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The Bookish Owl – Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett

Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett

I’m still alive. And to prove it, I give you Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett!

I swear that I’m really back this time. It’s been a couple of weeks since things calmed down around here, and now I’m finally done hiding under a blanket because I’m scared of checking my emails. My brain still sounds like the engine of an old car on a cold morning when I try to work on blog posts, but after a few false starts, I do get it rolling.

This also means that you are now allowed to hunt me down and kick me in the ass if I don’t reply to comments on here. There are no more excuses.

(Though I might try to come up with a few…)

About the book: Johnny and the Dead is the second book in the Johnny Maxwell series and I liked it more than Only You Can Save Mankind. However, I could not tell you the morale of the story, even if my life depended on it. I get the strong feeling that there is a morale in there somewhere, but in that case it flew right over my head. But hey, who needs a point to the story when it’s funny?


Johnny and the Dead
by Terry Pratchett

Over their dead bodies . . .

Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he’s got bad news for them: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They’re not going to take it lying down . . . especially since it’s Halloween tomorrow.

Besides, they’re beginning to find that life is a lot more fun than it was when they were . . . well . . . alive. Particularly if they break a few rules . . .


Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett

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Top Ten Tuesday: Questions I Would Ask My Favorite Authors

Terry Pratchett

Time for another Top Ten Tuesday, because it’s… Tuesday.

I know I have been quiet for the past couple of weeks, but for once I have a good excuse, since I have been busy working. I promise you’ll soon get your weekly dose of owl photos again, but today you’ll have to make do with the weekly book blog prompt hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is Questions I Would Ask My Favorite Authors. I tried coming up with something different to the usual tired writing interview questions, so there won’t be any “Where do you get your inspiration from?” or “Do you ever get writer’s block?” chatter here.

Here we go!

Terry PratchettTerry Pratchett


“What’s the weirdest thing that ever happened to you?”

“Which Discworld character do you most identify with?”

“Are any of your characters based on real people? And if so, were those people pissed when they found out?”

“What do you think of the adaption of Good Omens?”

George R R MartinGeorge R. R. Martin


“Have you ever regretted killing a character?”

“Have you ever regretted NOT killing a character?”

“Do you ever wish you could transport ungrateful fans to Westeros and let them fend for themselves?”

Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie


“If you were going to commit murder yourself… How would you do it?”

“And where would you hide the body?”

J K RowlingJ. K. Rowling


“What the hell is wrong with you…?”

 

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Colors in the Titles

Color Book Covers

Due to a couple of crazily busy weeks, I have skipped a few Top Ten Tuesdays, but now I’m back!

This week’s prompt by That Artsy Reader Girl is Books with Colors in the Titles. I decided to only choose books I have either read already or that are on my TBR list, and let me tell you: The task turned out harder than I had expected! Which is why I stretched the definition a little by including things like metals and gems as colors.

I guess my taste in books is just not that colorful…


The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Okay, it might not have the name of a color in the title, but it does have a color! Of course it’s Octarine, the eight color of the rainbow and the color of magic, but just because it’s a fictional color does not mean it doesn’t count.

(No, I’m not trying to justify borderline cheating with this list. What are you talking about?)

A Darker Shade of Magic V. E. Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

Look, if The Colour of Magic counts, so does this…

I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

The Midnight in this title refers to a shade of black that the protagonist Tiffany Aching intends to wear when she gets old.

City of Brass S. A. Chakraborty

Kingdom of Copper S. A. Chakraborty

Kingdom of Copper S. A. Chakraborty

The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty

Metals are often used to refer to certain colors, so the books in the Daevabad Trilogy totally count.

The Black Prism Brent Weeks

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

This might just be the only book on this list that irrefutably belongs on it!

Jade City Fonda Lee

Jade City by Fonda Lee

Jade is green. End of story.

Blackwing Ed McDonald

Blackwing by Ed McDonald

Blackwing has got ‘Black’ in it, right?

Red Country Joe Abercrombie

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

I had to scour Amazon for a last book to add to this list, so I guess I have to read this now…


So, tell me: Did you guys also have to cheat ever so slightly to fit ten books on this list?
Please tell me I’m not the only one!

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July’s Book Haul

July Book Haul Fantasy

Okay… I know I already bought a ridiculous amount of books in June, and shouldn’t be buying more any time soon, but it’s not my fault! What else am I going to do when my mom says she has free shipping and a 15% discount code and asks if I want some books added to her order?

But mind you, there’s only 7 books on July’s list.

(Luckily, the 9 I bought on August 1st doesn’t count yet.)

July Book Haul Fantasy

The books I got were:

  • The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty
  • The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty
  • The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
  • Truckers by Terry Pratchett
  • Diggers by Terry Pratchett
  • Wings by Terry Pratchett
  • War of the Spark: Forsaken by Greg Weisman

As usual, there’s some Terry Pratchett in the haul, as well with some sequels to books I read in June. Oh, and one new author!

Daevabad Trilogy

I enjoyed S. A. Chakraborty’s The City of Brass, so of course I had to get the last two books in the Daevabad Trilogy, The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold. And they’re beautiful, but it’s going to drive me absolutely crazy that The Empire of Gold isn’t the same height as the first two books…

The Kingdom of Copper and The Empire of Gold

The Court of Miracles

I believe Kester Grant is a debut author, and I look forward to reading her first book, The Court of Miracles. It promises criminal guild wars and personal drama in a Paris where the French Revolution failed, and I’m so in for that.

The Court of Miracles Kester Grant

The Bromeliad

July’s Terry Pratchett purchase was the Bromeliad books, one of his YA series. And for once I got a matching set!

It won’t be long before I own all of Pratchett’s books, but the next time I buy any, I will have to clear another shelf for this author…

(He already got two full shelves.)

The Bromeliad Terry Pratchett

War of the Forsaken

I continue my quest to learn about Magic: The Gathering lore with War of the Spark: Forsaken by Greg Weisman, the sequel to War of the Spark: Ravnica. This one is focused on hunting down the narcisstic necromancer Leliana Vess, and I have always had a certain weakness for necromancers…

War of the Spark: Forsaken Greg Weisman

That’s it, guys! Stay tuned for August’s book haul post, which will include half the contents of the discount boxes in Boghallen in Copenhagen…

Now, I’m off to rearrange my bookshelves!

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The Bookish Owl – Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett

Time to shoot some aliens, with Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett.

This is the first book in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.

It might not have aged as well as Pratchett’s other books, but the overall message about how we’re numb to the horrors of war fits as well today as it must have done in the 90s. In the book it’s the Gulf War they’re referring to, but it might as well have been any of the wars over the last thirty years.

But despite the timeless morale, I think kids today would have a really hard time relating to this book, considering they have never known a time where space invader games were ‘cutting edge’…


Only You Can Save Mankind
by Terry Pratchett

It’s just a game . . . isn’t it?

The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind.

Suddenly, a message appears:
We wish to talk. We surrender.

But the aliens aren’t supposed to surrender—they’re supposed to die!


Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett