sleep. One can say to oneself "Just to the end of this chapter, and then it's bedtime," an injunction that we will always hear in our parent's voice.
But not Pratchett. As much as he is writing "fantasy", he really is writing "life". And, much like life, Pratchett doesn't tie things into neat little bundles. One bit flows into the next, and as much as you try to say "Just five more pages," in that five pages, something else will have happened that is interesting, but not quite done, and so it's "five more pages," and the next thing you know, it's been 50 more pages, and it's 5 o'clock in the morning.
He did it again. And along the way in this seemingly-silly story about wizards playing football (soccer, for us North Americans), he manages to slip in a few comments about reaching for dreams, and not judging people on who you think they are, and about leaving old prejudices aside. Like I said: Pratchett writes about life, even though he wraps it up in a packaging of wizards and witches and people who say "ook" a lot. And he does a damned fine job of it.
The problem with Pratchett is this: he doesn't write "sensible" books. Sensible books come neatly divided into chapters - little bundles of the story with slight breaks in between. This makes life a little easier for the reader, who presumably has other things in life to accomplish, such as sleep. One can say to oneself "Just to the end of this chapter, and then it's bedtime," an injunction that we will always hear in our parent's voice.
But not Pratchett. As much as he is writing "fantasy", he really is writing "life". And, much like life, Pratchett doesn't tie things into neat little bundles. One bit flows into the next, and as much as you try to say "Just five more pages," in that five pages, something else will have happened that is interesting, but not quite done, and so it's "five more pages," and the next thing you know, it's been 50 more pages, and it's 5 o'clock in the morning.
He did it again. And along the way in this seemingly-silly story about wizards playing football (soccer, for us North Americans), he manages to slip in a few comments about reaching for dreams, and not judging people on who you think they are, and about leaving old prejudices aside. Like I said: Pratchett writes about life, even though he wraps it up in a packaging of wizards and witches and people who say "ook" a lot. And he does a damned fine job of it.