I have most of Sir Terry's books. The Bromeliad trilogy and the Science of Discworld books are must-reads.
Hmm. I think I missed the Bromeliad trilogy somehow. Science of Discworld I have.I have most of Sir Terry's books. The Bromeliad trilogy and the Science of Discworld books are must-reads.
Perfect Sir Terry quote. I finally got my friend in Florida to buy a Kindle and start reading Pratchett by giving him the link to "The Color of Magic" video on Youtube. He has already caught on that the halfbrick can be used many ways - including Rincewind's favorite (in a sock).
I loved "The Unadulterated Cat." Favorite Pratchett quote, “A person ignorant of the possibility of failure can be a halfbrick in the path of the bicycle of history.”
A space-swimmimg turtle 10,000 miles long, with four giant elephants on it's back, supporting a disc-shaped world ???? Yeah, that's pretty hard to imagine. I'll definitely have to be in a real fantasy mind-set if I should decide to try reading those books.Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld series. Imagine a space-swimmimg turtle 10,000 miles long, with four giant elephants on it's back, supporting a disc-shaped world.
It is hard to explain the books. See if your library has any.
Or watch the video.
A flat planet riding on the backs of elephants, which are, in turn, riding on the back of a giant turtle, is taken from mythology. For something like this to work, it must be run by magic, and, yes, there's a lot of magic on the disk. It is magic that keeps the oceans full, despite the fact that they are continually pouring over the edge of the disc. The incredibly high magic field is the reason that Death actually appears as an anthropomorphic representation of death. The incredibly high magic field is the reason there are so many gods on the disc -- when almost everyone, at some time, meets a god (or several) in the flesh, atheism is a form of insanity. But, in a very real sense, the gods are created by humans. The power of a god is determined by the number of worshipers he or she has. And it's magic that has resulted in Death's granddaughter, Susan, having inherited enough of his abilities that, in a pinch, she is able to fill in for him, despite the fact that her mother was adopted by her grandfather and, genetically speaking, he's not a relative at all.A space-swimmimg turtle 10,000 miles long, with four giant elephants on it's back, supporting a disc-shaped world ???? Yeah, that's pretty hard to imagine. I'll definitely have to be in a real fantasy mind-set if I should decide to try reading those books.Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld series. Imagine a space-swimmimg turtle 10,000 miles long, with four giant elephants on it's back, supporting a disc-shaped world.
It is hard to explain the books. See if your library has any.
Or watch the video.
Yes, and no. As I see it, there are three major threads in these books:
@Margret thanks for the description of the Discworld books. I've put the first 2 on my "wishlist" at the library so someday I may check them out. Do you have to read them in order? I see there are 41 published, however, my library only has 35 e-books.
Any idea when the movie comes out?
It's so funny that I had just finished reading the new issue of Discworld Monthly and then got on the cat site to look at new posts and lo and behold the first one is talking about Discworld! I get so excited when I come across fellow Pratchett fans. I don't meet them very often, but I have introduced a few people to his work. I "converted" my 78 yr old mother by having her read The Bromeliad Trilogy. BTW I just read that they are making a movie based on The Wee Free Men and the screenplay will be written by his daughter, Rhianna, so I am hopeful that it will be pretty good.
No ETA on movie release - It will be a long time from now. They just announced that they will be making the movie on July 15th. It is being produced by The Jim Henson Company. I always wondered if Tim Burton could do Discworld justice.
Any idea when the movie comes out?
Is Discworld Monthly an online newsletter, or what? I've never encountered it.
Margret
You're right, of course. That length is only justified when there are multiple story lines. Lord of the Rings, for instance. Technically, it's one story, but it's all full of sub-plots. Gandalf gets killed and then returns in the nick of time. Boromir betrays Frodo. Frodo and Sam go off on their own and take up with Gollum. Faramir doesn't betray Frodo (the movies libeled him). Merry and Pippin get kidnapped by Orcs and need rescuing. The king of Rohan has to be brought back to his senses, and the steward of Gondor can't be brought back to his senses. It looks like the elves of Rivendell will abandon humans to their fate until the very last minute. There's the love stories of Aragorn and Arwen, Eowyn and Faramir, Sam and Rosie, a rogue wizard, the long search of the Ents for their Entwives, and a huge backstory that's only hinted at. Sigh. I wonder what happened to my copy.
I'm still reading "The Passage". It's over 800 pages. I'm around page 460 or so. So it will be a while yet. There are 2 other books in the series. I hope they aren't as long. I like the story, but I'm find that there is never a need to spend almost 900 pages telling a single story; so much of it ends of being verbal diarrhea.