Books read 2018: July-September
07/09 Singularity Sky, Charles Stross
07/12 The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner
07/13 Top Secret Recipes, Todd Wilbur
07/14 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps (rr)
07/15 The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff (rr)
07/17 Tao Te Ching
07/20 How to Travel with a Salmon, Umberto Eco
07/23 Mort (DW 4), Pratchett (rr)
07/23 Sourcery (DW 5), Pratchett (rr)
07/24 The Light Fantastic (DW 2), Pratchett (rr)
07/25 Equal Rites (DW 3), Pratchett (rr)
07/26 Wyrd Sisters (DW 6), Pratchett (rr)
07/27 Eric (DW 9), Pratchett (rr)
07/30 Pyramids (DW 7), Pratchett (rr)
08/03 Moving Pictures (DW 10), Pratchett (rr)
08/11 Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson (rr~)
08/15 Reaper Man (DW 11), Pratchett (rr)
08/20 Witches Abroad (DW 12), Pratchett (rr)
08/22 Small Gods (DW 13), Pratchett (rr)
09/02 Lords and Ladies (DW 14), Pratchett (rr)
09/06 Men at Arms (DW 15), Pratchett (rr)
09/08 Soul Music (DW 16), Pratchett (rr)
09/12 Interesting Times (DW 17), Pratchett (rr)
09/20 Maskerade (DW 18), Pratchett (rr)
09/24 Feet of Clay (DW 19), Pratchett (rr)
These 25 plus the previous 36 brings me up to 61 as of the end of September, so well beyond one a week average. Pratchetts are quick reads, that helps a lot, it's easy to knock off two or three a week if I'm not otherwise very busy.
HUGE amount of re-reads, mainly because I started re-reading my Terry Pratchett cannon in June and continued. Of 25 books read, none were physical and five were first-time reads with one, Snow Crash, being what I thought was a re-read but there was so much material that I didn’t recognize I think that I had never read the whole thing through. Most likely I read an excerpt in Analog Magazine or something.
The reason for the dive in to Buddhism is I had a dream that was crazy vivid and made for a really cool short story, but was set at a Buddhist temple. I’ve read two of those books before, so I re-read them and started reading some more. The story is still in progress and is far beyond short story length, in fact it’s forked and spun-off into a sort of origin story for the protagonist. It continues in fits and starts.
On to the comments! I’m going to change the order a bit so that the non-Discworld books are together, which only requires moving Snow Crash.
Singularity Sky, Charles Stross. I’m a huge Stross fan, mainly of his Library series. But when I become a huge fan, I tend to try to read everything by them - I’m sure that’s not uncommon. I picked up Singularity Sky as an ebook for a buck. I personally am not a believer - currently - in the AI singularity and bioprinters being able to produce anything. It makes for entertaining fiction, that’s about it as far as I’m concerned. I don’t seek out that fiction, and this is what this book is. A star system was colonized by people who wanted to establish a mid/late 19th century Russian fiefdom system, and something went slightly wrong. Enter our protagonists, a man who is a weapons system engineer hired to upgrade the fleet, and a woman of dubious nature and unusual ability. Problems occur when a drifting AI cloud encounters one of their planets and begins granting wishes…. Interesting book, first part of a trilogy of which I have not yet acquired the remainders. I liked the characters and the story overall, but as I said, I haven’t bought in too much into the idea of the singularity so it just doesn’t trigger my ‘MUST BUY!’ mode. But if you like that stuff, you may be much more enthusiastic for it than I’ I did greatly enjoy the cultural/political examination, Stross does an excellent job on things like that.
The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner. This is a book that took me several months to get through, I think the writing style is dated: it was written in 1975 and Spider Robinson said “as a story it limps”. I think I can agree with that. It involves a world-wide data bank, not so much the internet as a mainframe controlling lots of aspects of your life. You test out and end up in a job as appropriate, you’re able to use the network for recreation, and people are happy. But they’re also monitored. The protagonist, Nick, is incredibly intelligent, and can reprogram the computer remotely and all but undetectably and uses it to evade the group that raised him and gave him his skills. He’s a chameleon and can change personas and backgrounds after 10 minutes with a telephone. The group wants him back: they have a large investment in him and want to recoup their money. It just didn’t grab me, I doggedly stuck with it in the vain hope it would improve. I might have enjoyed it more if I’d discovered it in the early ‘80s as I was a very different person back then.
Top Secret Recipes, Todd Wilbur. This is a cook book. I don’t normally talk about cook books in my book reviews, but this one is a bit different. Todd Wilbur has made a career of these Top Secret books, and what he does is make duplicate recipes of well-known things that you can buy in stores or at restaurants. Red Lobster biscuits? It’s in one of his books. Mrs. Fields cookies? It’s here. Twinkies? Covered, or at least close enough. The recipes were minimally interesting, but the cool part was the history of various restaurants and their specialties. For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Colonel Harland Sanders was an actual Colonel: Kentucky has an honorific that may be bestowed by the Governor of the state for whatever reasons, and he did so to Sanders. The story of him driving around, trying to franchise his recipe and drilling holes in people’s expensive restaurant stoves to make them work better was pretty funny. But it ended in considerable sadness: he wasn’t a very good businessman - he sold the business to a couple of guys for what seemed a lot of money, but they turned it around a couple of years later and sold it for many millions. I haven’t bothered with the recipes. For example, the burger recipes. Most of them have nothing that particularly distinguishes them except it describes the order of assembly. Yippee. I do recall one bit that describes one chain puts their patties on the grill frozen, I don’t remember who. I think some of the later books have more interesting recipes, this one didn’t thrill me but the stories I found fascinating.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps (rr). Paul Reps was a well-known writer, translator, and artist in the American Zen Buddhist community, he is now deceased. Among his books was this one, it’s actually a compilation of four classic Zen texts: 101 Zen Stories (koans) (1919), The Gateless Gate (13th century), Ten Bulls, and Centering, a chapter from the Rudrayamala Tantra. I really enjoy the collection of 101 koans, it makes for interesting reading. The last text, Centering, is also quite good, depicting a conversation between Shiva and his consort Devi or Shakti. It’s all quite good.
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff (rr). Benjamin Hoff wrote two books trying to make Zen Buddhism more accessible to American audiences through the eyes of A.A. Milne’s characters, his second book was The Te of Piglet. Both are awesome books. Basically, it shows that the simple nature of Pooh allows him to see things more clearly and be closer to his Buddha nature. Very enjoyable read. I sent a copy to my sister a couple of years ago when she unexpectedly ended up leaving her husband after finding out he was seeing women on the side, sis said it was very helpful.
Tao Te Ching. This is the granddaddy text of Buddhism, the Tao itself. Authorship is not clear, and it’s likely to be a collection of texts of different scholarship. Still, it’s something that I’d never read before which made it quite interesting. One wonders how much one misses by not reading it in the original language, I really don’t think I have the scholarship and patience to learn several old Chinese languages to pick through the originals! Still, good reads.
How to Travel with a Salmon, Umberto Eco. This is a collection of short stories that Umberto used to write for a local Italian newspaper. They’re in English, but with MANY lapses into Italian, Latin, French, and who knows what - he was a very educated and literary man. Quite an interesting read, the stories go all over the place in terms of fiction, non-fiction, biographical, etc. The title story itself was very funny, most of them were quite amusing, but there were a few clunkers. Makes me interested in acquiring some other of his newspaper collections.
Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson (rr~). My ‘sort of’ re-read. Snow Crash is probably two Firsts for me: my first Stephenson and my first cyberpunk. I know I first read Snow Crash excerpted in Analog way back when, and I thought I’d read the novel when it came out, but when I re-read it in August it was clear that I had never read the complete novel. This is quite a story. It revolves around the hero protagonist, aptly named Hiro Protagonist, who delivers pizza for Mafia Pizza. If the pizza isn’t delivered to your door in 30 minutes, you’ll receive a personal apology from Uncle Enzo himself, the head of the Mafia. Hiro is also a hacker and capable of writing some incredible code. While in the VR Metaverse, his programming partner takes a virtual drug that has a real-world analog, Snow Crash. And the VR drug not only crashes his VR avatar, it wipes his friend’s mind. Stephenson goes in to crazy depth in his books, and this one is no different. It’s an absolutely crazy ride and highly recommended.
Mort (DW 4). I decided to re-read all of the Discworld books. But, I hear you say, Mort is book number 4. Well, I skipped the first three because they just aren’t that great. The initial adventures of Rincewind, Two-Flower, and the Luggage don’t do much for me, and I’d re-read them a few years ago, so I skipped ‘em and started with Mort. Mort could also be titled Death Takes An Apprentice. Death already has a daughter, well, an adoptive daughter, and a manservant, and decides an apprentice could be useful. And he does turn out to be useful. Sort of. But the true importance of this book is that it’s foundational to events later in the series. It’s still a good book regardless, lots of fun seeing DEATH trying to understand humanity and try to get drunk, among other things.
Sourcery (DW 5) brings Unseen University and the wizards into the series big-time. Normally wizards Do Not Marry, pretty much Rule #1 in the Big Wizard Handbook of Wizardry. But sometimes someone quits or is kicked out or whatever, and they get married and settled down. And have kids. And sometimes there’s a seventh son. Of a seventh son. And if circumstances align, that child can be a Sourcerer and manipulate the primary fabric of the universe itself….
The Light Fantastic (DW 2). Yeah, so I went back and re-read book 2. Rincewind is a problematic wizzard. On a bet as a student, he read the book The Octavo, containing the eight spells that created the universe. And one of the spells escaped, entering his head. And it is a jealous spell, and would not let him learn any other spells, which doesn’t make him very useful as a wizard, effectively ending his student days, relegating him to being an assistant to The Librarian. Terry Pratchett actually wrote the first two books to be one book, but it was too big for publishers to take a risk on for a new author, so it was split in to two. The first book ended with Rincewind, Two-Flower, and The Luggage falling off the edge of the Disc. The Octavo, not wanting one of its spells lost, readjusts reality to save Rincewind & Company. And then we learn of a red star that is coming that will destroy Discworld….
Equal Rites (DW 3) begins with the death of a wizard. He knows he is about to die: a professional courtesy granted to wizards and witches by DEATH. He travels to where the eight son of an eight son is about to be born, then wills himself into his staff, to be given to the child about to enter the world. But what if the child is not a boy…. This book also introduces Granny Weatherwax, though a bit different than in future books.
Wyrd Sisters (DW 6). This is perhaps the first Discworld book that I ever read, back in the days. This or Guards! Guards!, I’m not sure which. Absolutely loved it, and it remains a favorite. A proper introduction of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick. Also gives you an excellent introduction to the Ogg clan, Greebo, the most villainous cat in the world, and the Kingdom of Lancre. Lots of fun. While this is the second appearance of Granny Weatherwax, she’s a bit different from her premiere in Equal Rites and much more her permanent form.
Eric (DW 9) is lots of fun, most editions of the book have the title Faust, crossed out, and Eric written over it, because it’s effectively the story of Faust written in Discworld terms. A kid figures out how to summon a demon and ends up with Rincewind instead. Not much of a bargain, but it seems to work out in the end.
Pyramids (DW 7) is our first jaunt outside of the Ankh-Morpork/Lankre region, taking us to the desert kingdom of Djelibeybi, and the crown prince Pteppic, who at the beginning of the book is studying at the Assassin’s Guild in Ankh-Morpork when he learns of his father’s death and must return home. His country has a problem: they have no money because every time a ruler dies, they build an even bigger pyramid that they can’t afford. Not only is it ruining the treasury, it’s destroying reality itself, and it falls down to Pteppic to fix things. Sadly it’s an individual story and there’s no more Pteppic seen later.
Moving Pictures (DW 10) sees Holywood come to Discworld and introduces a certain talking dog to the series who will later become an invaluable friend to Carrot and Angua, among others. Unfortunately for reality, the flicks are actually a Cthonian-like incursion from the Dungeon Dimensions which have to be put down occasionally, and now is one such time.
Reaper Man (DW 11), the second true DEATH story, is the introduction of two continuing characters: The Auditors of Reality who occasionally cause trouble for DEATH, and the Death of Rats. DEATH, in his ongoing quest to learn more about humans, decided to become one for a time, which causes all sorts of problems with humanity and people not dying properly.
Witches Abroad (DW 12). The second proper Witches book proves that travel broadens the mind, or broadens something. Magret receives a dead fairy godmother’s magic wand in the mail with instructions to come to the kingdom of Genua, with explicit instructions to not let those two other meddling biddies come along, which guarantees Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax will be along for the ride. This is an excellent Witches book, and our only deep dive into Genua, which has lots of New Orleans vibes and some interesting differences in the way that magic is done. But the best part of all is the villain: Granny Weatherwax’s sister!
Small Gods (DW 13) is the first, and perhaps only?, historical book and takes place a few hundred years earlier in the history of the Discworld with an acolyte in the Temple of Om by the name of Burtha. Turns out that Om is not in the temple, he’s been reduced in power and trapped in the body of a tortoise. And the only one who can hear him is Burtha. And if they’re not careful, they’re both going to end up dead, for the head of the temple is jealous, vengeful, and quite cunning.
Lords and Ladies (DW 14) features the return of Magrat, Nanny Ogg, and Granny Weatherwax from their adventures in Genua and presumed adventures returning, only to find an elf problem in Lancre. And elves can be a very dangerous problem indeed! This book introduces Agnes Nitt and the dwarf lothario, Casanunda, both of whom have several returning appearances.
Men at Arms (DW 15), another Watch/Ankh-Morpork features the introduction of new members of the Watch Angua, who becomes folically-enhanced at the new moon, and Detritus, a troll. At this point Commander Vimes is seeing Lady Sybil Ramkin and learning more about dragons than he cares to know when a small explosion is heard at the Assassin’s Guild. All that is found at the site is a small white card with the words ‘Gonne’, and soon people are being found with their life gone and holes passing through their body….
Soul Music (DW 16). Soul Music, in a way, is related to Moving Pictures like Get Shorty and Be Cool. Sol Music is the story of a young bard who comes to Ankh Morpork to make music. One slight problem - he doesn’t have enough money to join the Musician’s Guild, and like the Thieve’s Guild, practicing the trade without being a member of the guild can have terminal consequences. The bard in question, Imp Y Celyn, manages to get together with other non-guild musicians and forms a band playing music that has never been heard before - music with rocks in it! The book introduces Susan Sto Helit, DEAHT’s granddaughter. She is unfortunately pressed in to filling DEATH’s duty when HE takes a sabbatical. Interesting things abound.
Interesting Times (DW 17) is what Rincewind always lives in, and he is summoned, literally, to finish up some business in the Agatean Empire, from which Twoflower came to start off the entire Discworld series. There’s a problem with rebellion and royal ascension and viziers. There’s always problems with viziers.
Maskerade (DW 18). Another Witches book, this time mainly set in Ankh Morpork with lots of wizards involved. Agnes Nitt, from Lancre, has an amazing voice: she can sing duets with herself, with a range going from so low that she can shake foundations to so high that she can literally shatter glass. And she decides she wants to sing opera. Only one place for that: the opera house in Ankh Morpork! But if you have an opera house, you’ve got to have a phantom, and it’s always helpful to have a few fresh corpses, and if you have fresh corpses, who else but the Watches finest detectors, Colon and Nobby.
Feet of Clay (DW 19) is another Discworld book that I highly regard. Golems abound in Ankh Morpork: very useful workers if you are VERY careful about the instructions that you give them. Then suddenly, they seem to be gripped with a madness and intent on destroying themselves! Not only that, there are rumors of a golem committing murder! Yet rule #1 for golems is to harm no man. Something ghastly is wrong, and it’s up to the Watch to stop it - yet how do you stop a creature that is all but unstoppable?
