Religion and Ethics Forum
General Category => Literature, Music, Art & Entertainment => Topic started by: Anchorman on August 27, 2015, 10:26:40 AM
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The last Discworld novel (and the 41st) went on sale last night....and it's a Tiffany Aching one...for those not au fait with the DW universe.
I'm in two minds: I can't wait to get my hands on it, but I'll read it with the bittersweet knowledge that it will be the last Discworld novel.
I might be a tad controversial here, but I'm willing to bet a million Ankh Morpork Dollars and Nanny Ogg's scumble that Terry Pratchett's wonderful creations will still be read and appreciated a century from now.
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The last Discworld novel (and the 41st) went on sale last night....and it's a Tiffany Aching one...for those not au fait with the DW universe.
I'm in two minds: I can't wait to get my hands on it, but I'll read it with the bittersweet knowledge that it will be the last Discworld novel.
I might be a tad controversial here, but I'm willing to bet a million Ankh Morpork Dollars and Nanny Ogg's scumble that Terry Pratchett's wonderful creations will still be read and appreciated a century from now.
Only a century? A little longer, probably, I think.
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The last Discworld novel (and the 41st) went on sale last night....and it's a Tiffany Aching one...for those not au fait with the DW universe.
I'm in two minds: I can't wait to get my hands on it, but I'll read it with the bittersweet knowledge that it will be the last Discworld novel.
I might be a tad controversial here, but I'm willing to bet a million Ankh Morpork Dollars and Nanny Ogg's scumble that Terry Pratchett's wonderful creations will still be read and appreciated a century from now.
Only a century? A little longer, probably, I think.
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OK. I was being conservative. Actually, with the social commentary intrinsic in each novel, I think Pratchett is on a par with Charles Dickens - though far more readable...and there's an orang utan who likes playing an organ - even a 'Bloody Stupid Johnson' organ.
What else could one want?
Melon <Melon> redo from start - - -
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Dear Jim,
Just waiting for my copy to arrive, I imagine the Gonnagle playing Loch Lomond on the Moose Pipes for Sir Terry :'( :'(
Gonnagle.
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Gonna have to read the "Tiffany" strand from the start again - from "Wee Free men" onward, before I start on this.
It's hard, but someone has to do it.....
NAC MAC FEEGLE!
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Dear Jim,
Funny but I always think of you when I think about the Nac Mac Feegle, their very first war cry was, NAE KING, NAE QUEEN WE WILLNAE BE FOOLED AGIN. ;D
Gonnagle.
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Dear Jim,
Funny but I always think of you when I think about the Nac Mac Feegle, their very first war cry was, NAE KING, NAE QUEEN WE WILLNAE BE FOOLED AGIN. ;D
Gonnagle.
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To quote Granny Weatherwax (and who's going to argue with her?)
"Them little buggers speaks sense"
(Carpe Jugulum)
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I have tried more than once but I find Pratchett occasionally funny but mostly unreadable. He may well last but not for me.
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I have tried more than once but I find Pratchett occasionally funny but mostly unreadable. He may well last but not for me.
The reason for your negative situation re Sir Terry is quite obvious from your posting name here!
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Me too, then. I never did get TP and Discworld; I bought in to all the hype and tried several of the books (some bought by myself; some lent or given by friends) but never found them especially clever or amusing. The interest or allure was and remains a mystery.
But that's just me personally, and I strongly suspect that Anchorman is right: TP will still be read and loved by many in a century from now.
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Yep, with Shaker, his experience mirrors one, and I also think Jim is probably right and they will be read for a century, just not by me.
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Though in part that last bit is because I will dead
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I am not surprised at the pro/con split over STP's humour.
I do not think that I could name one comedian/humourist who had a 100% positive rating.
My daughter and her husband think Frankie Boyle is hilarious - I find one of the most uncouth, obscene and unpleasant so-called comedians extant.
Roy "Chubby" Brown is another.
You can please some of the people all of the time . . . etc!
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It will be ages before I'll be able to get my reader to read it, so I'll probably wait until the paperback comes out before buying a copy. We're about 40 pages from the end of 'Raising Steam' at the moment! Then there is a small pile of other books waiting.
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I am not surprised at the pro/con split over STP's humour.
