I do remember something about that that stood out like a sore thumb to me in UA– someone used the word “popcorn.” When of course the only term (IIRC) used in Moving Pictures was “banged grains” (which is how I’ve thought of popcorn ever since.)

Well done, Terry, may this not have been your last one.

My favorite is “Hat Full of Sky”. I got it on CD and listened to it during a time of crisis in my life. I was driving from Flagstaff to Taos, across that long stretch of empty desert with my then 17yr old son. We laughed so hard that I almost drove the car into a ditch, and yeah, I teared up at times too! Altruism, imagine that, in a world so full of cruelty, a book about altruism! And all that in a freakin’ kids’ book.

I’ll take Tiffany Aching over Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker any day of the week. And plenty of books offer heroes for kids, especially boys. But hey, Esme Weatherwax is my role model. In actuality, I’m shaping up to be more like Nanny Ogg.

I am certainly going to buy and read this book, but I’ve been holding back. I’ve picked it up in the bookstore and run my hand over the cover, waiting, waiting. There’ll be a day in the next couple of months when I’ll need a good fresh fix of Pratchett.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue my efforts to make my own scumble. I’ve got rather a nice lot of apples on hand…

As for others named… Monstrous Regiment is pretty close to the bottom of my list. Cute concept, but driven into the ground and not really enough to sustain the book. I loved Soul Music. I also loved The Fifth Elephant and The Last Continent; Rincewind may be one of the weakest characters on the Disc, but he drives some of the best books. (Conversely, Granny Weatherwax is one of the best characters, but I’m not to be as fond of the books she’s in. The Tiffany Aching series excepted. Love Tiffany Aching.)

My favorite of his books would probably be Thud! Vimes doing “is this my cow” in the cave is truly wonderful

In a purely selfish way I hope is health stays good enough to write many more Discworld books but I really do feel for him, Alzheimer’s is a terrible way to go out

God bless you Sir Terry

ps I wonder how Sir Terry’s carnivorous plant are doing?

It reminded me of my other least favorites of the Discworld books, Soul Music and Moving Pictures, that relied on a gimmick that was never mentioned before and likely never mentioned again.

It’s “The Last Continent” I can’t get into.

Putting aside the words, however, who is the person or people responsible for the US covers, and why are they still employed?!

From the days of the whimsical Josh Kirby UK covers, the US editions have been uniformly embarrassingly trite and inferior.

Take UA, for example. The UK edition (pictured here) is a lovely take on the largely interchangeable team photos on dusty shelves and clubroom walls the world over.
The US version has a whole lot of hands reaching for a ball. Hands. Reaching for a ball in a game of soccer. Where only goalkeepers (and Maradona/God)are allowed to use their hands to touch the ball…

Sigh.

Another topic was writing process. He collects lots of things and ideas and kicks them around for a while, writes bits and pieces, and eventually gets some idea what he’s going to be writing about or who the characters are and what stories they have to tell. In general, if Granny Weatherwax is in a story, she dominates it. If Sam Vimes is there, it turns into a police procedural. The early couple of Rincewind/Twoflower books weren’t really novels; they were more genre parodies before he figured out where he was and what he was doing (and occasional authors were quite grumpy about having their sort of work caricatured.) Tiffany Aching seems to be a rather strong character, and IIRC he’s working on another book with her. Death was a flexible enough fellow that while he got some books about his business, he can show up anywhere without disrupting the rest of the story too much (er, except for the individuals he encounters who may find that their stories had already just been disrupted.)

Over at Stately Omir Manor we are big fans of the Tiffany Aching series, although I really enjoy the Witches, Watch and Death series as well. My secret ambition is to have my wife make costumes for us so we can appear at conventions as Lord and Lady Vimes; by the time she gets around to it my grandson should be about big enough to tag along behind us, carrying a copy of “Where’s My Cow?”

The only (minor) gripe I have with the book is Vetinari. He talks too much in this one. :)

I tend to recommend that people start with Guards! Guards! or Mort or Wyrd Sisters and expand from there. I lurve the City Watch, but I enjoy seeing them from other people’s views, and I thought he did a good job of exposing what the Watch look like from the other side in Unseen Academicals. (I’m thinking of the scene where Trev is being grilled about Nutt.)

I would place this above Thud! (and a bit below my favourites) in terms of story and cohesiveness. Honestly, I thought the plot was a bit diffuse, but the core of Nutt, Glenda, Trev, and Juliet and how they interact made up for the iffy plotline. (My bf loves the Wizards and is pretty much pleased whenever they show up anywhere, although both of us think the first few books are the weakest.)

I find I tend to want to read them by topic (my own personal criteria of course). Some times I’m in the mood for Vimes which, according to my personal criteria, includes Monstrous Regiment. Sometimes I’m in the mood for the Witches, other times for Death or Wizards. The other topic I include is the City, which includes The Truth as well as Going Postal, Thud and now UA. I never seem to read them as a single book, almost always as a series, which may be why I’m unable to single out a favorite.

This book deals far more with social strata and class than football. It is another one of his “let’s see how this particular invention generates ripples through society” books, similar to The Truth, or Going Postal. As time goes by, his books are becoming more intricate, more deeply woven into the similarities between Discworld and “Roundworld” but without being moralistic.

There are very few Discworld books that aren’t brilliant, and the YA Tiffany Aching adventures are quite good. Looking forward to re-reading this soon, and next year’s TA book.

Keep pumping them out Terry!

this is Terry Pratchett, after all. I’d read his grocery lists.

Don’t say that. He’s likely to publish them.

Perhaps you mistakenly obtained an identically named book? For I too have read ‘unseen academicals’ and it was none of those things you mentioned.. not a one.

o.O

On a side note, has anyone heard anything about the Wee Free Men movie?

Mindy

I was a little sad to see my favorite book hasn’t been mentioned yet. I absolutely LOVE The Fifth Elephant.