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07/12 The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner
07/13 Top Secret Recipes, Todd Wilbur
07/14 Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps (rr)
07/15 The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff (rr)
07/17 Tao Te Ching
07/20 How to Travel with a Salmon, Umberto Eco
07/23 Mort (DW 4), Pratchett (rr)
07/23 Sourcery (DW 5), Pratchett (rr)
07/24 The Light Fantastic (DW 2), Pratchett (rr)
07/25 Equal Rites (DW 3), Pratchett (rr)
07/26 Wyrd Sisters (DW 6), Pratchett (rr)
07/27 Eric (DW 9), Pratchett (rr)
07/30 Pyramids (DW 7), Pratchett (rr)
08/03 Moving Pictures (DW 10), Pratchett (rr)
08/11 Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson (rr~)
08/15 Reaper Man (DW 11), Pratchett (rr)
08/20 Witches Abroad (DW 12), Pratchett (rr)
08/22 Small Gods (DW 13), Pratchett (rr)
09/02 Lords and Ladies (DW 14), Pratchett (rr)
09/06 Men at Arms (DW 15), Pratchett (rr)
09/08 Soul Music (DW 16), Pratchett (rr)
09/12 Interesting Times (DW 17), Pratchett (rr)
09/20 Maskerade (DW 18), Pratchett (rr)
09/24 Feet of Clay (DW 19), Pratchett (rr)
These 25 plus the previous 36 brings me up to 61 as of the end of September, so well beyond one a week average. Pratchetts are quick reads, that helps a lot, it's easy to knock off two or three a week if I'm not otherwise very busy.
HUGE amount of re-reads, mainly because I started re-reading my Terry Pratchett cannon in June and continued. Of 25 books read, none were physical and five were first-time reads with one, Snow Crash, being what I thought was a re-read but there was so much material that I didn’t recognize I think that I had never read the whole thing through. Most likely I read an excerpt in Analog Magazine or something.
The reason for the dive in to Buddhism is I had a dream that was crazy vivid and made for a really cool short story, but was set at a Buddhist temple. I’ve read two of those books before, so I re-read them and started reading some more. The story is still in progress and is far beyond short story length, in fact it’s forked and spun-off into a sort of origin story for the protagonist. It continues in fits and starts.
On to the comments! I’m going to change the order a bit so that the non-Discworld books are together, which only requires moving Snow Crash.
Singularity Sky, Charles Stross. I’m a huge Stross fan, mainly of his Library series. But when I become a huge fan, I tend to try to read everything by them - I’m sure that’s not uncommon. I picked up Singularity Sky as an ebook for a buck. I personally am not a believer - currently - in the AI singularity and bioprinters being able to produce anything. It makes for entertaining fiction, that’s about it as far as I’m concerned. I don’t seek out that fiction, and this is what this book is. A star system was colonized by people who wanted to establish a mid/late 19th century Russian fiefdom system, and something went slightly wrong. Enter our protagonists, a man who is a weapons system engineer hired to upgrade the fleet, and a woman of dubious nature and unusual ability. Problems occur when a drifting AI cloud encounters one of their planets and begins granting wishes…. Interesting book, first part of a trilogy of which I have not yet acquired the remainders. I liked the characters and the story overall, but as I said, I haven’t bought in too much into the idea of the singularity so it just doesn’t trigger my ‘MUST BUY!’ mode. But if you like that stuff, you may be much more enthusiastic for it than I’ I did greatly enjoy the cultural/political examination, Stross does an excellent job on things like that.
The Shockwave Rider, John Brunner. This is a book that took me several months to get through, I think the writing style is dated: it was written in 1975 and Spider Robinson said “as a story it limps”. I think I can agree with that. It involves a world-wide data bank, not so much the internet as a mainframe controlling lots of aspects of your life. You test out and end up in a job as appropriate, you’re able to use the network for recreation, and people are happy. But they’re also monitored. The protagonist, Nick, is incredibly intelligent, and can reprogram the computer remotely and all but undetectably and uses it to evade the group that raised him and gave him his skills. He’s a chameleon and can change personas and backgrounds after 10 minutes with a telephone. The group wants him back: they have a large investment in him and want to recoup their money. It just didn’t grab me, I doggedly stuck with it in the vain hope it would improve. I might have enjoyed it more if I’d discovered it in the early ‘80s as I was a very different person back then.
Top Secret Recipes, Todd Wilbur. This is a cook book. I don’t normally talk about cook books in my book reviews, but this one is a bit different. Todd Wilbur has made a career of these Top Secret books, and what he does is make duplicate recipes of well-known things that you can buy in stores or at restaurants. Red Lobster biscuits? It’s in one of his books. Mrs. Fields cookies? It’s here. Twinkies? Covered, or at least close enough. The recipes were minimally interesting, but the cool part was the history of various restaurants and their specialties. For example, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Colonel Harland Sanders was an actual Colonel: Kentucky has an honorific that may be bestowed by the Governor of the state for whatever reasons, and he did so to Sanders. The story of him driving around, trying to franchise his recipe and drilling holes in people’s expensive restaurant stoves to make them work better was pretty funny. But it ended in considerable sadness: he wasn’t a very good businessman - he sold the business to a couple of guys for what seemed a lot of money, but they turned it around a couple of years later and sold it for many millions. I haven’t bothered with the recipes. For example, the burger recipes. Most of them have nothing that particularly distinguishes them except it describes the order of assembly. Yippee. I do recall one bit that describes one chain puts their patties on the grill frozen, I don’t remember who. I think some of the later books have more interesting recipes, this one didn’t thrill me but the stories I found fascinating.
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps (rr). Paul Reps was a well-known writer, translator, and artist in the American Zen Buddhist community, he is now deceased. Among his books was this one, it’s actually a compilation of four classic Zen texts: 101 Zen Stories (koans) (1919), The Gateless Gate (13th century), Ten Bulls, and Centering, a chapter from the Rudrayamala Tantra. I really enjoy the collection of 101 koans, it makes for interesting reading. The last text, Centering, is also quite good, depicting a conversation between Shiva and his consort Devi or Shakti. It’s all quite good.
The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff (rr). Benjamin Hoff wrote two books trying to make Zen Buddhism more accessible to American audiences through the eyes of A.A. Milne’s characters, his second book was The Te of Piglet. Both are awesome books. Basically, it shows that the simple nature of Pooh allows him to see things more clearly and be closer to his Buddha nature. Very enjoyable read. I sent a copy to my sister a couple of years ago when she unexpectedly ended up leaving her husband after finding out he was seeing women on the side, sis said it was very helpful.
Tao Te Ching. This is the granddaddy text of Buddhism, the Tao itself. Authorship is not clear, and it’s likely to be a collection of texts of different scholarship. Still, it’s something that I’d never read before which made it quite interesting. One wonders how much one misses by not reading it in the original language, I really don’t think I have the scholarship and patience to learn several old Chinese languages to pick through the originals! Still, good reads.
How to Travel with a Salmon, Umberto Eco. This is a collection of short stories that Umberto used to write for a local Italian newspaper. They’re in English, but with MANY lapses into Italian, Latin, French, and who knows what - he was a very educated and literary man. Quite an interesting read, the stories go all over the place in terms of fiction, non-fiction, biographical, etc. The title story itself was very funny, most of them were quite amusing, but there were a few clunkers. Makes me interested in acquiring some other of his newspaper collections.
Snow Crash, Neil Stephenson (rr~). My ‘sort of’ re-read. Snow Crash is probably two Firsts for me: my first Stephenson and my first cyberpunk. I know I first read Snow Crash excerpted in Analog way back when, and I thought I’d read the novel when it came out, but when I re-read it in August it was clear that I had never read the complete novel. This is quite a story. It revolves around the hero protagonist, aptly named Hiro Protagonist, who delivers pizza for Mafia Pizza. If the pizza isn’t delivered to your door in 30 minutes, you’ll receive a personal apology from Uncle Enzo himself, the head of the Mafia. Hiro is also a hacker and capable of writing some incredible code. While in the VR Metaverse, his programming partner takes a virtual drug that has a real-world analog, Snow Crash. And the VR drug not only crashes his VR avatar, it wipes his friend’s mind. Stephenson goes in to crazy depth in his books, and this one is no different. It’s an absolutely crazy ride and highly recommended.
Mort (DW 4). I decided to re-read all of the Discworld books. But, I hear you say, Mort is book number 4. Well, I skipped the first three because they just aren’t that great. The initial adventures of Rincewind, Two-Flower, and the Luggage don’t do much for me, and I’d re-read them a few years ago, so I skipped ‘em and started with Mort. Mort could also be titled Death Takes An Apprentice. Death already has a daughter, well, an adoptive daughter, and a manservant, and decides an apprentice could be useful. And he does turn out to be useful. Sort of. But the true importance of this book is that it’s foundational to events later in the series. It’s still a good book regardless, lots of fun seeing DEATH trying to understand humanity and try to get drunk, among other things.
Sourcery (DW 5) brings Unseen University and the wizards into the series big-time. Normally wizards Do Not Marry, pretty much Rule #1 in the Big Wizard Handbook of Wizardry. But sometimes someone quits or is kicked out or whatever, and they get married and settled down. And have kids. And sometimes there’s a seventh son. Of a seventh son. And if circumstances align, that child can be a Sourcerer and manipulate the primary fabric of the universe itself….
The Light Fantastic (DW 2). Yeah, so I went back and re-read book 2. Rincewind is a problematic wizzard. On a bet as a student, he read the book The Octavo, containing the eight spells that created the universe. And one of the spells escaped, entering his head. And it is a jealous spell, and would not let him learn any other spells, which doesn’t make him very useful as a wizard, effectively ending his student days, relegating him to being an assistant to The Librarian. Terry Pratchett actually wrote the first two books to be one book, but it was too big for publishers to take a risk on for a new author, so it was split in to two. The first book ended with Rincewind, Two-Flower, and The Luggage falling off the edge of the Disc. The Octavo, not wanting one of its spells lost, readjusts reality to save Rincewind & Company. And then we learn of a red star that is coming that will destroy Discworld….
Equal Rites (DW 3) begins with the death of a wizard. He knows he is about to die: a professional courtesy granted to wizards and witches by DEATH. He travels to where the eight son of an eight son is about to be born, then wills himself into his staff, to be given to the child about to enter the world. But what if the child is not a boy…. This book also introduces Granny Weatherwax, though a bit different than in future books.
Wyrd Sisters (DW 6). This is perhaps the first Discworld book that I ever read, back in the days. This or Guards! Guards!, I’m not sure which. Absolutely loved it, and it remains a favorite. A proper introduction of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick. Also gives you an excellent introduction to the Ogg clan, Greebo, the most villainous cat in the world, and the Kingdom of Lancre. Lots of fun. While this is the second appearance of Granny Weatherwax, she’s a bit different from her premiere in Equal Rites and much more her permanent form.
Eric (DW 9) is lots of fun, most editions of the book have the title Faust, crossed out, and Eric written over it, because it’s effectively the story of Faust written in Discworld terms. A kid figures out how to summon a demon and ends up with Rincewind instead. Not much of a bargain, but it seems to work out in the end.
Pyramids (DW 7) is our first jaunt outside of the Ankh-Morpork/Lankre region, taking us to the desert kingdom of Djelibeybi, and the crown prince Pteppic, who at the beginning of the book is studying at the Assassin’s Guild in Ankh-Morpork when he learns of his father’s death and must return home. His country has a problem: they have no money because every time a ruler dies, they build an even bigger pyramid that they can’t afford. Not only is it ruining the treasury, it’s destroying reality itself, and it falls down to Pteppic to fix things. Sadly it’s an individual story and there’s no more Pteppic seen later.
Moving Pictures (DW 10) sees Holywood come to Discworld and introduces a certain talking dog to the series who will later become an invaluable friend to Carrot and Angua, among others. Unfortunately for reality, the flicks are actually a Cthonian-like incursion from the Dungeon Dimensions which have to be put down occasionally, and now is one such time.
Reaper Man (DW 11), the second true DEATH story, is the introduction of two continuing characters: The Auditors of Reality who occasionally cause trouble for DEATH, and the Death of Rats. DEATH, in his ongoing quest to learn more about humans, decided to become one for a time, which causes all sorts of problems with humanity and people not dying properly.
Witches Abroad (DW 12). The second proper Witches book proves that travel broadens the mind, or broadens something. Magret receives a dead fairy godmother’s magic wand in the mail with instructions to come to the kingdom of Genua, with explicit instructions to not let those two other meddling biddies come along, which guarantees Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax will be along for the ride. This is an excellent Witches book, and our only deep dive into Genua, which has lots of New Orleans vibes and some interesting differences in the way that magic is done. But the best part of all is the villain: Granny Weatherwax’s sister!
Small Gods (DW 13) is the first, and perhaps only?, historical book and takes place a few hundred years earlier in the history of the Discworld with an acolyte in the Temple of Om by the name of Burtha. Turns out that Om is not in the temple, he’s been reduced in power and trapped in the body of a tortoise. And the only one who can hear him is Burtha. And if they’re not careful, they’re both going to end up dead, for the head of the temple is jealous, vengeful, and quite cunning.
Lords and Ladies (DW 14) features the return of Magrat, Nanny Ogg, and Granny Weatherwax from their adventures in Genua and presumed adventures returning, only to find an elf problem in Lancre. And elves can be a very dangerous problem indeed! This book introduces Agnes Nitt and the dwarf lothario, Casanunda, both of whom have several returning appearances.
Men at Arms (DW 15), another Watch/Ankh-Morpork features the introduction of new members of the Watch Angua, who becomes folically-enhanced at the new moon, and Detritus, a troll. At this point Commander Vimes is seeing Lady Sybil Ramkin and learning more about dragons than he cares to know when a small explosion is heard at the Assassin’s Guild. All that is found at the site is a small white card with the words ‘Gonne’, and soon people are being found with their life gone and holes passing through their body….
Soul Music (DW 16). Soul Music, in a way, is related to Moving Pictures like Get Shorty and Be Cool. Sol Music is the story of a young bard who comes to Ankh Morpork to make music. One slight problem - he doesn’t have enough money to join the Musician’s Guild, and like the Thieve’s Guild, practicing the trade without being a member of the guild can have terminal consequences. The bard in question, Imp Y Celyn, manages to get together with other non-guild musicians and forms a band playing music that has never been heard before - music with rocks in it! The book introduces Susan Sto Helit, DEAHT’s granddaughter. She is unfortunately pressed in to filling DEATH’s duty when HE takes a sabbatical. Interesting things abound.
Interesting Times (DW 17) is what Rincewind always lives in, and he is summoned, literally, to finish up some business in the Agatean Empire, from which Twoflower came to start off the entire Discworld series. There’s a problem with rebellion and royal ascension and viziers. There’s always problems with viziers.
Maskerade (DW 18). Another Witches book, this time mainly set in Ankh Morpork with lots of wizards involved. Agnes Nitt, from Lancre, has an amazing voice: she can sing duets with herself, with a range going from so low that she can shake foundations to so high that she can literally shatter glass. And she decides she wants to sing opera. Only one place for that: the opera house in Ankh Morpork! But if you have an opera house, you’ve got to have a phantom, and it’s always helpful to have a few fresh corpses, and if you have fresh corpses, who else but the Watches finest detectors, Colon and Nobby.
Feet of Clay (DW 19) is another Discworld book that I highly regard. Golems abound in Ankh Morpork: very useful workers if you are VERY careful about the instructions that you give them. Then suddenly, they seem to be gripped with a madness and intent on destroying themselves! Not only that, there are rumors of a golem committing murder! Yet rule #1 for golems is to harm no man. Something ghastly is wrong, and it’s up to the Watch to stop it - yet how do you stop a creature that is all but unstoppable?
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