I do not think thgat I could name one comedian/humourist who had a 100% positive rating.
My daughter and her husaband think Frankie Boyle is hilarious - I find one of the most uncouth, obscene and unpleasant so-called comedians extant.
Roy "Chubby" Brown is another.
You can please some of the people all of the time . . . etc!
Exactly. A 100% approval rating for any humourist is an impossible standard, since humour is such a subjective and individual thing. I've laughed long and loud, on occasion, at F. Boyle and R. Brown both, and at countless more besides.
All I say is, the really important thing is laughter. Life is short on it - catch as catch can. There's a quote that you'll come across online (if you delve around as much as I do) generally attributed to Charles Bukowski, the American poet (1920-1994): "Find what you love and let it kill you." There's no known source/attribution to this quote, no specific passage in any of his works anywhere that marks it out as his even though it still keeps popping up and continues to be repeated with his name to it to this day. Where the attribution came/comes from nobody has any real idea. Here's a blatant rip-off of that quote that you can source, since I'm just about to write it: find what makes you laugh and let it make you laugh. Repeatedly and regardless.
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It will be ages before I'll be able to get my reader to read it, so I'll probably wait until the paperback comes out before buying a copy. We're about 40 pages from the end of 'Raising Steam' at the moment! Then there is a small pile of other books waiting.
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'Raising Steam' is superb, Susan Sto Hellit (sorry).
All the more so when one considers Terry's state when he wrote it!
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Dear Captain Carrot,
Yes I suppose you need to be slightly weird to be a fan of Discworld, I remember when I first read the Colour of Magic I knew I had found something that clicked with me.
I am not a fan of Science Fiction or I suppose Science Fantasy ( what is the Genre for Discworld ) and what Pratchett was doing ( I think ) from the start was taking the mickey.
All the characters for me are a explosion of old stereotypes, trolls on discworld are made of stone and very thick but Pratchett gave them personalities, the King of Trolls ( "him Diamond", graffiti on the walls of Ankh Morpork ) made from pure diamond and very very intelligent.
I could talk for hours about Discworld, Sir Terry Pratchett the cheerful atheist, his books were loaded with religion, he laughed at all religions but in a very respectful, honest and very open minded way.
My favourite discworld book Carpe Jugulum, we were introduced to Pastor Oats a very timid and troubled Priest of Om, at the time of great trouble he found his religious book saved a life and brought light to his surrounding area, it also kept Death away, okay he did burn the book to keep him and Granny Weatherwax warm, but this was Pratchett at his best, he made you think about life and its absurdities.
Pastor Oats went on to be a great Bishop, his holy symbol, a two headed axe, a real two headed axe.
Gonnagle.
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Not so much Carrot - more of a Gaspode, Gonners (and I wonder who, on this forum, fits the bill of 'Big Fido"....best not go there....)
The brilliance of Pratchett is in his observational humour.
He can take a derelict like Foul ole Ron and give him a personality you can love, or take the Michael out of the ruling class such as the Salatchis, etc, while showing the absurdity of the whole shebang by making the confirmed Republican Vimes, Duke of Ankh.
He manages, while poking fun at the world in general, and wossname in particular, to bring allegory to a fine art in exposing the absurdities of our own world.
Sausage inna bun?
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Yes! When people have said to me things like, 'I don't like sci-fi, ' I tell them that TP is a one-off, he's a genre all of his own. Jasper Fforde could, I suppose be an approximate likeness, but not really.
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Yes! When people have said to me things like, 'I don't like sci-fi, ' I tell them that TP is a one-off, he's a genre all of his own. Jasper Fforde could, I suppose be an approximate likeness, but not really.
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Agreed, Susan.
Maybe a new category of Aleegorical fantasy should be invented for Terry's novels.
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According to a repoirt in yesterday's (Aug 27) London Evening Standard, STP's daughter, Rhianna is currntly working on the script for Wee Free Men!
I don't think that she will bugger it up as much as whoever made Going Postal, who buggered it up so much that STP refused to do another show with them.
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Talking about 'Going Postal', 'Making Money' - again, with Moist von LipWig as centre, was a work of genious, exposing banking to the scrutiny of STP's superb wit.
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Dear Susan,
A genre all on its own, I like it!
Dear CMG,
A script for Wee Free Men!! Now should I audition for Rob Anybody or the Gonnagle. 8)
Gonnagle.
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As a mere Pratchett dilettante, my opinion may be not worth that much, but I would have said the closest to him in style was Robert Rankin.
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Well, there's always Alan Dean Foster's 'Spellsinger' series, NS.
That has certain parallels with Discworld, and it's entertaining as well, though without the allegory.
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Dependent on one's view, I might also put up the Rivers of London series from Ben Aaronovitch as certainly influenced by Pratchett (and Rankin)
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I am not a fan of TP but my son (aged 41) is. He has all the books.
Obviously a few fans here.
Have you heard the musical CD of Wintersmith by Steeleye Span? Officially sanctioned by Terry Pratchett himself who "speaks" on several tracks. they are his favourite band apparently. It seems to me that the music catches the spirit of Discworld.
Here is a link to The wee Free men track.
https://youtu.be/ybsZpSn1grg
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I am not a fan of TP but my son (aged 41) is. He has all the books.
Obviously a few fans here.
Have you heard the musical CD of Wintersmith by Steeleye Span? Officially sanctioned by Terry Pratchett himself who "speaks" on several tracks. they are his favourite band apparently. It seems to me that the music catches the spirit of Discworld.
Here is a link to The wee Free men track.
https://youtu.be/ybsZpSn1grg
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Yep. Got the album (along with most of Steeleye Span's stuff)
Apparently they're in the process of creating an album based on "Lords and Ladies".
(Gonners - have you read 'Shepherd's Crown" yet? How's the Kleenex supply?
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Dear Jim,
It is lying unread, I am in the process of moving, my treat when I settle in.
Gonnagle.
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Dear Jim,
It is lying unread, I am in the process of moving, my treat when I settle in.
Gonnagle.
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I won't spoil it for you, then.
However....have a dram (or two) ready.
Just saying.
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Dear Jim,
Man!! No I won't spoil it for anyone who has yet to read it, but CRIVENS!!.
In one of his books he described himself as a cheerful atheist, his hero in his last book had a Granny, Granny Aching, her biggest compliment was, that will do.
Dear Sir Terry,
That will do.
Gonnagle.
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On the IS forum, there was a 'spoiler' so I did read it! I shall, therefore, be prepared for what happens - when I eventually get to hear it.
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On the IS forum, there was a 'spoiler' so I did read it! I shall, therefore, be prepared for what happens - when I eventually get to hear it.
Sniff
Sniff
(Reaches for Kleenex)
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I decided to re-read Thud, so got the CD. It was the sort of prequel to Raising steam, wasn't it, but as far as I could heare, there is no actual definition of what the 'grags' are. Anybody know?
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I decided to re-read Thud, so got the CD. It was the sort of prequel to Raising steam, wasn't it, but as far as I could heare, there is no actual definition of what the 'grags' are. Anybody know?
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'Scuse me, non Discworlders, but the following post reveals my geekishness.
I need some scumble.
As far as I can ascertain, grags are 'knockermen' - deep-down dwarfs who check tunnels for the various darks and damps.
They seem to be interpreters and guardians of dwarfish law and lore - like Bashfulsson.
I think I have problems.
Anyone have Rat 'n Soss?
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Dear Susan,
Grags, fundamentalists, Dwarf law ( lore ) is not up for interpretation ( unless it's them doing the interpretation ) and Jim is right, they are descendants of Knockermen, the guys who went into the mines to seek out gas pockets.
It was a great honour for the family if your son chose to become a Knockerman, but with the discovery that certain birds could detect gas and the invention of the lamp which turned a different colour in the presence of gas, knockermen, grags, deep downers through time became someone who you turned to in all matters regarding Dwarf law.
And yes Bashful Basfullson is a grag but one who thinks being a Dwarf is a state of mind, no need to walk around wearing leather that covers all your body or to live in the deepest cave/mine, and of course female Dwarfs can wear makeup if they choose to do so.
An analogy, our very own TW is a Christian Grag.
Gonnagle.
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An analogy, our very own TW is a Christian Grag.
Gonnagle.
As are Sassy, Hope and 2Corrie, among others of varying degree.
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Many thanks for the answers. :) It's important to know these things, isn't it?!!
I'm listening to 'Going Postal' now. So far - nothing unremembered, but I'm sure there will be bits that I've forgotten.
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Many thanks for the answers. :) It's important to know these things, isn't it?!!
I'm listening to 'Going Postal' now. So far - nothing unremembered, but I'm sure there will be bits that I've forgotten.
Re: Going Postal
You will do fine as long as you restrict your memories to the book and not the TV film!
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Many thanks for the answers. :) It's important to know these things, isn't it?!!
I'm listening to 'Going Postal' now. So far - nothing unremembered, but I'm sure there will be bits that I've forgotten.
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Going Postal is superb, Susan - and so is its' 'sequal', Making Money!
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Many thanks for the answers. :) It's important to know these things, isn't it?!!
I'm listening to 'Going Postal' now. So far - nothing unremembered, but I'm sure there will be bits that I've forgotten.
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Going Postal is superb, Susan - and so is its' 'sequal', Making Money!
True!
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Dear Susan,
Had this discussion with my eldest brother regarding rereading literature, he wondered at the point of it ( he is not a Pratchett fan ).
My argument, Pratchett is what I call a page turner, you want to know what happens next, when I read Pratchett I can't put it down, so I think I sometimes miss the deeper meaning or the subtle joke.
Also as I have found in life, something new may happen and when you reread you bring that something new to the book, you relate more to the story.
Of course my arguments feel on stony ground, he is an atheist ( a very cheerful atheist, like Pratchett ) strange thing is I have never caught him eating deep fried baby, well not yet!!
Anyway, any thoughts on why we reread favourite books, is it a sort of escapism.
Gonnagle.
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Dear Susan,
Had this discussion with my eldest brother regarding rereading literature, he wondered at the point of it ( he is not a Pratchett fan ).
My argument, Pratchett is what I call a page turner, you want to know what happens next, when I read Pratchett I can't put it down, so I think I sometimes miss the deeper meaning or the subtle joke.
Also as I have found in life, something new may happen and when you reread you bring that something new to the book, you relate more to the story.
Of course my arguments feel on stony ground, he is an atheist ( a very cheerful atheist, like Pratchett ) strange thing is I have never caught him eating deep fried baby, well not yet!!
Anyway, any thoughts on why we reread favourite books, is it a sort of escapism.
Gonnagle.
Why do we re-read books?
I don't know about anyone else but I find that, and this may be a blatant statement of the obvious, I find that I have two reasons why I will re-read a book:
1 - because it is a book that I have read to obtain information and, on reading another book, I have gone back to check up on, or add to, what I took from it the first time;
or
2 - (and this especially applies to books by Sir Terry) I enjoyed them the first time and want to repeat the experience. It also, quite often, leads to me seeing things that I may have missed the first time or things that I see in a different light upon second, third or fourth, reading.
I have also just finished reading The Shepherd's Crown.
Interesting and absorbing.
The notes at the back on how Sir Terry wrote, disjointed scenes that would be expanded, modified, left for different book, that were then woven together into a finished article suggest to me that he was planning to enlarge upon the revelations, the new perspective, about Mrs Earwig, among others.
There were other very minor tidbits that I am sure would have been raised to major tidbits in future stories had Sir Terry survived to write them.
I am sorry that the notes at the end of the book also seem to scotch the idea, mooted when he really started to feel the effects of his Alzheimers, that his daughter would be carrying on the Discworld stories. I can, however, understand that she might have realised, in sorting out Shepherd's Crown for publication, that this was not a viable proposition in terms of maintaining the standard, Sir Terry did, after all have an almost unique world-view which made the Discworldstories what they were.
Tiffany, Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax, C M O T Dibbler, Rincewind, Arch-Chancellors Weatherwax and Ridcully, Stibbons, Hex, Death, Susan Death, Moist von Lipwi and Adora Belle Lipwig (ne้ Dearheart) and so many, many others - you will be sorely missed and, along with Sir Terry, our world is a far poorer place for your passing and thus the loss of all those stories that will now never grace my bookshelves!
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This is a bit selfish of me I know, but at least I know that no-one will be reading a new Disc World book after I die so I shall not be missing anything.
