Snowflake Challenge, day 11 = Discworld

[hamsterwoman]

(Non-fannish folk, not to worry, I'm almost done spamming you with Snowflake posts, and should go back to my regular 2/week posting schedule once we're past the first half of January. Just bear with my annual spike of fannish enthusiasm for a bit more!)

Day 11: Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life.Ah! A day I was

Comments

[aletheiafelinea]

I couldn't get through Raising Steam -- it just wasn't feeling like a Moist book to me, or a Pratchett book, and that made me far too sad to continue.
I finished, but it made me sad as well. It was so... washed out, or like a crude copy with roughly traced lines. :(

the author I've read the most books by
Huh, now I wonder which author that would be for me. Very probably also Pratchett, but I'd have to sit down and count it some day.
(That should be a question in some book meme. ^^ )

none of the other guys are Pratchett, are they.
Verily. :)

Not a lot of books can make me laugh, tear up, and ponder something deep and fundamental within the same book, often within a couple of pages -- by Discworld manages this in practically every book.
Yes, so very much. *runs fast by crying part to not tear up damn again*

(I don't have a Discworld icon but I kind of have a Discworld icon - the fourth book from the top is "Guards! Guards!" and on the bottom is "The Art of Discworld", both the Polish editions.)

[hamsterwoman]

Oh, are these your own actual books in the icon?! I had no idea -- figured this was a stock image. But of course I should've expected a more interesting story with you :)

(That should be a question in some book meme. ^^ )

It was, actually! It was either a while back, or I had forgotten to check just how many Discworld books I'd read at the time, because I remember my answer back then was Jonathan Kellerman, with 30-something. But while I've continud to read Kellerman's books, PTerry is definitely in the lead at this point. Though I suppose it's not impossible for Kellerman to catch up... he is still writing, and tends to be pretty prolific.

I finished, but it made me sad as well. It was so... washed out, or like a crude copy with roughly traced lines. :(:( I heard from a friend that it picked up after the point where I walked away from it, but doesn't sound like it makes that much of a difference

[aletheiafelinea]

I use stock only when I can't use of my own. Especially for an icon supposed to encompass all my reading. It was IMPORTANT. So the books had to be as well. :)

:( I heard from a friend that it picked up after the point where I walked away from it, but doesn't sound like it makes that much of a difference...
I'd say, since you have read the whole Discworld, this means you have already read Raising Steam, only better. I'm glad The Shepherd's Crown was the farewell, instead RS.

Yeah, agreed about the last paragraph. Some parts just felt worn out, and this includes characters...

[hamsterwoman]

Especially for an icon supposed to encompass all my reading. It was IMPORTANT. So the books had to be as well. :)

Of course! So what are the other books in the stack, then?

this means you have already read Raising Steam, only better

Yeah, that's probably true. And so agreed about The Shepherd's Crown. I would've been sad if Raising Steam had been the final book.

[blakmagjick]

Discworld has been on my To-Read list for a long time! I really should get into them.

[hamsterwoman]

I think I'd recommend starting with "Guards! Guards!" or "Wyrd Sisters" :)

[cyanshadow]

<3 Discworld, and I say that even knowing that I'm one of those rare people you mentioned who isn't actually into it. XD

Honestly, given that the quotes I see, from his books, from Pratchett himself, from people who have talked about their interactions with him, have pretty much all resonated very strongly with me, I'm always a bit surprised that I'm not a Discworld fan yet -- I'm convinced that it's just a matter of time before I find that handful of books that are "mine" and then with that as my root, I'll be down the rabbit hole reading all 40+ with the rest of you. :'D <3

(I'm also pretty sure from talking to you and K that it'll be the Watch books that do it, or possibly the Witches, but I still haven't read any of them yet argh. XDD Maybe this year ...)

I aww'd at Good Omens being your first exposure to Pratchett, since I'm pretty sure it was mine, too. :D (I'd possibly read Equal Rites first? I appear to have a copy, but I have zero memory of having ever actually read it. XD)

I prefer the Wizards in small doses in general

[hamsterwoman]

I'm always a bit surprised that I'm not a Discworld fan yet

Haha, me too. XP It does seem like something that, between the kind of humour and the ideas and the just... solidness of the books would work for you if you find the right lever (which I hope you will!)

Sourcery (along with Eric) is one of the books where I don't mind Rincewind too much / Rincewind books I like most, but that still places them in the back half of the list of Discworld books I like. I do think Watch and Witches* are probably the 'right' sub-series for you (I suspect you would appreciate both Vimes and Granny Weatherwax). But if you liked Making Money, you would probably like Going Postal even more, since Moist gets an actual significant moral arc. (But I could also be biased since, hey, favorite book. :P)

*even if you've read Equal Rites, I do not consider that a Witches book, and still consider that early Pratchett, since a lot of characters' personalities haven't settled out into their normal channels yet.

I aww'd at Good Omens being your first

[cyanshadow]

(But I could also be biased since, hey, favorite book. :P)

Hehehe. :D I suspect I would -- I vaguely recall one of my frustrations with Making Money was that, while it stood alone reasonably well, the references it did make back to Going Postal just seemed so much more interesting than the current goings-on. :'D

I feel like Vimes, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg(?) are the ones who tend to get quotes posted on tumblr most frequently, and I've liked pretty much every quote I've run across, so I suspect you're right. :D

... Lol now I'm getting the urge to go dig up the last thread we had with Discworld recs and start actually reading one of them. :'D I think we ended up deciding probably Guards! Guards!, Maskerade (K rec for reasons of Phantom of the Opera references :D) or ... one of the other Witches books? Sounds like I should toss Going Postal in too :D and I think Monstrous Regiment got mentioned at one point for being the Girl Crossdresses To Do X trope, which is also a fave of mine. XD

(... Now, whether I will actually

[hamsterwoman]

Maskerade is also fun! and can be read "out of order", inasmuch as Discworld ha an order at all. And, yeah, Monstrous Regiment is basically the Girl Crossdresses trope dialed to, well, at least 15, honestly :P (Some Discworld fans don't like that book, but I liked it just fine, and I think you would, too.)

[monkiainen]

The Death sub-series will always hold a special place in my heart, mainly because Mort was the first ever Pratchett book I read, thanks to my late grandmother who was reading it at the time. She's been gone now for 6 years this August.

[hamsterwoman]

Aww, that's a lovely connection! (And I'm sorry for your loss <3)

I got into Asimov's robots and sci-fi in general thanks to my grandmother (who is fortunately still with us, although not as fully as we would like), and that will always be special for me, too.

[ms_geekette]

Did you ever see the Going Postal movie with Charles Dance as Vetinari?

[hamsterwoman]

I did :D

(I'm not nearly so fond of the movies as I am of the books -- not sure these books can be adapted in a way that does them justice, frankly, but I'm deeply, deeply amused by the same person playing Vetinari and Tywin. Although his Vetinari is way too gingery for my taste/mental image.)

[ms_geekette]

I can't remember if I read Going Postal, but I enjoyed the mini-series very much. Of course I started Discworld at the very beginning then jumped around a bit, so I might just have low expectations when it comes to adaptations of this series, haha.

I think my favorite so far is Unseen University. I haven't read any Watch books yet.

[hamsterwoman]

LOL, I think you might be the only person I know who prefers the Wizards! XD (I do like individual Wizards -- Ponder Stibbons and Ridcully, for example, and they always make for amusing cameos in other books. But the books that are all wizards, all the time tend to work for me a lot less well than the rest.

I do wonder what youll think of the Watch books, if/when you get to them!