(no subject)

[skygiants]

I just went and checked my last-year's booklogging, and I appear to have gone all of last year without reading any Terry Pratchett! That may be a record for me since the young age at which I discovered Discworld (eight? Nine? Whenever it was, I cannot take credit, since my mom was the one who brought me back Color of Magic from a trip to England on the vague premise that she thought it looked interesting for me.)

Anyways, this year I seem to be making up for it, since after the Great Johnny Reread I became determined to catch up and in short order acquired Making Money and Nation.

I enjoyed Making Money - I think being On A Break from Pratchett for a bit was good for me, since I liked it a lot more than I did Going Postal, which never quite grabbed me as a book. Moist is still not one of my favorite Discworld characters to follow, but I seem to be warming to him. And the Patrician, of course, shines like a beautiful and fabulously manipulative lamp. I was not sure about the Great Revelation about Bent, since it employs one of my least favorite tropes, but other than that I liked the plot, and while I don't think it's going to rank among my favorite Pratchett books, I had been missing Ankh-Morpork and I definitely had fun with it.

Nation, on the other hand, I loved pretty much completely, and will definitely be ranking among my favorite Pratchett books. It helps that I have a weakness for community-building stories. And that I loved Mau and Daphne both a tremendous amount - Mau is so angry and Daphne is so scientific, and they are both so determined! And that - well, while in some ways Nation is one of the darkest Pratchett books I've read, and certainly one of the most serious, I still think Nation is not as dark as the Johnny books. Yes, it features a lot of death and genuine loss, but . . . while this world is hard, it isn't grim, and there is a significant difference. There is a whole lot of hope and a whole lot of triumph. And while I love the Johnny books too, sometimes you need that.

Anyway, all this recent Pratchett-reading has sparked my curiosity, so: time for a bookpoll!

[Poll #1300910]

Comments

[sophistry]

I WOULD LIKE TO QUALIFY MY ANSWERS SOMEWHAT. Vimes & Co. are undoubtedly my favourite overall, but I did not click Rincewind + Wizards or Susan + Deaths for the simple reason that, in terms of comparative character-love, while I adore the UU wizards SO HARD, I am vaguely enh towards Rincewind, and while I similarly love DEATH beyond all reason and sanity, I could pretty much take or leave the rest of his entourage. (For these reasons, though it is Watch-less, Reaper Man will always be one of my very favourite Discworld novels.)

Although I suppose that I am saying this having not read any Discworld in some time myself. Plus which, when I do pick up a Discworld novel, it tends to be one of the ones I already think of as my favourites. Perhaps if I were to re-read some of the others, I would develop a new appreciation for other characters.

[skygiants]

This is a problem with which I sympathize! Ridcully is maybe my absolute favorite Discworld character overlal, and there is NEVER ENOUGH Ridcully because the wizards books are always taken over by Rincewind. :( Though I do suspect I am still fonder of Rincewind than most people are.

[weaverandom.livejournal.com]

I WANTED TO TAKE THE POLL SERIOUSLY BUT I COULDN'T LEAVE ANY OF THE OPTIONS UNTICKED *FRETS A BIT*

[weaverandom.livejournal.com]

also apparently I fail at clicking the right 'reply-to' button. whups, sorry. HI!

[areyoumymemmy.livejournal.com]

Small Gods! Pyramids! Also I meant to check off Lancre and the Witches and forgot! (Hi, I have a Pratchett problem.)

[sophistry]

Oh, man, I forgot about Pyramids. I tend to be somewhat ambivalent about the one-offs in general, but Pyramids is UNRESERVEDLY AWESOME.

[skygiants]

Small Gods! I wish I could have had a separate Small Gods category, it is up in my top two favorite one-offs. (It also is very different in feel from a lot of Discworld books, I think. I mean, it is still Discworld, but . . .)

THE TURTLE MOVES

[varadia]

ALSO SMALL GODS. HOW COULD I FORGET.

[skygiants]

I ALMOST FORGOT EITHER I FEEL AWFUL

[minkhollow]

I heart Moist rather a lot. I think it helps that Going Postal kind of exactly mirrors the USPS horror stories Dad's been bringing home from work all my life.
Also: Moving Pictures and Pyramids are big, big favorites of mine (even though Moving Pictures kind of put me off fog for life and Pyramids was half incomprehensible the first time I read it).

[skygiants]

That totally would help! I also think Making Money was definitely a right-time read for me, since, hi economy issues, also augh.

Moving Pictures is my other favorite one-off, I think - it freaked me out so hard when I was little and I loved every minute of it.

[sdelmonte]

The Vimes books are simply my favorites, or rather Vimes is. The Witches come close, but there just doesn't seem to have been as much as PTerry was able to do with them plot-wise.

My favorite YA is Maurice and His Educated Rodents. The Tiffany books are fun, but tend to be too much about How Tiffany Gets Into Trouble and Then Out, which never grabs me.

[skygiants]

Yeah, the Witches books tend to be more pure parody of some specific storyline, I think - so for example Maskerade is funniest if you know Phantom, and Wyrd Sisters is best if you know Macbeth well - while the Vimes books, while still thematic, do more to advance the world in general. They're both awesome, obviously, but the Vimes books may be more generally easier to get invested in that way.

I like the Tiffany books, but they're not my favorites either and I'm not sure why - I think it's maybe because they straddle the line between being much more straight-up parody like Discworld and more serious like his other YAs, and it's not enough one way or another for me to adore them as much as I do the rest.

[ceitfianna]

For me with Pratchett its hard getting the right balance so I love the Witches and have fun with their plays when I'm feeling in a Shakespeare mood.

But for overall enjoyment of storyline and characters I like the Vimes books best. I enjoy the wizards a lot at times and happen to really enjoy Rincewind, Interesting Times is one of my utter favorite Discworld books and I think its the one where he's written best.

Now I think I'm going to go eat Mexican food and watch the new Bond film. Though I'm sad since I don't think that this library has that great a Pratchett collection and my books are in storage.

[skygiants]

I still have a fondness for the first two books in the series, with Rincewind and Twoflower, because they were the first two I read - Discworld was of course a very, very different place then, and they may not be objectively as good as the others, but they were my first!

Have fun! I am seeing Bond tomorrow with the roommate. But yes, I feel your pain; the vast majority of mine are still in Philadelphia, except for the ones I lent to an acquaintance two years back who then took them with him into CIA TRAINING WTF, which means that they are probably now Classified Property and I will never see them again! TEARS. AND WOE.

[villainny.livejournal.com]

Do the Them count for the YA section?

*grins*

'cos, dude. BRIAN.

[skygiants]

The Them totally count and I can't believe I forgot to put Good Omens anywhere!

(Brian for the win, always and ever. <3)

. . . now I want a Johnny-books-the Them crossover. Has anyone written this??? Someone must have!

[furikku.livejournal.com]

I am surprised and dismayed at the underappreciation for Lancre! Dismay! Though I am pleased that Vimes is winning because Vimes is THE BEST.

Also I voted Discworld because I haven't read any of the YA stuff yet.

[skygiants]

I am shocked too! I was totally predicting that Lancre would come up second-best in the polls and I have clearly lost that bet . . . with myself . . .

I used to not be a convert on the YA stuff, but having reread Johnny and read Nation I may actually think it's sometimes a little bit better than Discworld in some ways. (Then I remember the Discworld books I really love and go back to waffling.) I think you would really like Nation, actually.

[vivien]

I'm surprised, too! Wyrd Sisters was my gateway drug into Discworld, and I still love that series best. Granny and Nanny. *draws tiny hearts*

[schiarire.livejournal.com]

I am pretty much going to smash everyone not agreeing with me under YA in the face, with a chair!

[skygiants]

You and your chair are terrifyingly hardcore! :O

I agree with you under YA! *loyal* I just have to split my love between Johnny and Nation, now, because Nation was pretty seriously awesome, but love shared is not love halved!

[rowanberries.livejournal.com]

Does Night Watch count as a Vimes/Watch book? I guess it does technically, although I tend to think of it seperately in my head. Also because it is my favourite, for completely biased reasons. *Pets student!Vetinari*

Also, I reeeeeally need to read more non-Disc stuff of Pratchett's, but I keep getting distracted! Woe!

[skygiants]

I count it as a Vimes book in my head, but there are definitely good reasons to think of it separately too! (Student!Vetinari is AWESOME. That is another one I really need to reread.)

You ought! Much of it is pretty fabulous! Though Truckers/Diggers/Wings I don't remember being that interested in, but all the rest!

[vivien]

My one off favorite is Going Postal. OH! And Moving Pictures. I liked Moving Pictures a whole lot.

[skygiants]

I love Moving Pictures so much I made my brother read it for a book report! That whole thing about "being famous for just being yourself, as big as possible" is one of the Pratchett quotes that has stuck with me the most.

[kenovay.livejournal.com]

You forgot Carpet People!

[skygiants]

I know I know! I fail. D: Carpet People is always kind of linked to Diggers/Truckers/Wings in my head though, and I am not sure why except maybe that I read them around the same time-ish? Or that they are around the same size!