Tag: Discworld

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The Bookish Owl – Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

It’s time for assassins and disgruntled mummies with Pyramids by Terry Pratchett.

You didn’t think I was done with Discworld, did you?

I only have a few books left to finish my reread of this entire series, but I’m pacing myself. Running out of Pratchett books is one of the biggest problems I face in my reading life, so I’m rereading even those books that weren’t among my favorites the first time around. Pyramids doesn’t have the greatest story or characters, but it does have some pretty funny scenes. There’s Teppic getting ready for his Assassin’s exam and then promptly falling over from the weight of all the weapons he’s hidden on his person. And then there’s his prophetic dreams:

“There was seven fat cows and seven thin cows. One of them was playing the trombone.”

What the book needed was more Assassins. But considering I own two pairs of Assassin’s Guild socks, I might be bias…

Pyramids
by Terry Pratchett

It’s bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn’t a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he’s been trained at Ankh-Morpork’s famed assassins’ school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun. First, there’s the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad — a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit, betrayal – not to mention a headstrong handmaiden – at the heart of his realm. 

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

We live in interesting times, so I believe the timing is right for Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett.

This is the first Bookish Owl photo taken after Artemis’s operation, but I think he’s shy, because he won’t be showing off his new flamingo stance until the next one. But I can inform you that being one-legged absolutely didn’t stop him from knocking books over and making a run for it while we were taking pictures.

This is yet another Discworld reread, but it will be the last for a while… mostly because I’m running out of books to reread and might soon have to start on a round of re-rereading.

The very best thing about ‘Interesting Times’ is not Rincewind and his shenanigans, but Cohen the Barbarian and his ‘Silver Horde’. Reading about a group of old men wreaking havoc and creating terror wherever they go, all the while complaining about joint pains, gives me hope for my own retirement.

Can you guys recommend me any other fantasy books with badass old people? I feel like that’s what I need more of in my life right now.

Interesting Times
by Terry Pratchett

‘A foot on the neck is nine points of the law’

There are many who say that the art of diplomacy is an intricate and complex dance. There are others who maintain that it’s merely a matter of who carries the biggest stick. The oldest and most inscrutable (not to mention heavily fortified) empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise What I did on My Holidays. Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes; warlords are struggling for power – and what the nation wants, to avoid terrible doom for everyone, is a wizard. Rincewind is not the Disc’s premier wizard – in fact, he can’t even spell ‘wizard’ – but no-one specified whether competence was an issue. And they do have a very big stick…

Mighty Battles! Revolution! Death! War! (And his sons Terror and Panic and daughter Clancy).

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

Let’s rock and roll with Soul Music by Terry Pratchett!

This isn’t my favorite Discworld novel, but the reread was all worth it just for the scenes with Susan and Ridcully. I find the whole rock music plot a little tame, but there’s still some first class jokes along the way, so I’ll still recommend reading this book.

Either way, please enjoy Artemis’s “Are we done now…?”-face in the photo below. We did 4 book photos in a row that day and by the end he couldn’t even be bothered to glare at the camera or try to eat the book.

Soul Music
by Terry Pratchett

Other children get given xylophones. Susan just had to ask her grandfather to take his vest off.
Yes. There’s a Death in the family.

It’s hard to grow up normally when Grandfather rides a white horse and wields a scythe – especially when you have to take over the family business, and everyone mistakes you for the Tooth Fairy.

And especially when you have to face the new and addictive music that has entered Discworld.

It’s lawless. It changes people.

It’s called Music With Rocks In.

It’s got a beat and you can dance to it, but…

It’s alive.

And it won’t fade away.

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Here we go with Maskerade by Terry Pratchett.

Artemis is home at the moment, but still quite unwell. But don’t worry, I’m still working through my backlog of owl photos, so he’s not being forced to do any posing. You’ll get the whole story as soon as I’m able to take my vet off speed-dial, but you can always follow my running commentary on Twitter. Apparently I get real chatty when I pretend I’m not worrying.

I hope you’re getting a lot of reading done and not going too crazy from social distancing.

I also hope you don’t have to give an owl antibiotics every day.

If you’re in need of more books to read, and would like to know what happens when you take Phantom of the Opera and add grumpy old witches, ‘Maskerade’ might be for you. It’s another Discworld book with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, but it also have the added pleasure of Agnes Nitt/Perdita. It’s full of crazy, but then again, so are the news these days.

Maskerade
by Terry Pratchett

THE SHOW MUST GO ON, AS MURDER, MUSIC AND MAYHEM RUN RIOT IN THE NIGHT…

The Opera House, Ankh-Morpork…a huge, rambling building, where innocent young sopranos are lured to their destiny by a strangely-familiar eveil mastermind in a hideously-deformed evening dress…

At least, he hopes so. But Granny Weatherwax, Discworld’s most famous witch, is in the audience. And she doesn’t hold with that sort of thing.

So there’s going to be trouble (but nevertheless a good evenin’s entertainment with murders you can really hum…)

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

Next up is Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett.

This Discworld book is about asshole elves and a royal wedding, but I reread it for Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Ridcully reminiscing about their past romance (I ship those two so hard), Nanny Ogg being Nanny Ogg, and Magrat suddenly becoming super badass and killing elves left and right and scaring the shit out of poor Shawn.

There’s also a falconer that I feel a certain sympathy for. He’s called Hodgesaargh, which is not his name, but it’s how he introduces himself because all his birds try to rip his face off. He’s the kind of falconer I’ll end up being if I ever upgrade to something bigger than Artemis.

Speaking of Artemis, he’s looking especially handsome and dramatic in today’s photo. We took it on a bright sunny day, so I’m not sure how he managed to look like someone watching a sunset, but I’m starting to believe he might have some magic powers over cameras. It’s the same way he always stays photogenic, even when he’s molting and looks like a plucked turkey in reality.

Lords and Ladies
by Terry Pratchett

The fairies are back – but this time they don’t just want your teeth.

It’s Midsummer Night – no time for dreaming. Because sometimes, when there’s more than one reality at play, too much dreaming can make the walls between them come tumbling down. And there’s usually a damned good reason for there being walls between them in the first place – to keep things out. Things who want to make mischief and play havoc with the natural order.

Granny Weatherwax and her tiny coven are up against real elves. And even in a world of dwarfs, wizards, trolls, Morris dancers and the odd orang-utan, this is going to cause real trouble. With lots of hey-nonny-nonny and blood all over the place.

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett