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Post by whollygoats on Jan 14, 2013 2:36:36 GMT
Whilst discussing Terry Pratchett in the past, Sven tossed out a comment that he thought I had a lot of resemblance to Pratchett's Death character. Since, at that time, I had read mostly Watch tomes where Death did not play a huge role, so I wasn't really quite sure how to interpret the comment.
I just finished Hogfather, in which Death plays a major role, along with his granddaughter, Susan Sto Lat. Albert, Death's batman, makes a significant contribution, as well. Their commentaries on Death and his actions, along with since reading the likes of Mort and Soul Music have given a much better idea of Pratchett's Death character and, I must say, I (finally) greatly appreciate the very kind complement which Sven gave me that day. Death is indeed a very sympathetic character with some very similar attitudes to mine....
I can see them as well. Thanks, Sven.
I really think I want to be a History Monk, though....I'm just about to start Thief of Time, where I hope the History Monks will get a fuller explication.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 14, 2013 17:11:34 GMT
Heh....Lu-Tse the Sweeper. Great stuff...
And the Abbey of Wen the Eternally Surprised.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Jan 14, 2013 19:45:47 GMT
Hogfather is one of my favourites. The hogswatch card at the end that Death gives Susan is hysterical.
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Post by Alvamiga on Jan 14, 2013 20:15:50 GMT
I have not read the books yet, but I have heard Radio 4's version of Mort and seen the TV version of Hogfather and I think that that version of Death is a very interesting version of him. I saw Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey while up at Moose's and that Death is very strange!
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Post by Shake on Jan 15, 2013 4:14:13 GMT
I may have to check out these books some day.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 19, 2013 0:30:55 GMT
Heh...I just finished Thief of Time and found it to be a delight. Of course, for someone of my background, it held a lot of allusions. It brought to center stage a character I had only seen in passing in past Discworld novels, Lu-Tse the Sweeper, who, although not a monk of the Order of Wen the Eternally Surprised, none the less lives his mundane life (of nearly nine hundred years) as custodian of their Oi Dong Abbey and has proven critical in their efforts to maintain history during crises. Also starring in this is Susan Sto Helit, Death's granddaughter. Susan and Lu-Tse, the latter with a prodigy apprentice in tow, set off separately to attempt to stop the end of the world apocalypse, while Death goes about rounding up the old gang to 'ride out' in response to the complete halt of time, and consquent end of the world, brought on by the Auditors of Reality... reputedly so they can catch upon on their paperwork.
It's the most amusing and inventive apocalyptic tale I've read in ages. I highly recommend. His satire of the Tao Te Ching and I Ching and the entire genre of 'enlightened monk with miraculous skills' is a scream. The reprise of Susan Sto Helit is a joy as well, this time as the ideal schoolmarm, dragged unwillingly into her grandfather's meddling.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2013 12:11:02 GMT
Nobody plays games with tropes as well as Pratchett does.
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Post by charliebrown on Jan 19, 2013 15:03:04 GMT
"Wen the Eternally Surprised". I like it. My Chinese name is Wen-Ting. A lot of my foreign friends call me Wen
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 19, 2013 18:42:09 GMT
"Wen the Eternally Surprised". I like it. My Chinese name is Wen-Ting. A lot of my foreign friends call me Wen I've seen it speculated that the name, the founder figure of the 'History Monks', is a play upon the English word 'when'. He seems to be loosely based upon the bodhisattva figure. Although important, Wen has more of a back-story presence in the narrative; it is Lu-Tse and particularly his apprentice, Lobsang Ludd, who are key figures in the apocalyptic tale.
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Post by Moose on Jan 25, 2013 16:50:02 GMT
I've read and enjoyed some of the Discworld novels but never managed to get as into them as some people do. I liked Death tho. He was in the very first DW novel I read, can't remember what it was now.
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Post by whollygoats on Jan 25, 2013 20:39:07 GMT
I've certainly been enraptured. After wondering for so long over where to start, I plunged into Guards! Guards!, which turned out to be a typical early City Watch tale with Captain Sam Vimes (later Commander) and the boys of the constabulary taking on a conspiracy to conjure a dragon, which, of course, goes awry.
So, I tend to be most comfortable with the Sam Vimes stories, which are largely twisted police procedurals. Then there are the Rincewind novels, with Rincewind the bad 'wizzard' and unwilling adventurer, which is evidently where Pratchett started the entire Discworld series, with The Color of Magic and its companion volume, The Light Fantastic. I just finished Interesting Times, a Rincewind story set in the Counterweight Continent (the metaphorical Far East).
There are the Death novels, with Death, and his adoptive family, and particularly his granddaughter, Susan Sto Helit, are the primary characters. Soul Music is a great riff on rock'n'roll ('music with the rocks in'). Mort is the tale of Death's apprentice. But then, Death is ubiquitous and thus seems to appear in all the tales. Just look for his commentary, always in ALL CAPS.
I haven't been quite as taken with the Witches novels with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, but did enjoy Lords and Ladies, where the witches take on the fairy trash who attempt to take over in their little community in the Bad Ass region of Lancre. I'm right in the midst of Wyrd Sisters, so I'll have a better understanding of the Lancre scene and witch society.
Then, the Moist von Lipwig novels, like Going Postal and Making Money are fun diversions in the life of Ankh-Morpork, where the Guilds and the social and economic life of the city, including the City Watch, are active roles. The character of the Patrician, the ruler of Ankh-Morpork, is explicated in these tales.
I understand that there is yet another series, generally referred to as the Tiffany Aching novels, where the named character is a witch in training. I've Wee Free Men, which is evidently a Tiffany Aching story, as it A Hatful of Stars, but I've yet to read one of this series.
Pratchett's stereotyping is hilarious. His characters are wonderful...like Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, the ever-persistant entrepeneurial peddlar of dubious foodstuffs at crowd events....Sausage inna bun! The sausage is reputed to contain parts that might have been close to a pig; if you're lucky.
I've had enormous fun reading my way through this mind candy and I recommend it to anyone who likes a sardonic, satirical, and wryly cynical fantasy world reading with good word play, turns of phrase, and lots of 'punes'.
As Sven noted, Pratchett is a master at abusing literary tropes.
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Post by Moose on Jan 25, 2013 21:01:51 GMT
Maybe I will give him another go. Guards Guards was the last one i read and it was fun but not enough to make me want to read all of his that I could get my hands on. Maybe I should begin at the beginning tho
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Post by Alvamiga on Jan 26, 2013 7:41:16 GMT
I saw Guard! Guards! as a stage play, many moons ago, starring Paul Darrow (Avon from Blake's Seven).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2013 22:49:38 GMT
I've become a real fan of books by Terry Pratchett. Frank has them all, so I'm reading them. I think I might have read more than half of them by now.
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