I'm listening (again) to 'Making Money' now.
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This is a bit selfish of me I know, but at least I know that no-one will be reading a new Disc World book after I die so I shall not be missing anything.
I'm listening (again) to 'Making Money' now.
Who is reading it?
Nigel Planer?
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To persecuted Matty,
What is a grag, and why exactly do you believe 2Corrie is a Christian grag. Are you a witch grag or just a regular angry witch? Why do you get to go around insulting people and yet snivel when others, like myself, insult you?
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Unfortunately, no. It is one of the NLB's volunteer readers I think. I'll check later. 'Going Postal' was read by Stephen Briggs - I think that's right.
Well, I have read your post, JC, but that is because it was there; normally, I scroll past them.
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Unfortunately, no. It is one of the NLB's volunteer readers I think. I'll check later. 'Going Postal' was read by Stephen Briggs - I think that's right.
Well, I have read your post, JC, but that is because it was there; normally, I scroll past them.
Yes, quite possibly, he does quite afew. He was one of Sir Terry's collaborators and he wrote the Discworld Companion with Sir Terry and also designed the Discworld Mapp anong other things.
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To persecuted Matty,
What is a grag, and why exactly do you believe 2Corrie is a Christian grag. Are you a witch grag or just a regular angry witch? Why do you get to go around insulting people and yet snivel when others, like myself, insult you?
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It's time a certain poster was introduced to Omnianism (without Om.....)
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To persecuted Matty,
What is a grag, and why exactly do you believe 2Corrie is a Christian grag. Are you a witch grag or just a regular angry witch? Why do you get to go around insulting people and yet snivel when others, like myself, insult you?
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It's time a certain poster was introduced to Omnianism (without Om.....)
Are you sure you don't mean Onanism?
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Wonderful - Celia Imrie reading Wyrd Sisters!
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My reader reached the end of 'Raising Steam' this week. We have both very much enjoyed it. I think, if I had a goblin name, it would be 'of the dancing, the tap'!! :)
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My reader reached the end of 'Raising Steam' this week. We have both very much enjoyed it. I think, if I had a goblin name, it would be 'of the dancing, the tap'!! :)
Just make sure yoiu don't slip and wind up in the sink!
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Dear Susan,
Raising Steam, I loved the way Pratchett tapped into that whole age of steam thing, clothe caps and Bradbury's diaries.
Funny but in the news some bright spark was thinking about carriage's just for women, how this old world turns!!
Gonnagle.
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Gonnagle
I have just finished listening to 'The Truth'. Is there another book about the Ankh-Morpork Times? I'm not sure whether the audio version was abridged in any way, but when I read the book years ago, I clearly remember that the word 'Times' came out as a variety of anagrams - Smite, Items, Mites, Emits - so am I right in thinking that was in 'The Truth', or was it elsewhere?
Hope you can help here. thank you.
I've started 'Interesting Times'; unfortunately it is not Stephen Briggs reading it.
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Dunno if this will help, Susan, but
"Monsterous Regiment" has the vampire photographer as a supporting character.
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Thank you - I'll get that next. In 'The Truth' the dwarfs and Xacharissa helping Otto sing his temperance songs is very funny, isn't it?!
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Thank you - I'll get that next. In 'The Truth' the dwarfs and Xacharissa helping Otto sing his temperance songs is very funny, isn't it?!
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Brilliat - and, as usual, witty, Susan - I wish Terry had developed the "Black ribboners" a bit more, though.
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Gonnagle
I have just finished listening to 'The Truth'. Is there another book about the Ankh-Morpork Times? I'm not sure whether the audio version was abridged in any way, but when I read the book years ago, I clearly remember that the word 'Times' came out as a variety of anagrams - Smite, Items, Mites, Emits - so am I right in thinking that was in 'The Truth', or was it elsewhere?
Hope you can help here. thank you.
I've started 'Interesting Times'; unfortunately it is not Stephen Briggs reading it.
Most of the audio tape versions, particularly those read by Tony Robinson (Baldrick) are abridged.
The ISIS series of CD's are unabridged and read by various people, Stephen Briggs, Celia Imrie, Nigel Planer that I can think of but there may be others.