Nussbaum on Pratchett

[sartorias]

If you enjoy the Pratchettverse as much as I do (or if you just like discussions of it) don't miss Abigail Nussbaum's look at Thud! and others. If you don't like spoilers, though, beware, she does discuss plot points.

It also got me thinking on how one manages the flow of a roman fleuve, a question I am always coming back to.

Comments

Re: grumble grump

[sartorias]

I don't always agree with Nussbaum (sometimes we are at dead opposites) but I enjoy reading her. She takes her books--specifically genre--seriously, and she makes me think over my own reading, my reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. I'd love to attend a con at which she was speaking--I probably would not gain the courage to speak, but hearing her would be stimulating, I believe.

Re: grumble grump

[sartorias]

On the contrary, comments most welcome! I'm still mulling my own reactions--it doesn't help that I don't quite have all the Pratchetts yet, only a scattering, so I don't perceive a whole as someone who's read them all does.

But some of her points rang true--like about Carrot, and Vimes. And the Vimes boy, and how about how truth just sings out of some of the books, juxtaposed so delightfully with wit and humor.

Re: oh yeah and

[sartorias]

There are a bunch of writers whose works are part of one long Story. I've always been interested in this phenom as I happen to be doing it myself.

[jenstclair]

I have been reading Terry Pratchett since I picked up a copy of The Light Fantastic many, many years ago. He is one of the few authors on my shortlist of must-buys. (There are only two authors on my shortlist. Once there were about twenty, but they've all disappointed me, save for Terry Pratchett and one other.) I just finished reading THUD! I reread most of the books (except, perhaps, for the first two and Strata) at least yearly. There are some (Pyramids, Sourcery, Eric/Faust) that aren't my favorites, but even some of the earlier ones are great in my opinion

Where's my cow?

[jenstclair]

I looked at Where's my cow? in the bookshop, and was disappointed. I wish they'd just printed the book Pratchett describes, rather a picture book about Vimes reading that picture book. I thought the book Pratchett described could have been an excellent book for small children, but the one that was produced was a sort of mutant thing, without merit.
I did like the look of the Gaiman picture book where they swap the dad for a goldfish. Sadly, my infants are past that stage.

Interesting everyone likes the Aching books - I thought both those & Maurice didn't quite work. I'm reading them as an adult, so I'm by defintion not competent to say whether they'd appeal to children, but when I read them I imagined that a child might like the regular Discworld books just as well.

Marianne McA