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Post by nyandra on Oct 10, 2010 11:08:24 GMT 10
Any Terry Pratchett fans here? Which is your favourite book?
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 10, 2010 12:32:52 GMT 10
Never heard of him Sure he is a good author though ;D
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Post by nyandra on Oct 10, 2010 15:45:52 GMT 10
He's extremely popular amongst geeks. He writes fantasy (most of the time). Fantasy that's slightly comedic and very well written and is also often a commentary on modern society. Not Quest fantasies, it's about people who live in fantasy cities and towns and their lives and jobs and issues.
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 10, 2010 15:46:56 GMT 10
Sounds good! Are his books big?!
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Post by Illyria on Oct 10, 2010 17:36:08 GMT 10
How would you define "big"? They're not exactly small anyway. I quite like his Discworld series, I'm not sure what my favourite title would be though, hmm... 'Carpe Jugulum' was a good one though, and 'The Last Continent' was good too - it parodies Australia
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 10, 2010 18:29:52 GMT 10
Big would be thick...if that helps
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Post by Illyria on Oct 10, 2010 19:35:15 GMT 10
Aah... well yes, they are big then But very good. I should read more of the recent ones, or re-read the ones I already have, hmm!
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Post by nyandra on Oct 11, 2010 9:30:36 GMT 10
Not THAT thick. Not like final books of Harry Potter thick or anything. The one I have next to me is 380 pages long.
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Post by nyandra on Oct 11, 2010 9:33:34 GMT 10
I'm reading Men at Arms which so far is about the Night Watch (the city watch (early police) have a Day watch and a Night Watch) trying to solve some murders, and also improving their ideas for the police force (in the early Watch books it's all about bashing people on the heads) and including more ethnic groups in their Watch, like a troll, a dwarf, and a woman (who is also a werewolf but they don't know that right now). It's interesting to see them becoming less racist as the book is going on.
The leader of the Night Watch is quitting to marry the richest woman in the city who runs a dragon sanctuary in her free time, and so there's a lot of stuff about him realising that he LIKES the Watch, it's not just a job.
It's a rather funny book too. And all the other books have different themes and ideas. As a whole they're called the Discworld books, but there are different threads within that, though they're all set on the same planet. I'm reading the Watch series right now. There's also a series about witches/vampires/werewolves, one about Death (as in, the man with the scythe who comes to collect your souls) and his apprentice. A series within discworld about the ancient civilisations of discworld, one about the industrial revolution (which takes place in the same time period as the Watch books), and some others I can't remember right now.
I love that they're fantasy but they're not quests.
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 11, 2010 15:03:48 GMT 10
I saw one of his books in the book store esterday and had a flick through, and wasn't all that interested
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Post by nyandra on Oct 11, 2010 17:20:20 GMT 10
Do you remember which one it was?
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 11, 2010 17:51:16 GMT 10
No I can't sorry
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Post by Illyria on Oct 11, 2010 18:25:35 GMT 10
I don't think they're the sorts of books you can just "flip through" to get an idea of what they're like, really. To be honest I found it a bit hard to get into them myself at first, but after I'd read a few I started to really enjoy them. I like the wizards of Unseen University the most, they'd all have to be my favourite characters
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 11, 2010 18:33:17 GMT 10
Sorry, I should have said read the blurb on the back!
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Post by nyandra on Oct 11, 2010 18:34:55 GMT 10
If it's his new one, Nation, then that's not Discworld.
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 11, 2010 18:37:36 GMT 10
I think it might have been Nation
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Post by Illyria on Oct 11, 2010 18:44:58 GMT 10
I guess it also depends on what sorts of genres you're into. If you like fantasy/sci-fi then you might find it easier to like the Discworld series.
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Post by nyandra on Oct 11, 2010 23:56:32 GMT 10
mm, Nation isn't comedy I believe, and it's not his 'usual' style.
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 12, 2010 6:47:03 GMT 10
That's probably why I didn't like the look of it
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Post by nyandra on Oct 12, 2010 9:51:37 GMT 10
All the books have different plots too so sometimes it's just what things do you like reading about?
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Post by frankywanky on Oct 12, 2010 15:05:17 GMT 10
I usually read comedy books or biographies.
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Post by nyandra on Oct 12, 2010 19:23:59 GMT 10
Well, they're comedy books. But surely you have plot type preferences too? Comedies usually have a plot or premise, as well as being comedies.
I'm just finishing reading Men at Arms today (Pratchett) and wow, I really really like it.
Terry's probably can't be described as completely blatant comedy.
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Post by Illyria on Oct 12, 2010 21:24:16 GMT 10
Yeah, it's quite subtle, dry humour, but that's what I like best about it myself. But of course he is English so that's probably why
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Post by nyandra on Oct 14, 2010 15:43:44 GMT 10
Just started Maskerade, which is a Discworld book in the Witches plot line, and it's parodying the Phantom of the Opera.
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Post by Illyria on Oct 14, 2010 16:19:01 GMT 10
Oh I've read that one, it was good ;D I liked 'Soul Music' as well... "We're on a misson from Glod" - a play on the Blues Brothers' "We're on a mission from God" That one was made into a cartoon series actually, but I haven't seen it.
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